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Edinburgh Night Clubs In The 70s/80's


I'M IBRAHIM TALL

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I'M IBRAHIM TALL

Looking for some information to help me in a little something im trying to do and I though the Shed would be as good a place as any to help.

 

I'm looking for names, locations, musical styles and memories of the cities nightclubs from the late 70's and the 80's. Especially the places that are now no longer nightclubs

 

Cheers

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Looking for some information to help me in a little something im trying to do and I though the Shed would be as good a place as any to help.

 

I'm looking for names, locations, musical styles and memories of the cities nightclubs from the late 70's and the 80's. Especially the places that are now no longer nightclubs

 

Cheers

Ferry Boat on a Friday night was good.Honest.
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Brian Whittaker's Tache

My favourites in times gone by were

 

  • Cinderellas (burnt down)
  • Electric Circus (now the Jaffa Cake or whatever)
  • The Hoochie Coochie Club
  • Outer Limits (no idea what its called now)
  • Buster Browns (ditto)
  • La Belle Angele (went in a gas explosion)
  • The Mission (now Espionage)

These days I'm a pint and a sit down kinda guy!!

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Flannigans, later to go on to be Bobby McGhees, Clouds, Tiffanys (later Cinderellas), Fagins? at the west end.

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Tokyo Drifter

The ones I remember best are the Hooch in Tollcross - the Josef K boys used to hang out there I think - and the Kangaroo Club on Victoria Street. Cinderella's was next to St Stephen Church, east end of St Stephen Street. Pretty horrible. Big Tam used to bounce there back in the day. It got torched.

 

Anyone remember El Cambalachi at Haymarket (Spider's Web?), run by those two Chilean dudes, Juan and Nestor? That must have been mid-1980s.

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Rabbie_Burns

Recall a place halfway down Blair St by the Tron, think it was called 'Everybodies', used to go there in the early eighties after finishing working in a hotel at the time as it was open until around 4am

 

Completely wild place which was eventually closed down by the authorities I believe due to the high level of violent crimes which kept reoccurring

 

Downstairs cavern type building which I also think was called Peppermint or something like that a few years ago, dont know if it still exists

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Recall a place halfway down Blair St by the Tron, think it was called 'Everybodies', used to go there in the early eighties after finishing working in a hotel at the time as it was open until around 4am

 

Completely wild place which was eventually closed down by the authorities I believe due to the high level of violent crimes which kept reoccurring

 

Downstairs cavern type building which I also think was called Peppermint or something like that a few years ago, dont know if it still exists

 

The P lace in Victoria Street was a quality joint, remember Everybodys and I seem to remember a bar close by called Fridays, haven't a clue where exactly though.

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alwaysthereinspirit

Late 70's on a Saturday night for me was the West End club. It was above a jewelers on Princes St. Bit of a rough place but had some good live music. Was mentioned on here before that it then became Fire Island. Can honestly say I never went to Fire Island. Honestly.

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alwaysthereinspirit

What was the one near the Tron? Upstairs. Right opposite Gordons Italian place.

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joe.gausden
Ferry Boat on a Friday night was good.Honest.

 

Agreed, Saturday night was pish though

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Jamie_the_Jambo

The SnakePit upstairs at coasters on a thursday night. Totally brilliant 60s psychedelic night. Never made work on a friday after being there.

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Stuart Lyon

The Place - Victoria St - now Espionage

The Gamp Club - on the Terrace above Victoria Street opposite the Place

Bungy's Night Club - Fleshmarket Close if my memory serves me correctly

Club in Reigo st at Tollcross - can't remember the name

McGoos in the High Street opposite John Knox's House

The White Elephant at the pubic triangle it was formerly the Palladium

The Americana latterly Fat Sam's I think

Top Storey Club on Leith Street above the shops that used to be where the St James Centre is now

Can't recall the name of the club on Rose Street Lane North.

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Walter Kidd

The Pub on Rose Street was good for some under age shenanigans.

 

Spanish Harlem was late 80's, good night before the Hibs Goons took over.

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Harveys on lothain rd for the happy hour (was mega cheap)

The Penthouse in tollcross was that a pub or a niteclub it used to open later than most pubs at the time had some great times in there ah bring back the 1970s.

The Americana used to be some funny rucks between the TCR and the BAR-OX ootside there .

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willie wallace
Harveys on lothain rd for the happy hour (was mega cheap)

The Penthouse in tollcross was that a pub or a niteclub it used to open later than most pubs at the time had some great times in there ah bring back the 1970s.

