People have been sharing their memories of small town nightclubs that were ‘simultaneously glorious and awful’ – 23 trips down memory lane

As the news is constantly reminding us, the UK’s night time economy is on its knees, clubs and pubs are shutting down in droves, and Gen Z don’t drink very much.

And what a terrible shame it all is, as anyone who has fond memories of a cramped, sticky-floored and absolutely banging local nightspot will confirm.

They’ve been chatting about the lost and lamented venues where we squandered our youth on the AskUK subreddit after MonsieurGump posted their thoughts on the matter…

‘In the 90’s every small town had a ‘nightclub’ that was simultaneously glorious and awful. What was yours?

‘Ours had mental door staff, a DJ whose day job was a welder (with about ten grand’s worth of vinyl) and ‘all you can drink for 15 quid’ Thursdays.

‘Do they still exist in a world where nobody has the money to go out and the pubs all have a late license?’

A great question, which opened a floodgate of reminiscence about the slightly questionable but much loved nightlife of our pasts…

1.

‘Oasis (Crawley).

‘When Peter Andre was big, Oasis advertised ‘Peter Andre X’ appearing. A load of people turned up only to find it was ‘Peter Andrex’, a rather portly chap who sang Peter Andre songs with a six pack of Andrex toilet rolls taped to his belly.’
–TickleMyFissure

2.

‘Ours was called Reflex, though everyone over thirty still called it the Ritzy.

‘The carpet was so thick with dried castaway and cheap alcopops that if you stood still during Mr Brightside your trainers genuinely stuck to the floor. You had to peel your soles off the lino with an audible tearing sound. The men’s bogs were basically an indoor water feature, two inches of murky standing water, doors kicked off the hinges since 1994, and a bloke called Trevor selling squirts of fake Joop and lollipops off an ironing board.

‘Thursday night was pound a pint Carlsberg before 11pm. You would see your sixth form history teacher doing tequila shots by the cigarette machine while the resident DJ, a forty year old scaffolder named Gaz, dropped Sandstorm on two battered CDJs.

‘It got knocked down around 2016 to build retirement flats. Absolute cesspit, but modern students drinking six pound craft cans in a polite cocktail lounge will never know the sheer feral joy of a three floor meat market with foam parties on bank holiday Sundays.’
–Formal-Two-3561

3.

‘May I present to you The Acapulco in Halifax. It’s basically a right of passage for anyone who either grew up or went to a university in and around West Yorkshire.

‘Still to this day has 75p drinks until midnight, a £5 entry fee and it made the news a couple of years back for selling it’s dirty old carpet. It’s also supposedly the oldest nightclub in the UK.’
–BeneficialDonut3126

4.

‘Our nightclub was called Faces and the attached bar was called Memories. So the saying was ‘sore faces and bad memories’.’
–LocalObelix

5.

‘Raffs. You’d stick to the floor. Generations of my family ended up there on Friday nights, sometimes at the same time. Will never not be weird seeing your Auntie Leeanne bopping away while you’re trying to convince a bouncer that your deff over 18.’
–crgoodw

6.

‘In the 90s? Ours still exists in Lincoln, it’s called Cubes (formerly Sugarcubes) and it’s wonderful.’
–RiceeeChrispies

7.

‘We had the best nightlife outside London in the South East here in Watford. The entire upper high street was a mecca for bars, people would come from miles around to visit our mega-clubs like Kudos/Destiny/Oceana and Area. The place is now a shadow of its former self, I think there’s maybe one nightclub left.’
–Worldly-Mastodon-755

8.

‘It was Flicks in Brechin. I expect a lot of people of a certain age will have heard of it. Theres tales of bus loads coming from as far as Newcastle and Manchester to visit Flicks. Its a bit of a local legend.’
–WinstonwanlegIngram

9.

‘Zeus (Chelmsford). You know the nightclub (Chasers?) in The Office? It was like that.’
–tiptreetimes

10.

‘Club Aquarium in London. It’s been around since 1995. It’s a club with an indoor swimming pool and jacuzzi. It’s about as gloriously shit as it sounds.’
–antsyangryiguana

11.

‘The Trek. Carpet was sticky but they did Blue WKD and Smirnoff Ice at two for a quid before 11pm and Fosters was a quid a bottle. JD and coke was £2 for a generous measure and about 30 mins before they closed all the staff from the nearby kebab shop would come down, have a drink then lead a massive procession up to their place so we could get a kebab and chips for the walk home.

‘There was also a burger van in the car park but it was best avoided as the queue inevitably ended up with fights. No such issues with the kebab shop as the blokes that ran it suffered no idiots and wanted no trouble. Try and start a brawl in the their place and you’d be chased out with a carving knife.

‘Ah, good times indeed!’
–Avionykx

12.

‘This is more 80s for me but ‘Thursdays’ in no mans land near Chichester. Sooooo many stories. Had to walk 12 miles home once… stopped halfway and had a sleep in a hay barn.

‘Was a collar and proper shoes place for a while (which was tricky as a indie/goth-lite kid) and then 1988 happened and it all went brilliant…

‘I really hope they still exist because EVERYONE went and it was reasonable prices.’
–Acceptable-Smile8864