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Edinburgh Nightclubs of Yesteryear


WavyGravy

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JamboInSouthsea

In no particular chronological order...

 

Acid at The Mission (Acid House with Acid Jazz downstairs)

Big Bird at Wilkie House (up front house, whatever that means)

Shaft and FBI at teaching college union on Holyrood Rd. (now Bongo Club?)

Rennaisance at Cavendish (shoegazing noise)

The Egg/Roadrunner at Wee Red Bar (60's plus indie pop)

Potterow on Fridays for indie noise

Pure at Venue

Sativa at Calton Studios.

Thunderball (various venues)

 

Probably some others but may well have been in an altered state of mind...not that I wasn't at any of the above.

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Remnants of Standards

Shag (run by a mate) - the mission

pure - the venue

Taste, Joy, Sub Club, Sativa.

 

Wilkie house as a venue was tremendous, and am still devastated they've desecrated it's memory by turning it into Faith.

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The Venue is still my favourite club in Edinburgh. What is it now? I'm sure they were supposed to turn it into flats but is it not some kind of gallery now...

 

Sadly yes. And I think Virgin are in higher levels. I always feel a bit sad when I walk by it and see what has happened to it. I think I bore Mrs Chester with the stories as I go by too. Great nights in there. I was particularly fond of Majestica.

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kingston dreads

So sad writing this at 10 on a Saturday night must be getting old.

 

1975 topfloor of Clouds walking into the Northern Soul scheme thought I had died gone to heaven.

 

Sundays at the Grosvener Hotel West End

 

Bus to Wigan, Allnighters Falkirk. Kirkcaldy, Dundee.

 

Four hours sleep from Friday to Monday.

 

Amazing what you can do and take before your 21st birthday.

 

KEEP THE FAITH

 

1978 went disco at Buster Browns and meet my wife who looked like an iconic beautiful women from Dynasty

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Pipers now the scrubway in lothian road.

We used to venture a bit further afield when we got bored with the Edinburgh club scene.

Oil can Harrys Falkirk

Night magic Dunfermline

Bentleys and Jackie O's Kirkcaldy

One in Livvy I can't remember the name off an another in Bo ness,we thought we were the bollocks being from the capital....we were just we twats the the locals loved us

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jambos are go!

Tiffanys If I recall correctly used to be a Cabaret Club and IIRC Shirley Bassey once did a week there. Walkers on Shandwick place strangely burnt down a few times. The Place was the place in my youth along with the Greenhill although to describe them as nightclubs is a bit much. There was a place in Morningside next to the Dominion I can't remember the name of.

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So sad writing this at 10 on a Saturday night must be getting old.

 

1975 topfloor of Clouds walking into the Northern Soul scheme thought I had died gone to heaven.

 

Sundays at the Grosvener Hotel West End

 

Bus to Wigan, Allnighters Falkirk. Kirkcaldy, Dundee.

 

Four hours sleep from Friday to Monday.

 

Amazing what you can do and take before your 21st birthday.

 

KEEP THE FAITH

 

1978 went disco at Buster Browns and meet my wife who looked like an iconic beautiful women from Dynasty

You,ve stolen my life story exactly.First all-nighter was the Mannaqui(spelling) in Falkirk 1975 when I was 14.Interchanged the Soul Club with the Drummohr(Wallyford) on a Sunday night,rarely went to school on a Monday morning.First all-nighter at The Casino was 3rd Anniversary Archie Bell and the Drells or was it Junior Walker and The All Stars.Look it up when I,m soberer

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No sure it was a club as such but we used to head into the Lord Darnley at the West Port a lot which then became the Caz Rock.

 

Loads of memories on this thread

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You,ve stolen my life story exactly.First all-nighter was the Mannaqui(spelling) in Falkirk 1975 when I was 14.Interchanged the Soul Club with the Drummohr(Wallyford) on a Sunday night,rarely went to school on a Monday morning.First all-nighter at The Casino was 3rd Anniversary Archie Bell and the Drells or was it Junior Walker and The All Stars.Look it up when I,m soberer

You guys got any old 7"s taking up space in the attic you want rid of :ninja: My first niter was the jack cane in 84.Not a patch on you guys but i was hooked from that day.

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There was a place in Morningside next to the Dominion I can't remember the name of.