The Americana used to be some funny rucks between the TCR and the BAR-OX ootside there .

 

Penthouse was a top pub.Used to play for their Sunday league team around 1975/6.They were tops as well.Same owner had the Bandwagon in Hanover St?Also many good Saturday nights in there.

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Kirky2008

The Nite Club up the stairs at the Playhouse

 

Once had U2 on supporting the Members!! WTF

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Tams bird
Recall a place halfway down Blair St by the Tron, think it was called 'Everybodies', used to go there in the early eighties after finishing working in a hotel at the time as it was open until around 4am

 

Completely wild place which was eventually closed down by the authorities I believe due to the high level of violent crimes which kept reoccurring

 

I used to go there, ex work mates sister had it. My pal got stabbed in the arm with a screwdriver, didnt realise till she got home and her arm was covered in blood.

 

I liked Bobby Mcgee's. Used to go to West end club as well, above watches of Switzerland i think on princes Street..

 

I wasnt aloud to go to the Americana, too rough for me...

Edited by Tams bird
Cant spell
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CostaJambo

Good post, must have visited a high percentage of the places mentioned during my party years. First started using pubs and clubs up town around 1984/85. Pubs known to serve underagers included Gatsby's towards the east end, The Pub and the Cottar's Howff in Rose Street and the Burnt Post and Lord Toms in Lothian Road. Most school parties were held in Annabelle's quite near Mackay's Centre Spot which became the Red Hot Pepper Club, next to Fat Sams, Topos in Grindlay Street and Sinatra's in St. James' Centre. All were pretty ****e looking back but served their purpose back in the days.

 

After leaving school we realised that student birds weren't bothered about a year or two's age difference so we graduated (pun intended) from school hangouts to Queen Margaret's College union in Clerry, Grindlay Street, Chambers Street and Teviot unions and also Wilkie House. Brilliant days. If my lads have half the encounters I had with the fairer sex before settling down I'll be a happy man.

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Randle P McMurphy

Also remember Harveys in Lothian Road, 2 of my mates got caught for underage drinking, whilst me and another mate gained extra kudos by not even getting asked. We must have looked so much older with our bumfluff moustaches!

 

What was the name of the night club in the street behind the store in Bread Street?

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Randle P McMurphy

There was also one owned by Charlie McKinlay further up the bridges (maybe just around Chambers Street?) which mysteriously burned down, cant remember the name though.

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J.T.F.Robertson
The Place - Victoria St - now Espionage

The Gamp Club - on the Terrace above Victoria Street opposite the Place

Bungy's Night Club - Fleshmarket Close if my memory serves me correctly

Club in Reigo st at Tollcross - can't remember the name

McGoos in the High Street opposite John Knox's House

The White Elephant at the pubic triangle it was formerly the Palladium

The Americana latterly Fat Sam's I think

Top Storey Club on Leith Street above the shops that used to be where the St James Centre is now

Can't recall the name of the club on Rose Street Lane North.

 

I'll raise you a Walkers & a Romano's on Shandwick Place. :ninja:

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davemclaren

Was never really a club person but ended up in the West End club on a good few occasions in the mid to late 70s. Especially after watching Netherbow at Nicky Tams on a Thursday night. God knows how I got to work the next day but I always managed.... :shifty:

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Also remember Harveys in Lothian Road, 2 of my mates got caught for underage drinking, whilst me and another mate gained extra kudos by not even getting asked. We must have looked so much older with our bumfluff moustaches!

 

What was the name of the night club in the street behind the store in Bread Street?

 

Valentinos and The Muscular Arms next door.Went there after a good under age sesh in the Burnt Post.Must have been in most of the clubs mentioned(They were called Discos then)apart from the late sixties early seventies clubs like the Top Storey etc

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slashishere
My favourites in times gone by were

 

  • Cinderellas (burnt down)
  • Electric Circus (now the Jaffa Cake or whatever)
  • The Hoochie Coochie Club
  • Outer Limits (no idea what its called now)
  • Buster Browns (ditto)
  • La Belle Angele (went in a gas explosion)
  • The Mission (now Espionage)

These days I'm a pint and a sit down kinda guy!!

 

 

Loved the Mission.

 

What about coasters................

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Between being called Annabelles and The Red Hot, it was also called Zenatec. There was Dillingers on king stables road which became Jaffa Club.

Fresh above the Waterloo Bar ran by a good Jambo, Brian who owns or owned the Citrus(that long since ive been there).

Calton Studio's were brilliant late 80's for an all nighter.

The Amphi Theatre on Lothian Road, nuff said.

