90's Nights in Brighton

THE PARADOX IS BEING DEMOLISHED!

Another slice of our youth bites the dust.

The building that housed The Paradox, Tru, Creation, Pink Coconut, Sherry’s etc. is due to be knocked down and rebuilt into a hotel apparently. Not that West Street in Brighton doesn't need a HUGE makeover though. During daylight hours it just looks totally run down, and at night time it looks anything but classy… but maybe it’s always looked that way? I’m sure I didn’t care much about it when we were sloshed up, walking (staggering) up or down it back in the 90’s!

I did previous writings about pubbing and clubbing days a while back, which ultimately became one of my most read blogs:

November 1993

...but it only really mentioned a couple of venues, so what about the other haunts from back in the day?

I’d not even made mention of The Paradox in that earlier blog, but it was absolutely somewhere I often ventured to, amongst many other locations during the 1990’s. I’m sure I drank in most places around Brighton at least once during those formative years, but the below are a few that most spring to mind:

Alley Cats / Ali Cats?

Funny little bar, which in my mind’s eye always used to be showing films on a big screen – and often it was ‘The Empire Strikes Back’!

Very pokey when busy, but if you could get a seat it was quite cosy and you could settle in for the night. Full of students, Goths and Emos’, so it was wonderfully eclectic and very friendly. That said, I probably stuck out like a sore thumb with my curtains haircut!

Berlin Bar

Never really got on with the Berlin Bar, and whenever I did go, I never stayed very long. It always seemed too dark? Imagine having a night club in Hollister, and you’re on the right track

Memorable Song?

I'm not sure about memorable, but the first time I heard N-Trance murdering Stayin’ Alive was in here. The Bee Gees are probably still turning in their graves.

The Biscuit Factory

Had a very strange toilet that played ghostly and haunting sounds whenever you went for a slash. That’s assuming the noises weren't actually coming from the adjacent female toilets? A chap got shot in the doorway during the 90’s so it had the label of being a rough pub, which I don’t believe it ever really was.

Black Lion

Another fairly small pub, but was quite popular. It used to have a video jukebox (quite impressive for the time) which played chart hits. I remember falling out with a ‘mate’ of mine one New Year’s Eve, when he reneged on a prior agreement made between 6 or 7 of the group we were in to rotate seats (as there were not enough to go round) when we went to the bar to get rounds in. I’m not bitter much usually, but he was being a total berk...

I saw him recently. He went bald first. Unlucky! 

Memorable Song?

Virtual Insanity by Jamiroquai was often on the screen:

The Cricketers

Only worthy of a mention due to the weird upstairs. It was like a dark, dank boudoir with no apparent purpose. Always found it to be a really boring pub.

Is it still the same?

The Event (renamed ‘The Event II’ from Spring 1995, now Pryzm, via Oceana!)

Probably the venue I attended the most, though I didn’t really enjoy it so much when I first started clubbing. As I grew older I much preferred Tuesdays and Fridays to Saturdays. Such a different group of people would go out in Brighton on a Friday night compared to a Saturday night. The atmosphere was so much more relaxed and you didn’t have to actively try and avoid the people who couldn’t handle their shandies.

We always tended to congregate at the same spot at the top left bar over all the years I went there (not counting its Oceana refurb as they ripped the backside out of the place doing THAT overhaul!)

It was a good vantage point, overlooking the dance floor and stage etc. Guaranteed that no matter what night you went on, you’d know someone in that area.

I get mocked, but I’ve no shame in saying I had some absolutely brilliant nights up there with my friends – it was cheap and cheerful, but a really good laugh. Often on the Tuesday nights I’d be there ‘til chucking out time (230-ish), eat a Subway or Cheeky Chicken on the way home, get a couple of hours sleep at most, and be at work setting up the Deli counter at Sainsbury’s by 545am, clearly still drunk.

I remember one such morning, the deputy store manager summoned me into an office to discuss my ‘state’… and he promptly shook my hand, congratulating me on coming into work in spite of my excesses!

Anyways, there are so many Memorable Song options, but I’ll be brutal and stick to two for each of the main nights:

Memorable Friday Songs?

