Sunday, February 15, 2009

Club UK in Wandsworth: Love, Ecstasy and Crime

Heading out to Kew Gardens over Christmas, we drove through Wandsworth. As always on that journey through South West London, my partner and I reminisced incredulously about how we used to drag ourselves for miles across the capital by public transport to visit that part of the city. And we weren't alone - because from 1993 to 1996, Wandsworth was the home of Club UK, attracting people from all over London and beyond to queue in Buckhold Road next to the Arndale Shopping Centre.

Like many new clubs at this time, it was launched in a blaze of publicity about its luxurious decor and facilities. Like most, the reality was that the money was mainly spent on the sound system, and it was in fact a 'utilitarian, cavernous warehouse' (to quote DJ magazine), with 3 different music rooms - the 'techno room', the 'pop art room' and the main room - there is a detailed description of the place at 'the Club UK experience' site. Promoter was Sean McCluskey, who was also involved with the Leisure Lounge.

There were two main nights. On Fridays, it was Final Frontier, a techno/trance night put on by Universe (who promoted the Tribal Gathering festivals with the Mean Fiddler). The flyer below exemplifes the rhetoric of that scene, with its talk of a 'our weekly marriage of spirituality and technology in perfect harmony' and its call for 'No rules, no limits and no sell out'.

Final Frontier flyer, January 1995 (click to enlarge)

Saturdays was a house night, with a dominant soundtrack of the kind of anthems despised as 'handbag house' by tedious musos, but which I loved (and indeed still do- hooray for funky!). Yes lots of disco diva vocals and four to floor rhythms. When I think of Saturday nights at Club UK, the tracks that come to mind are things like Your Loving Arms by Billy Ray Martin (the Junior Vasquez Soundfactory mix), To the Beat of the Drum by La Luna, Wildchild's Renegade Master, Push the Feeling On by the Nightcrawlers. Oh and that piano break track with the sample of Blur's Girls and Boys (Pianoman - Blurred).

Club UK flyer, February 1995 (click to enlarge)

What made Club UK special was a crowd of 1400 people for which the term 'up for it' seems completely inadequate. I can still vividly picture walking in there for the first time on a Saturday night - as soon as we stepped through the doors it felt like we were in the middle of an explosion of energy. The track playing was Reach Up (Papa's got a brand new pigbag) by Perfecto Allstarz - the whole place was erupting, there didn't seem to be any sense of a dancefloor, everybody in the place was dancing including the bar staff. You would meet all kinds of people there from public school kids (there were press reports of Etonians being suspended for taking drugs there) to squaddies - I remember on that first visit chatting to a couple who had done a bunk from a local children's home to be there.

Club UK was the opposite of cool, in every sense of the word. It was a sweatbox with little or no air conditioning, condensation dripping off the ceilings and sometimes unbearably hot and crowded. One night when we there they had to open the fire exit into the Arndale to let people breathe - so there was an impromtu chill out area on a balcony overlooking the deserted shopping centre (pretty sure this was on their second birthday party, July 1st 1995, with Danny Rampling playing). I remember sucking ice pops to try and cool down. The place was ecstasy fuelled, so many people would go the whole night without buying a drink. Many dubious clubs at that time used to turn off the water in the bathrooms so that people had to buy water from the bar. I don't recall Club UK going to that extreme, but sometimes the cold water taps were reduced to a dribble and they certainly made a small fortune selling their own brand of bottled water. Like in many clubs, there were many random acts of kindness as strangers offered each other sips of water on the dancefloor.

South London Press, 17 October 1995 (click to enlarge)

One hazard was the sporadic police raids. The first one was in December 1994 on a Friday night. Then in October 1995, 150 police raided it on a Saturday. Operation Blade involved dogs, horses, and the Territorial Support Group. 800 clubbers were turned out on to the streets, and many searched. 10 people were arrested. The police raid on Club UK was carried out with TV cameras in attendance, correctly described by the clubowners as a 'media circus'. It seems the raid was deliberately timed to provide a story on which to hang the launch two days later of a new anti-drugs campaign called SNAP (Say no and phone). Ironically the police launched this campaign at Club UK's South London rival, The Ministry of Sound, a place where drug use was just as widespread.
 
Mixmag, November 1995 (click to enlarge)

With hindsight, there were though some dodgy people around Club UK. As in the United States when prohibition of alcohol led to the Mafia control of drinking clubs, the prohibition of drugs like ecstasy created a huge market for UK gangsters to fill.