 

The Plaza, featuring the wonderful Kathy and The Kentones :woot:

 

The building is now Waitrose.

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It wasnt fire island when I went

 

It was the West End Club.

Nobody was saying anythingh like.

Saw the Valves playing at the West End Club.

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I remember most of them... Tho not the Fountain or The place.. Everybodys in Blair St i went to cos my pals sister owned it and free rink... Im the same as you never heard of most of the places on this thread...

The Fountain was more a bar with a function room. I worked there for some time. It features in an ebook coming out at the end of Feb. and written by...........me. More shameless plugging nearer the time.

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Dik Mar Van Nostrilboy

Back in the day it sounded like edinburgh had a great nightlife, i'm only 20 and have been bumped with places like the hive, stereo, city, subway etc! When whynots the best place to go you know its toleys!

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vlad on the tyne

Disco inferno and mercado was the regular weekend for us but did venture to walkers,red hot and honeycomb.

Century 2000 was a good night on a Wednesday!

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Wot no Pure?

 

Best club Edinburgh has seen in my and many others lifetimes. Mid 90s when all the other clubs were going down the wanky housey-garagey-poppy shite road, Pure was still booking guys like Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson.

 

Special mention also for Sativa, Fri nights in Edinburgh in those days were legendary.

 

And while we're at it, what about Taste? Always good for a laugh, anyone who went there was always in a ****-it-i-aint-going-to-work-tomorrow mood and just went wild!

 

Robert, you're clearly a man of taste! Loved Sativa back in the day. Also remember Lift at Wilkie House and Purple Moon at the old Moray House, some cracking acid techno action there!

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Buster Browns my fave circa 89-91. Big Tommy Moore on the door, a gentleman bouncer. Cheap and cherrful and always packed.

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Rupert Pupkin

Tribal Funktion on Saturdays @ THE VENUE is also worth a mention. Never as good as PURE( but then again nothing came close back then)but was always "ROCKIN"

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scots civil war

saw the Shamen and Fini tribe at Wilkie house on the Progen tour,what a great venue that was.......pity its gone,like a small queens hall iirc...

 

late 80s,1990... moray house had a shoegazing and grunge night on the saturday and the venue pre-Pure was 1999 or summat

 

that was all the gary clail/ON-Usound dubbed stuff goin on ....proper dry ice in there,you couldnt not see more than your nose...

 

first club i ever got into was the hoochie coochie on a wednesday night about 83 maybe.still at school....playin real good post new wave,post disco stuff....think simple minds `i travel`,indeep`s `last night a dj saved my life` etc...

 

saw Dave Clarke,Aphex Twin at Pure,loads of bands (inc my own first gig) at the Venue,so that is a bit of a shrine in what was my musical education 80s/90s...i like it in its static,viewable from outside form at the moment.....hopefully it will start up again in the future..

 

Fire island allways had a brilliant reputation for music,wonder what its like in that space nowadays...mid princes street and upstairs from shop level

Edited by scots civil war
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Wot no Pure?

 

Best club Edinburgh has seen in my and many others lifetimes. Mid 90s when all the other clubs were going down the wanky housey-garagey-poppy shite road, Pure was still booking guys like Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson.

 

Special mention also for Sativa, Fri nights in Edinburgh in those days were legendary.

 

And while we're at it, what about Taste? Always good for a laugh, anyone who went there was always in a ****-it-i-aint-going-to-work-tomorrow mood and just went wild!

 

 

Twitch & Brainstorm had the right idea with PURE, Best nights of my clubbing life in there & their big nights in the Barowlands where also banging , Ritchie Hawtin,Miss Djax, Eggi bam Yassi(sp?), Lenny Dee the list goes on

even the night before a barrowlands party, where orbital was playing, Twich & brainstorm got them to play the venue, fantastic night.

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saw the Shamen and Fini tribe at Wilkie house on the Progen tour,what a great venue that was.......pity its gone,like a small queens hall iirc...

 

late 80s,1990... moray house had a shoegazing and grunge night on the saturday and the venue pre-Pure was 1999 or summat

 

that was all the gary clail/ON-Usound dubbed stuff goin on ....proper dry ice in there,you couldnt not see more than your nose...

 

first club i ever got into was the hoochie coochie on a wednesday night about 83 maybe.still at school....playin real good post new wave,post disco stuff....think simple minds `i travel`,indeep`s `last night a dj saved my life` etc...