I Think We’re Alone Now – Tiffany

Live It Up – Mental As Anything

Memorable Saturday Songs?

Moving On Up – M People

Boom! Shake The Room – DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince

Memorable Tuesday Songs? 

Parklife – Blur

Born Slippy (NUXX) – Underworld

Font & Firkin

I used to like going to The Font to watch football, and remember getting soaked with flying beer when Beckham scored his famous last minute goal against Greece in 2001. The music in here would not often be my particular choices when it was forced upon the punters, but when they turned the jukebox on I’d fill it with stuff I liked!

Memorable Song?

Smoke – Natalie Imbruglia

The Gloucester

I loved The Gloucester. I honestly don’t think I ever left the place sober!

Every time I went there I had a great time, even the night when someone threatened to kill me if I spoke to his girlfriend again.

The current incumbent is called The North Laine, which is still the same building, and is indeed a very decent bar, but it doesn't have the same feel like the Gloucester used to. Besides, the Gloucester always had sticky floors!

I remember the first night I ever went there, I was having a heavy moshing session and back then, pre laser surgery days, I wore glasses. Amongst the colliding, my glasses went flying, so I hit the deck desperately trying to find them. Miraculously I grabbed them before they got crushed, but then this huge guy (a bouncer?) hoyed me up and threw me off the dance floor area to safety. I think he was doing me a favour!?

Memorable Song?

Too many! I can’t narrow it down to less than these three:

Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana

Don’t Look Back in Anger – Oasis

Live Forever – Oasis

The Hungry Years

Another venue where I stuck out like a sore thumb, but I always found it a really friendly and inclusive club, whatever clique or group you felt attached to.

We usually went there if we ever left The Event early on a Friday, to meet up with other friends who had been there for the duration.

Memorable Song?

Faith – George Michael… but it wasn’t his version they played

Midnight Blues (under the Grand Hotel)

Gets a mention as it was where I had a party for my joint 21st birthday.

The party was a great night, and we had about 120 people show up. It would have been more, but the other birthday boy neglected to invite more than 10 other people...

I think I might have been there a couple of times beforehand, and just felt it was a fairly decent and cheap (free) venue to hire. That said I don’t think I’ve ever been back since!

O’Neill’s (now Seven Stars)

Always really enjoyed the atmosphere in this Irish bar where, incidentally, Brighton and Hove Albion was formed in 1901.

One night in particular stands out in early 1996, when I met up with a tremendously funny Irish guy I worked with at Sainsbury’s on a Tuesday evening for a few drinks, as his brother’s band were playing a gig at the venue.

The company, banter, music and booze was a total joy that night. I’ve generally always been a spirits drinker, but after I’d hit 10 Guinnesses in about 2 hours, I stopped counting. That’s not a boast, it was just one of those nights when everything seamlessly flowed.

I ended up singing Irish folk songs that I didn’t know the words to, and then we went clubbing to The Event where they had to hold me up to get me in!

How can all that be more than 21 years ago!?

Memorable Song?

Wild Rover – My mate’s brother’s band!

The Paradox

I generally went here on Thursdays as I think that was student night?

It didn’t matter if you were actually a student or not, but this night generally meant cheap booze, so it was the equivalent of the type of night that The Event had on Tuesdays. One advantage that The Paradox had over The Event was that there were definitely pockets where you could actually have a conversation with someone, whereas the sound at The Event used to boom around everywhere (apart from maybe the back stairs)

The balcony around the top was good too, giving a bird’s eye view of the place (no pun intended), plus you could get some decent food at the back too.

The least said about the dodgy staircases the better. I don’t quite know how more people didn’t lose a limb going down those. The pic below of me (circa 1998), shows that I’m either dancing or, more likely, trying to regain my balance having walked down said stairs…

There was also Club Barcelona underneath, which offered an alternative, but there may have been an older age restriction there? Occasionally we’d go on a Monday when they hosted Austin Powers themed nights – always a good laugh, and with added 60’s music to boot.

Memorable Song?

Earth Song (Hani Club Remix) – Michael Jackson

The Pav Tav

Sorry but I never liked it, and found it quite boring frankly, but many raved about how good it was. Just couldn’t see it myself!