In December 1995, three men were found shot dead in a Range Rover in a country lane near Rettendon in Essex: Tony Tucker, Pat Tate and Craig Rolfe. There are different versions of why they were killed, as they had many enemies from their involvement in violence and drug smuggling. But it is well established that Tucker ran security at Club UK. According to Tony Thompson in 'Bloggs 19: the story of the Essex Range Rover Triple Murders' (London: Warner, 2000), 'Controlling the doors of a club instantly means that you control who sells drugs inside. Tucker began to charge dealers 'rent' of around £1000 per week in return for granting them exclusive access to the club... in March 1994, twenty-year old Kevin Jones died at Club UK in south London after taking ecstasy. In a bid to track the source, police put two of the club's suspected dealers under surveillance and discovered they had been paying Tony Tucker, the man responsible for security at the club, £1000 per weekend for the exclusive rights to sell ecstasy and cocaine'. Thompson also suggests that Tucker supplied the ecstasy to a dealer at Raquels nightclub in Basildon, the source of the infamous E that caused the death in November 1995 of Leah Betts at her 18th birthday party.

In a statement to police after the murders, Christoper Hall of the (unrelated) Club UN in Tottenham stated: 'I first met Tony [Tucker] when I was operations director for 'First Continental' the Hollywood chain of nightclubs. The directors of this company was Marios George Ellides and Chris George Ellides. My duties at that time included the operation of each club my role was a supervisory management role. At each club the security staff were controlled by Tony Tucker. The clubs were Hollywood Romford, Hollywood Ipswich, Club Art Southend, Club UK Wandsworth'.

The Rettendon events are fictionalised in Jake Arnott's novel True Crime, where one of the characters declares: 'It's who runs the doors, Gaz. That's what this thing is going to be all about. It doesn't matter who runs the club, who promotes the event or whatever. It's who's in control of security, that's going to be the thing. That way you decide who can bring in drugs and deal inside the place'.
 
The real story of criminal gangs in the 1990s club explosion remains untold. That gangsters like Tucker controlled the drugs trade in clubs is not surprizing, but as they made more and more money it seems likely that some must have crossed over to investing profits in buying and running clubs. It would be interesting to know where some of the money came from for some of the high profile new clubs that opened in that period. And its a sobering thought that in any counter-culture/alternative scene where drugs are prominent, you are only ever a few degrees of separation away from a thug with a gun.

But still... who can forget those nights in Wandsworth.

More memories, flyers and mixes on the Final Frontier and Club UK groups at Facebook. Great to remember all the good nights, but let's not forget those who didn't make it: Andreas Bouzis (18) and Kevin Jones (20) who died after collapsing at the club.

109 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fascinating post, cheers.

I never made it to Club UK myself but it was a very similar story up north .. Salford heads ran the business end of the Blackburn parties for example, and of course that was what the battle for the door at the Hacienda was all about too.

We may be only a couple of steps away from someone with a gun, but that's easily sorted. Legalise the lot!

bob said...

Gosh, this generated some memories. I went to Final Frontier a few times, and in fact still have that very flier somewhere, but I completely forgot about it. (My more vivid memories of that scene are Megatripolis at Heaven and various things at the Rocket, as well as some less overground happenings.) And those songs were very evocative too. Thank you!

Christian said...

Thanks for the picture of the bottled water, brought back a few memories :)

I was at the second birthday when they opened the fire doors, this was so popular that I'm sure it was demanded every week after.

Friday was always my favourite night though, Gayle San, DJ Dag, Sven Vath, Billy Nasty amongst others made this the most "unlondon" club in London.
It was my weekly Friday pilgrimage the best way to start a weekend.

Anonymous said...

Wow....I'm starting to feel old now, was it that long ago ? Some of the best nights of my life were at the final frontier. I reckon I've done my fair share of clubs, free parties etc since then but not much compares.

And I'm with you Cristian, Sven Vath, Billy Nasty and DJ Dag......those were the days.

Dr. Rizla said...

Thanks for an excellent piece. I reckon I must have spent about 40 to 50 fridays and saturdays at Club UK from 93 - 95, mainly fridays at Final Frontier but a lot of saturdays also (more girls on saturdays!) Fifteen or so years of clubbing on from then I'm still waiting to find an equally magical night out.
And they had a cafe! Cups of tea at 5am with eyes like dishplates and ecstacy fuelled lifelong friendships. Happy times indeed, great music, great DJ's, the best crowd, but some very expensive pills!
Nice one top one sorted.

Anonymous said...

So many memories caused by crazy nights. Was anyone present at the birthday bash when Laurent Garnier played his amazing 8 hour set and got a standing ovation at 6am? The club turned all the lights on and Laurent carried on for at least another half an hour with us all whacked out of our nuts! There was never never another club like it and if only it was still there and I was still 18.

Unknown said...

i went club uk every week (always friday nights and a couple of saturdays - top women !) for a year and a half without fail. with out a doubt the best club ever, top dj`s sir jeff mills, dave angel mbe, cj bolland, dj tanith, carl cox, luke slater mbe, e.t.c. top sound system, top venue, top organizers aka universe, top smarties and above all the best party and legendary ravers which made that place rock like no other................. club uk will never be topped. . . UTTER CLASS........