The Venue on Leith street and there was a club above the playhouse late 80's, just can't remember what it was called.

Thats all i can remember just now.

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jack hmfc
There was also one owned by Charlie McKinlay further up the bridges (maybe just around Chambers Street?) which mysteriously burned down, cant remember the name though.

 

that was Uptown burnt down after a c+w night,complete with bales of hay as props(or as a good accelerant alledgely)

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Brian Whittaker's Tache
Loved the Mission.

 

What about coasters................

 

Me too. Early to mid 90's were when I went.

 

3 floors of madness from the laughing at the goths dancing on the top floor to headbanging on the middle floor to checking out the birds and have a bit of a shoegaze on the ground floor.

 

I had many newkie broon, tequila and speed filled nights in there. The walk back to my flat next to the Wheatsheaf in Gorgie never seemed that far. I once got a black eye headbanging in there a week before a big job interview

 

Gutted when I went back and they had ruined it as Espionage

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grumpy rebus

Gawd this makes me feel old.

 

Bobby McGhee's was ideal. A sunken dancefloor made it like a cattle market - all the guys standing pointing at their "prey" while she danced with her mates. (I always told my "chosen one" that I worked in a bakers so I could leave early in the morning and still believe she'd been a looker - even though I was still at school)

 

Wasn't the basement one in Victoria St called Nicky Tams (or something like that) for a while?

 

Mad Hatters and Buster Browns were decent. I'm sure there were others, but most of the names seem to be lost in the mists of time.

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jambotony

Lord Toms on lothian road

Peaches in Morrison st

Black Bull on Lothian Road

Cinderella's

 

Oh the memories.

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Randle P McMurphy

What about the dry disco(s) at the YMCA in South St Andrew Street. 4 or 5 floors with a different theme on each, Soul/ Mod, Punk, Disco and Heavy Metal. Complete carnage at the end of each night as the various tribes went on their way.

 

There was also a pub opposite it that had a disco on the top floor, can't remember the name.

 

There was a further one in St James Centre, not the one at the Leith Street entrance but further in that you had to wander through the roof terrace thing to get to. I think this eventually became an over 30s venue.

 

Also Penguin Cafe in Hanover Street that had various other names through the years, I think it was a pub restaurant (Beefeater type establishment) before it became Penguin Cafe.

 

Funny how I can't remember the names of most of these venues, obviously the evils of alcohol from my mis-spent youth.

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Sawdust Caesar
What about the dry disco(s) at the YMCA in South St Andrew Street. 4 or 5 floors with a different theme on each, Soul/ Mod, Punk, Disco and Heavy Metal. Complete carnage at the end of each night as the various tribes went on their way.

 

There was also a pub opposite it that had a disco on the top floor, can't remember the name.

 

There was a further one in St James Centre, not the one at the Leith Street entrance but further in that you had to wander through the roof terrace thing to get to. I think this eventually became an over 30s venue.

 

Also Penguin Cafe in Hanover Street that had various other names through the years, I think it was a pub restaurant (Beefeater type establishment) before it became Penguin Cafe.

 

Funny how I can't remember the names of most of these venues, obviously the evils of alcohol from my mis-spent youth.

 

Gatsby's.

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yvonnejambo
Late 70's on a Saturday night for me was the West End club. It was above a jewelers on Princes St. Bit of a rough place but had some good live music. Was mentioned on here before that it then became Fire Island. Can honestly say I never went to Fire Island. Honestly.

 

 

You sure no Fire Island? my mate was a taxi driver and spent a long time chatting up a woman he picked up from there. Ah if only she was a women..:)

 

 

 

I was a Wilkie House and Buster browns fan in late 80s.

Spent some time in the sleaze pit that was ampi theatre then Century 2000. Rutland No1 was the place to mingle with Hearts players though :). Just hated that staircase if wearing a dress or skirt.

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Flannigans, later to go on to be Bobby McGhees, Clouds, Tiffanys (later Cinderellas), Fagins? at the west end.

 

mind of Clouds, went to see Adam and the Ants there on the 20th July 1979 before they had a record contract one of the best gigs ever highlight Plastic Surgery and Parisien Girls

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Drew Busby !

Tonys EuroDisco.

 

OK not exactly a nightclub as per the others but it had it's attractions back in the day... :laugh:

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Randle P McMurphy
mind of Clouds, went to see Adam and the Ants there on the 20th July 1979 before they had a record contract one of the best gigs ever highlight Plastic Surgery and Parisien Girls

 

Talking of which can anyone remember The Clash playing a short gig there (I think it was Outer Limits at the time). I think The Clash were on the point of breaking up at the time and were playing some sort of thank you tour.