The Polar Bar

Worth a quick mention of this teeny bar along Western Road as they served all kinds of bizarre cocktails and flavoured vodkas. Used to love the sherbet vodka combi.

The Pull and Pump

This compact pub was usually the first place we headed to on our nights out in Brighton. It always had a buzzing and friendly atmosphere, and would set us up for the night ahead.

Generally we’d get there at about 7ish and spend an hour or so dabbling with a healthy dose of Absinthe, Tuaca or Aftershock before heading off elsewhere into town (usually The Quadrant – see below)

Miscellaneously, I broke up from my first girlfriend in The Pull – there’s irony for ya!

The Quadrant

I got the impression that we owned the jukebox in The Quad! It’s fair to say that they played what we demanded or insisted on every time we went in there. Friday nights always seemed a bit more retro, as when we went there on other nights, we might as well have been on a totally different planet; such was the different vibe and clientele.

The staff were a good laugh – one lad looked like Take That’s Mark Owen and we ribbed him mercilessly for it. Sadly I heard that the landlord Gary Ockwell passed away at quite a young age…he loved being a bit of a misery and banned Christmas one year, which attracted the interest of a couple of national newspapers.

And we’ll never forget the night that Bryan Ferry walked in…

Memorable Song?

Lazy Sunday – The Small Faces

The Revenge

The Revenge in the 90’s was (and still is) Brighton’s most popular gay club. I have to be honest in my writings and say that it was never really a place I was keen to go to, as firstly I felt I wouldn’t meet any girls there, and somewhat ashamedly the younger me was unnecessarily nervous about going to a club labelled (unjustifiably) in my mind as ‘non-straight’.

I obviously know now just how ridiculous that sounds, but I just wasn’t enlightened enough to process it at the time. What totally swayed my views on everything the lifestyle encompassed, was when I was persuaded to go to Revenge for the leaving ‘do’ of a colleague of mine. He mockingly said he would look after me, but within a few minutes he needn't have bothered. It literally clicked that it was all fine.

Any homophobia I might have had, which I genuinely believe stemmed from a fear of the unknown rather than any hatred, vanished instantly. It WAS just another club, there were men, women, straights, gays, bisexuals, unknowns, those who did not identify, and everything in between, labelled or not.

I was initially very embarrassed about why I had not simply adhered to live and let live, but ultimately I put it down to my immaturity and ill education on the matter.

Actually I was just pleased that I wasn’t still stuck in an archaic view. Bizarrely, one of my friends admitted that he would say he lived in Worthing rather than Brighton, so as to avoid being tarred with the ‘gay’ brush. How pathetic is that? Hopefully he has grown somewhat since then!

Anyways, back to the point, and I can say that the club was great, and played the sort of terrific music that I loved – i.e. 80’s music, and whilst I wasn’t a prolific visitor, I always enjoyed going.

Memorable Song?

Summer of Love – Steps, or anything by ABBA!

Smugglers

This was one of the first pubs I went to regularly in Brighton. Good atmosphere, plenty of drinks choice, and nice décor split into two staggered levels… and then bizarrely they ruined it by putting in a restaurant on the upper level. Week after week we would watch literally nobody eat there. Just a few miserable waiters hanging round hoping for a customer. Very strange.

Zap

Me and a few mates only really went here when they did 80s nights – which being a Monday meant the overall feel of the night was a bit odd. The layout was quite good though, and the club had the famous arched windows too.

Memorable Songs?

Ghostbusters – Ray Parker Jr

Tainted Love – Soft Cell

Alone Again (Naturally) – Wendy and Hee Hee

I feel a bit sorry for the next generation, as it seems to cost an absolute fortune to go out into Brighton now. Maybe it’s all relevant and I’m just old, as I’m sure some things are probably better about a night out.

For example, all the above venues were visited well before the smoking ban came in. Smoke free venues are a given nowadays, but even as a non-smoker I have to be honest and say that the copious smoking in such venues never bothered me whilst I was living through it. It was just the way it was.

What I’m absolutely glad that I didn’t have back then, is a mobile phone.

