What was the name of the club next door only open a year or two 90's time. Pretty short lived as the building was dodgy. Eclipse maybe?
You wouldn't like Finland then. The bouncers make people queue outside but when they let you in the pub is only half full. It's stupid marketing
Here's Odyssey/Dingwalls immediately after the fire... please log in to view this image Paul Gibson write up... Hofbrauhaus, 42 George Street. Noted in the telephone directory for the first time in 1975 under ‘clubs, social & general’. Still running in 1981 but Oddessy took over from it in 1981- 82. Keith Daddy recalls Hofbrauhaus had strippers and topless go-go dancers at lunchtime for a couple of years and Dave Burton remembered he and Keith used to go and sit there with just half a pint ‘a very cheap afternoon out’ [they only went for the beer of course]. It went very downhill towards the end. Upstairs was Scamps which was I believe owned by the same people. You were almost certainly guaranteed a fight if you wanted one in Scamps. Both Scamps and Hofbrauhaus had strippers on during the day at one time or another. Hofbrauhaus later became Dingwalls the music venue and Scamps became Oddessy. Both venues were burnt to the ground in, I am almost certain, 1985 – Steve and I had been to Waterfront followed by the take away curry house on George Street and were just walking past when the fire brigade first arrived. I believe that the building was originally a Baptist Church and reportedly still had straw in the roof (early form of roof insulation) which helped the fire get a hold. There was a lot of speculation surrounding the fire. It was suggested that the staff who normally stayed behind after closing for a few drinks were ushered out early that night and the DJ who normally stored his record collection at the club removed it that evening but such were only rumours and may be entirely untrue'. Oddessy Discotek, 42 George Street. First listed in 1982 in the ‘entertainment’s’ section of the Yellow Pages, taking over the Scamp’s/Hofbrauhaus premises. Continued to be listed until 1984 – when it was almost destroyed by fire; demolition was underway by November 1984 and the site cleared by February 1985. My 1984 photo shows it fire damaged (see below) with Dingwalls alongside The very modern interior had a telephone on each of the round laminated – very Space 1999 - tables to enable you to ring your mate or a girl at the next table. Popular with city office workers out for a liquid lunch – did they have strippers too?
Eclipse was what used to be Ritzy (among other things) the one they're supposed to be knocking down to build a hotel round the back of Ferensway. Are you talking about the rave club that was run in the old Edwin Davis department store building?
Evolution was a bit before my time, but it catered for the acid house scene. Eclipse was my era and was basically the club you could get in underage. DJ used to always shout out 'any virgins in tonight'. I think he was a bit of a beast.
Odyssey had phones 100%. Dingwalls was great but unfortunately short-lived. A divey, cramped, sweaty proper music venue. Saw Wilco Johnson there. Blew me away. And local band Quelle Dommage. Anyone remember them?
I remember when I was a goth living in Tottenham in 1989 I used to point out to people that the Sisters of Mercy 'Live at Dingwalls' bootleg you could get at Camden was from my home town. Nobody gave a **** mind you, and whether they're a good band is open to debate, but I liked them at the time
Sorry, I missed a 'th'. One of those girls went on to be a presenter on daytime TV and is currently the style editor at the New York Observer.
I remember drinking a lot of pernod and black there circa 81/82 but I don't think they were Tarantulas. What sticks in my mind about the place was some of the best music ever played at stupefying volume on a suffocating postage stamp dancefloor surrounded by black wrought iron. The women were mostly punky students and there were lots of private booth seats where you could get properly acquainted. Spiders was the polar opposite to Tiffanys which seemed to be the magnet for bimbos and knuckle-draggers.
I remember it well. The doubles bar downstairs was great. My sister in law worked there and we got double doubles
It was a depressing place just before kicking out time after the lad's heavy metal air guitar session successfully stampeded the last totty through the exit leaving you and the other desperados eying up Godzilla in fishnets.