 

Also have great memories of Clouds, first disco I managed to get in, probably 15 or 16 at the time. My mates sister who was a bit of a looker managed to sweet-talk the bouncers into letting us in. Felt like a king going back to school on the Monday.

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Hugh Watt
Talking of which can anyone remember The Clash playing a short gig there (I think it was Outer Limits at the time). I think The Clash were on the point of breaking up at the time and were playing some sort of thank you tour.

 

Also have great memories of Clouds, first disco I managed to get in, probably 15 or 16 at the time. My mates sister who was a bit of a looker managed to sweet-talk the bouncers into letting us in. Felt like a king going back to school on the Monday.

 

They did a short 'busking' tour up and down the UK unnanounced and then descended on Edinburgh, where they played at La Sorbonne (cowgate) and on Princes street, then Outer Limits (now cavendish). Being a busking gig, they had no PA and refused the mics that were offered to them, so basically all you could hear was the audience singing along to them !!!

They only did 6 or 7 numbers, but because it was free, no-one gave a toss, we were just happy to witness it!

 

:smiley2:

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slashishere
Me too. Early to mid 90's were when I went.

 

3 floors of madness from the laughing at the goths dancing on the top floor to headbanging on the middle floor to checking out the birds and have a bit of a shoegaze on the ground floor.

 

I had many newkie broon, tequila and speed filled nights in there. The walk back to my flat next to the Wheatsheaf in Gorgie never seemed that far. I once got a black eye headbanging in there a week before a big job interview

 

Gutted when I went back and they had ruined it as Espionage

 

I seem to remember Newkie Broon always being on special offer and your spot on, laughing at the goths, quick mosh, and then down for the indie tunes, top quality!!

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  • 6 years later...

Ok, slight change to thread title.

 

Can anyone who lived in or drank in Tollcross in the 70's remember the name of a wee bar/restaurant in Tollcross on the premises that became Chaplins bar? Chaplins was run by Timmy Pearson and his dad of the same name. Tommy junior was a huge Rangers fan.

 

Anyway, the place in question had tartan carpets and it keeps coming into my head that the name of the place had the word "tartan" in it as well.

 

Been trying to remember this for 4 days now! Driving me nuts.

 

Just behind Barclay church and round from the Golf tavern.

 

I think it is now called The Belfry.

 

Thanks in advance.

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Ok, slight change to thread title.

Can anyone who lived in or drank in Tollcross in the 70's remember the name of a wee bar/restaurant in Tollcross on the premises that became Chaplins bar? Chaplins was run by Timmy Pearson and his dad of the same name. Tommy junior was a huge Rangers fan.

Anyway, the place in question had tartan carpets and it keeps coming into my head that the name of the place had the word "tartan" in it as well.

Been trying to remember this for 4 days now! Driving me nuts.

Just behind Barclay church and round from the Golf tavern.

I think it is now called The Belfry.

Thanks in advance.

Addendum: think it is maybe called Hendricks now.

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What about the Cats Pyjamas at Abbeyhill. It's now Chatham Honda

Edited by 3fingersreid
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The Lord Darnley - West Port

Pipers - Lothian Road

Major Browns - just for the paggers with the TCR  lol!

The Western.

 

Burke and Hare.

 

Anne Marie?

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The ones I remember best are the Hooch in Tollcross - the Josef K boys used to hang out there I think - and the Kangaroo Club on Victoria Street. Cinderella's was next to St Stephen Church, east end of St Stephen Street. Pretty horrible. Big Tam used to bounce there back in the day. It got torched.

 

Anyone remember El Cambalachi at Haymarket (Spider's Web?), run by those two Chilean dudes, Juan and Nestor? That must have been mid-1980s.

 

Valentinos was a Josef K haunt too

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Ok, slight change to thread title.

 

Can anyone who lived in or drank in Tollcross in the 70's remember the name of a wee bar/restaurant in Tollcross on the premises that became Chaplins bar? Chaplins was run by Timmy Pearson and his dad of the same name. Tommy junior was a huge Rangers fan.

 

Anyway, the place in question had tartan carpets and it keeps coming into my head that the name of the place had the word "tartan" in it as well.

 

Been trying to remember this for 4 days now! Driving me nuts.

 

Just behind Barclay church and round from the Golf tavern.

 

I think it is now called The Belfry.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

You're not thinking of the Tartan Club up at the brewery?

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