The banter, singing, laughs and conversations must surely have died since the advent of the smart phone, which is actually a real shame… it’s even got to the point where I’ve been aware of the current youth saying that they won’t go out at all if they don’t have their phone with them.

They really don’t know what they might be missing out on... And now I sound too old!

95 / 96 – BritPop and Lime Green Summers

As we draw a close to 2015, and approach 2016, it’s dawned on me that it’s been 20 years since one of the favourite periods of my youth.

I say youth, but does 20 years old count as a youthful age!?

Both 1995 and 1996 bring back many memories for me – thankfully most of them good! I remember feeling in just a bit more of a bouncy good mood and seemingly much more confident in myself for some reason, having been quite the shy lad for far too many years. I think that maybe the glandular fever, anaemia and fatigue I’d had flirtations with over the few years previous had finally been left in the past, and I never really felt I had anywhere near enough the fun in my late teens as I ought to have had.

I can’t even specifically put my finger on why these years have lingered longer in the annals than others. There were no life changing events, but the time just had a buzz for me that for whatever reason I’ve not been able to easily forget.

So what was it about ’95 and ‘96?

Maybe it was the music?

In the first half of the nineties, I found that there wasn’t a particular collective of music that I could (or wanted) to fall into. There were, of course, many fantastic songs during this period though – indeed one of my favourite ever songs came out in 1994 (Baby I Love Your Way – Big Mountain), but largely the charts felt just much of a muchness. And then out of the shadows of the rumblings of the Indie scene, came its commercial cousin: BritPop

 

It had taken me a while to get into any kind of alternative genres, as perhaps my tastes were limited? But once I’d listened to Blur’s ‘Parklife’ and Oasis’ ‘Definitely Maybe’ albums, I – like many others – fell straight in with it. Blur’s follow up album ‘The Great Escape’ came out in the late summer of 1995 and I loved it instantly.

There was also a huge amount of hype that surrounded BritPop, culminating in a media / press battle going on between the two powerhead bands previously mentioned. I suppose it was a modern day equivalent of the 1960’s chart battles between The Beatles and The Rolling Stones (albeit not sales volumes wise) although those two legendary bands were actually on friendly terms with each other, and the same couldn’t be said about Blur and Oasis! It wasn’t just those two bands though – there was suddenly a ton of good music around. The Different Class album by Pulp, to name but one additional gem, had a number of songs that gave a keenly accurate soundtrack in representing the time we were living in.

BritPop has rightfully gone down in history as an immensely popular phase of music, and although it was all too short lived, it provided a helluva soundtrack for the mid-nineties.

To compound the zeitgeist I went with friends to Wembley Arena to see Blur in concert just before Christmas, and Pulp at the Brighton Centre a few months later. Bands at their peak and in their prime, and both were cracking gigs full of energy. Oasis at Knebworth was out of reach unfortunately!

It wasn’t all about BritPop though. Earlier in 1995, as a huge fan I’d been long awaiting the new Michael Jackson album, and when ‘HIStory’ was released, I wasn’t disappointed.

I’d also been to see The Rolling Stones at Wembley Stadium, and the self-styled ‘Greatest Rock & Roll Band’ could still do the business and belted out their back catalogue in some style. And for completeness, even The Beatles made something of a comeback, having a hugely successful mini renaissance with the release of their Anthology series – in fact in 1996 they ended as the biggest selling album artists for the first time in nearly 30 years. Gradually building up my massive music collection, I was grateful to receive their ‘Abbey Road’’ album as a Christmas present in 1995.

Not only that, I was also happy as Michael Jackson attained the coveted Christmas number one single (when it actually meant something!) with ’Earth Song’, holding off The Beatles’ ‘new’ track ‘Free as a Bird’, and the respective versions of ‘Wonderwall’ by Oasis and The Mike Flowers Pops.

The range of music was immense, and I could waffle on about loads more, but with the word count ticking up, I’ll summarise to say that we also had the euphoria of Three Lions, taking the already stunning Lightning Seeds further into orbit. Plus the phenomenon of the Spice Girls:

 

Not forgetting Paul Weller’s ‘Stanley Road’ and the return of George Michael – who’d been away even longer than Michael Jackson. And of course, the Return of the Mack…

Maybe it was the football?