 

saw Dave Clarke,Aphex Twin at Pure,loads of bands (inc my own first gig) at the Venue,so that is a bit of a shrine in what was my musical education 80s/90s...i like it in its static,viewable from outside form at the moment.....hopefully it will start up again in the future..

 

Fire island allways had a brilliant reputation for music,wonder what its like in that space nowadays...mid princes street and upstairs from shop level

 

Fire Island was a gay club i'm sure?

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J.T.F.Robertson

So sad writing this at 10 on a Saturday night must be getting old.

 

1975 topfloor of Clouds walking into the Northern Soul scheme thought I had died gone to heaven.

 

Sundays at the Grosvener Hotel West End

 

Bus to Wigan, Allnighters Falkirk. Kirkcaldy, Dundee.

 

Four hours sleep from Friday to Monday.

 

Amazing what you can do and take before your 21st birthday.

 

KEEP THE FAITH

 

1978 went disco at Buster Browns and meet my wife who looked like an iconic beautiful women from Dynasty

 

 

Great nights!

I was living in Aberdeen around that time and would go straight from there to the Waverley to catch the train back up. (having been sweating like a porker :ermm:)

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Fantastic work guys, keep them coming. Dont worry about going outwith the paramiters, the more info the better.

 

Personally had some cracking nights in the early 90's. Blast at Mercado, Triptonite North, Carbolic. Was never that into the indie stuff but had some cracking nights at FBI and the other student nights.

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Fire Island was a gay club i'm sure?

 

Yes it was. But the West End club was the very centre of hetero-sexuality in Edinburgh, and no mistake

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Yes it was. But the West End club was the very centre of hetero-sexuality in Edinburgh, and no mistake

 

 

It was indeed. We used to occasionally launch pies from the upper balcony on to the dancers below. Great times. :ninja:

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scots civil war

******* ridiculous behaviour right there

 

pies at dancers wtf?

 

 

 

 

i moved to london in 1990,and i missed out on Sativae.......that would have been superb.i did techno do`s myself,playing the same sort of stuff as sativae(although a bit later in the 90s decade) and with a performance kind of angle as well....would have loved that clocking a bunch of drummers coming into the venue at 3am etc....sativae was a groundbreaking audio emission and a damn good label as well,today we have a lot of respected djs and producers in tech,tekno that were touched by the sativae .........llandstrum,subhead,the hacker etc....

 

the stuff of legend

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Was Fat Sams definitely a club? I seem to remember it as a restaurant next door to the club???

Aye, The Red Hot was a separate building next door to Fat Sams im sure. Seem to remember it that way. Not had a Topkapi for yonks!

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Remnants of Standards

Moray house also deserves a mention, saw a great chumbawamba gig there in '89 which was disrupted by hibs casuals trying to break the front door down. Think they were on their Friday night run up the cowgate, when they'd demand money from venues or else basically. A few of them got past the bouncers, but were beaten up by punks. One of them was bitten in the backside by the band mascot alsatian!

I got wasted at the bar afterwards,fell asleep in the toilet and awoke to find everyone had gone home leaving me stumbling about in the dark trying to get out. Unfortunately the bar was shuttered up and I had to call the cops who directed me to an emergency exit at the back of the building.

Sheepish was not the word.

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Moray house also deserves a mention, saw a great chumbawamba gig there in '89 which was disrupted by hibs casuals trying to break the front door down. Think they were on their Friday night run up the cowgate, when they'd demand money from venues or else basically. A few of them got past the bouncers, but were beaten up by punks. One of them was bitten in the backside by the band mascot alsatian!

I got wasted at the bar afterwards,fell asleep in the toilet and awoke to find everyone had gone home leaving me stumbling about in the dark trying to get out. Unfortunately the bar was shuttered up and I had to call the cops who directed me to an emergency exit at the back of the building.

Sheepish was not the word.

Heard from an old acquaintance they tried all that on at the Calton Studios too but were on the end of a few pastings.