This was also a monumental period for football. I’m not talking about Euro ’96 though, although that WAS stirring for the memory banks in many ways too, but ultimately football did NOT come home as we had ultimately wanted it to. As alluded to above, you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing the football anthem ‘Three Lions’ being played from a pub or a car that summer – very catchy and emotive stuff.

No, I’m talking about the pitch invasion at Brighton and Hove Albion’s Soldstone Goldstone Ground as fans drew attention to the footballing world about just what was happening to our club.

 

Football often provides a backdrop to my recollections, but the period 1995 – 1997 inclusive was about as intense as I suspect it will ever be in my lifetime.

In April 1996 we played York City. We’d heard rumours that ‘something’ would happen, but no-one expected the scenes that followed at around 15 minutes into the game. I was in the North Stand and watched on as thousands of fans poured onto the pitch in a bid to get the game abandoned. The national media called it a ‘riot’, which it never was. There was a family in front of us on the pitch eating strawberries and cream from a picnic basket, whilst sitting on a rug. That is NOT the scene of a riot. After a few minutes, the game was indeed abandoned as both goal crossbars were snapped in half, making it impossible for the game to be restarted.

Thankfully it became quickly evident that hooliganism was not alive and well in England again, and that Brighton’s fans protests had absolutely been a cry for help. Our club was being ravaged by money-men and wrong doers, and we – the fans – were caring for it in a very animated way. It carried on in a similar vein for another 12 months, when we ultimately proved that off the field, fans united will never be defeated.

On the field it was very hard to get behind the team with such aggravation going on, but once the directors had left the scene, the focus and atmosphere at the home games in particular was spectacularly good, as we fought for our very existence. For a passionate football fan, these were thrilling times.

Maybe it was work?

Aged 20, I’d still not decided what sort of career I wanted to have (at 40 I still haven’t!) but work was at least relatively care free and fun during this time, as referred to in some of my earlier blogs:

Trollied Part 1

Trollied Part 2

Trollied Revisited

Christmas at work in 1995 was the start of some proper responsibility based grafting. My manager had broken her ankle just before Christmas and had to take the whole period off work, so with the deputy store manager having little faith in her understudy, I was asked to run the Deli over Christmas. I loved my first taste of properly being in charge, and I pulled up trees to make the counter as successful as possible over the main period of 21^st-24^th December. Considering I was quite the novice, we did spectacularly well. I finished at 5pm on Christmas Eve absolutely knackered, but I knew I’d done a really good job and consequently I got my first ever promotion at work – with my pay rising up to all of £6.50 an hour!

 

My achievement didn’t come without an element of jealousy from others sadly. Two or three work colleagues, who up till then had been really good friends of mine, turned on me simply because I wasn’t ‘one of the lads’ anymore in their eyes. Fair play to one of them, who some months later actually apologised to me for saying I’d had an attitude problem.

I firmly believed that no-one had any grounds to be so unkind – they turned on me just for effect. It made me think of something my Dad had said to me years before, in that your work mates are never your friends – just colleagues and acquaintances, and I should always bear that in mind. Maybe it’s too much of a generalisation, but there are strong enough elements to compound the theory on occasion. Bizarrely I got a second promotion at work just 6 months after the first and the new problem I had to contend with, was being intimidated. 

The store manager was literally a larger than life guy, and in all honesty I don’t recall more than 3 or 4 conversations I ever had with him in the few months we worked together. In the interview he asked me what I thought about people with a big ego. I honestly answered that:

“I can’t stand that sort of person” – to which he replied:

“Well you and me aren’t going to get along then!”

I still have no idea if he was joking. Either way, I spent most of the first month hiding in the toilets on my own at lunch break.

And people say I wasn’t shy…!

Oh, and a top tip for y’all: Do NOT date work colleagues.

#learningcurve

Maybe it was miscellany?

In 1995 I started writing poetry. I’d never been that fussed about reading poetry, let alone composing it, but I started in earnest and began writing down thoughts and poems about relevant things to me and ended up carrying on for years. It was always written in an emotional theme and always with a lot hope and desire that one day I’d gain a particular kind of contentment and happiness. I don’t think it was a coincidence that I more or less ‘dried up’ writing at around the time my son was born. It seemed that maybe as an unwritten statement many of my hopes had been reached.

I also had a car chase in the wee small hours with my lights out one night in the summer of ’95! The least said about that the better…!

 

In 1996 I bought my first desktop personal computer. Hardly anyone I knew had one – compare that to now, where people simply cannot operate their lives without such similar derivatives. Ridiculously it cost over £2000!

I also played a lot of snooker around this time and frequently went to ‘The 147 Club’ in Brunswick Street, Hove, which was always good fun. We always used to have a great laugh at the expense of the bar staff there – in particular a guy we used to call ‘Serge’, after the Bronson Pinchot character in the Beverly Hills Cop movies. One night a few of us won the £250 ‘cash pot’ out of the fruit machine which was a nice little bonus!

Maybe it was sociality?
I don’t know what changed, but from about mid 1995 I belatedly started having a decent social life at last – even going out clubbing midweek, whereas before I wouldn’t bother going out anywhere if I’d had a bath earlier in the evening as it just felt like too much effort.

Quite often from 1995 and even more so into 1996 (even though I usually had work the next day) I would end up nightclubbing down the Event II on a Tuesday or the Paradox on a Thursday – the so called ‘student’ nights. The booze was as cheap as chips (usually no more than £1.50 a drink) and there was a heavier emphasis on playing a lot more of the music I liked. It was far more commercial than would be heard on a Saturday at the same venues, so I was more inclined to enjoy myself for that reason alone.

 

I even hit a spell of doing what most 20 year old boys should be doing – namely being on the pull! Honestly this was a relief as I was starting to think my middle name was Chastity. Friends and family even pondered that I might be gay. I think my mum would’ve loved a big gay son!

It’s fair to say that I had no idea what I was myself though as a) I had so little attention coming my way, and b) I was pretty uninclined to try as I was too shy to ask anyone out anyway!

Anyways – actually managing to occasionally pull helped my confidence no end and socially I felt I’d grown up a bit at last… though in my naivety I recall getting stitched up very early in 1996. Me and some mates were at the Paradox and I wound up buying this one girl drinks all night etc. only for her to sod off without me come 2am

#morelearningcurves

I believe this was also the night when me and one of my mates got out of our Taxi about half a mile from home and, (as drunk) fell over and had a little sleep in the middle of the road! I reckon Taxis and any cars must have just driven round us paying little attention – we must have been there for a good twenty minutes though! I would guess it was the uncommon knocking back of the Jack Daniels shots earlier in the evening that did for us…

Another nights’ exertions lead to the aerial of my first car (a 1978 brown Mini Clubman – RIP) being snapped off by one jealous colleague, and an aggressive confrontation in a Sainsburys chiller by another jealous one! If this was the norm, I’d clearly missed out on this sort of fun for years. #evenmorelearningcurves

Another funny night was had at the Irish pub ‘O’Neill’s’ (where, incidentally, Brighton & Hove Albion was formed in 1901) with a terrifically funny guy from work and his family and mates (all Irish.)

His brothers were playing in a band there, and we got absolutely slaughtered on Guinness and I knocked back ten pints in just under two hours, ‘singing’ along to Irish songs I didn’t know the words to. I’d never drunk such volume so quickly before, and I’ve not done it since either, but the atmosphere was so good and everything just flowed perfectly. At around 10pm we staggered over to the night club and had to straighten ourselves out to make sure we actually got in – I remember being ordered to stop singing in the queue, or we wouldn’t be allowed in. Nightclub bouncers were often a different breed, but I never once got refused entry.

Maybe it was the Lime Green summer?

1996 was a glorious summer – and for no other reason than everyone seemed to be wearing lime green clothes for the duration, it was forever known to me by that moniker. On the beach or seeing customers whilst I was at work… it seemed to be the colour of choice everywhere.

 

Maybe it doesn’t matter…

I know that it Definitely Maybe wasn’t Maybelline.

But it was Definitely Maybe memorable to me.