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Misread the OP

 

Cinderella's was in Stockbridge and it burnt down (as nightclubs tended to do in the Eighties)

Busters is still there, no idea whats its called these days

Zenatec was in King Stables Road and has changed names countless times

Century 2000 became The Picture House (fierst went there when it was the Caley Palais)

Outer Limits is the Cavendish now? Or Jurrasic Park as it was know when I was in my mid twenties

Mission is now Espionage (?) on Victoria Street. Brilliant times had in there in what was Edinburghs most socially diverse club at the time.

La Belle Angelle was on the Cowgate and disappeared in a gas explosion

The Venue is now offices!!

 

Remember the days when it was known as the Amphitheatre

 

Easy pickings.

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saw the Shamen and Fini tribe at Wilkie house on the Progen tour,what a great venue that was.......pity its gone,like a small queens hall iirc...

 

late 80s,1990... moray house had a shoegazing and grunge night on the saturday and the venue pre-Pure was 1999 or summat

 

that was all the gary clail/ON-Usound dubbed stuff goin on ....proper dry ice in there,you couldnt not see more than your nose...

 

first club i ever got into was the hoochie coochie on a wednesday night about 83 maybe.still at school....playin real good post new wave,post disco stuff....think simple minds `i travel`,indeep`s `last night a dj saved my life` etc...

 

saw Dave Clarke,Aphex Twin at Pure,loads of bands (inc my own first gig) at the Venue,so that is a bit of a shrine in what was my musical education 80s/90s...i like it in its static,viewable from outside form at the moment.....hopefully it will start up again in the future..

 

Fire island allways had a brilliant reputation for music,wonder what its like in that space nowadays...mid princes street and upstairs from shop level

Think Waterstones is where Fire Island was.

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Just found this thread! No mention of La Sorbonne? Down the Cowgate next to Sneaky Petes. Best midweek night out in the 80s.

sneaky petes?!?!?!?!

 

many's a good night i had in there. had the BEST jukebox in edinburgh and shoulders was a proper legend hahaha

 

Think Waterstones is where Fire Island was.

 

fire island was above watches of switzerland.

one of my gay mates always tells me about when he used to go awaaaaaaaay nack in the 80s how they'd get a cab up, but never have the balls to say "fire island" and that they always asked to be dropped off at watches of switzerland

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sneaky petes?!?!?!?!

 

many's a good night i had in there. had the BEST jukebox in edinburgh and shoulders was a proper legend hahaha

 

Absolutely best jukebox - had some great nights there. Seem to remember it was open later than anywhere else too.

 

 

fire island was above watches of switzerland.

one of my gay mates always tells me about when he used to go awaaaaaaaay nack in the 80s how they'd get a cab up, but never have the balls to say "fire island" and that they always asked to be dropped off at watches of switzerland

 

 

Like the taxi driver wouldn't know!

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Cinderellas was Tiffanys and The West End Club used to be called The International or the Nash as we all called it back then...Also Flannigans in Rose Street Lane :P

 

Beat me to it!! The place was a dump but good for an easy pick up. thumbsup.gif

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That one on the left hand side of Victoria Street? Maybe no' the right name - the street that goes from the library on the bridges to the grassmarket, think you had to go downstairs to get in? Anyway, that one, whatever the hell it was called. Memory banks closing down at the moment.

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broughies tach

That one on the left hand side of Victoria Street? Maybe no' the right name - the street that goes from the library on the bridges to the grassmarket, think you had to go downstairs to get in? Anyway, that one, whatever the hell it was called. Memory banks closing down at the moment.

 

Nicky Tams ?

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  • 2 years later...
Nelly Terraces

Arguement in the Diggers tonight, we're trying to remember the name of the gaff in St James cente, did a google search and found this thread from years back. None of us think Sinatras was at the St J Centre, but if anyone can confirm otherwise they'd be helping the poor *******s sitting next to us listening to this shite haha!

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Arguement in the Diggers tonight, we're trying to remember the name of the gaff in St James cente, did a google search and found this thread from years back. None of us think Sinatras was at the St J Centre, but if anyone can confirm otherwise they'd be helping the poor *******s sitting next to us listening to this shite haha!

 

Wasn't Sinatras in the Playhouse? The one at St James Centre had a few names, none of which are coming to me just now.

 

Edit. Actually scrub that I'm talking shite. St James Centre one was deffo Sinatras. I remember the glass bit nest to the door had an image in silhouette of Frank Sinatra in a trilby hat. I think it was The Nightclub in The Playhouse.

Edited by Tazio
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