Anonymous said...

Has anyone got a pic of DJ Magazine when club uk were on the front in the mid 90's. I was the one dancing with a robot!! (with shades on)

stef said...

Thanks for the great memories here.. spent many a weekend at Club UK.. I remember the warehouse-like room at the back, with little decor, but a huge sound system that would make the stages and walls vibrate...

samantha marshall-pleavin said...

hi old club uk clubbers,had some of the best nite's of my life there! happy days,used to dance me hot pants off! if only clubs were like that now eh? loved the house room. biko used to be the nuts,big up to the old crew,t-care all sammy from kent.

. said...

Great to hear all your comments - I knew I couldn't be the only one with fond memories of that place.

neanderthal d said...

I remember popping down there on the odd Friday Night to Final Frontier many years ago.

Excellent Sound System, great nights, lovely people

One night Juan Atkins was playing there and i had a full on catharsis/enlightenment/moment of clarity and realised that Magic Juan was playing pure soul music. It wasn't just techno music - this stuff was about Detroit alchemists tapping into their Motown heritage and making silicon sing. Whoooosh...totally different plane.

Or maybe it was just the trips talking.

A few years previously at a free party under a railway arch next to Brunel's Horseshoe Bridge where the Kennet and Avon meets the Thames a sound called Sputnik were playing hard techno and i was bouncing away quite happily. At some point i noticed that the quality of the sound had altered quite dramatically. Looking around i realised that i was dancing to the dulcet tones and rhythm of the generator. A few other people were still dancing too - i definitely put that down to the trips that were floating around that night.

wellsawinner said...

what a night i spent most of my ttime in club uk when it was open would love to meet some old faces i even remember going on a thursday when it first opened i wouldnt sleep all weekend my mum couldnt understand how i could dance a weekend away on water naieve or what bless her i found one of the free set tapes they gave away when it first opened the other day and kep banging it out and my boy even moves to the tunes.dos anyone remember the three foot raver and th wheelchair dancer.

. said...

I remember bumping into Mik Scarlet there, a wheelchair user who I believed sometimes DJed at Club UK.

Anonymous said...

Best club I ever went to.....I remember getting lost it was so big. Mind you the smarties did not help much. Anyone remember the hallelujh song??. Danced in the main room to this and nearly cried everyone was so charged up. Nice cups of tea afterwards from the van outside. Then into the car and back home....

Anonymous said...

wot a fab place :-) many a night dancing my tits off, used to love that 'gotta have house music' tune - never been able to find it on you tube :-( woz soo gutted when this placed closed mind u the brain cells lived to tell another tale just :-) met soo many people there and had some great times - will never forget

D said...

Very interesting,

I went there a few times, but just on research for a documentary that we were tryna get made, was before I got into 'partying', but it was a very good club. Got to stand in the box with Sven Vath & Laurent Garnier at Frontier nights.

:)

Anonymous said...

I met Mik Scarlet at Slime Light (Goth club) in Angel around that era, had a proper chat with him, he was all over Channel 4's art and culture shows at the time. Was a cool bloke.

Anonymous said...

Hi, does anyone know the name of the general manager/manager that opened the club??
Cheeres

Anonymous said...

Everyone started going to the Complex in Islington at some point. Was that when it closed?

Anonymous said...

i always loved the friday over the saturday but to be honest i probably spent too many friday's and saturday's in that place than was healthy to my mental well being....

Im on this site cos im trying to find out the name of the club in islington where the universe machine moved to for about a year after the demise of the institution that was CLUB UK! i agree with various comments above..... 15 or so years later and i still have never had a better night out. Andy weatherall, luarent G, Dave Angel rocked my world beyond repair once.... or was it twice??

. said...

Wasn't the Islington club the Complex?

Annie Haz said...

we had some wicked nights at Club Uk, drove up from Cornwall for a night of dance and atmosphere. CJ Boland was awesome, and too many others to mention. Remember being filmed loads when BPM filmed there one night. They replayed cuts of me dancing, supposedly live, from clubs I'd never heard of for months afterward. Club UK had a bad side,as do many others, but its still sad that there will never be anything like it again, cos the good times were fecking AWESOME!
Annie Haz

tipple said...

'Hi, does anyone know the name of the general manager/manager that opened the club??
Cheeres'

It was a bloke called Paul Shurey, I think that's how you spell it? Nice guy, very laid back when I chatted to him. I worked their with Tokyo Sex Whale club from Bristol. It was the most hedonistic club in London in it's day.

Weird to visit this site all these years later, not sure how many people are still attached to the thread though?

. said...

Annie/Tipple, good to hear from the two of you. There's obviously still a lot of love out there for Club UK, of all the stuff I put out on this site this post is always in the top five most popular. Thousands of people have come to this site looking for information about Club UK, nice to know that it's not just me who has the fond memories.

pinkdino99 said...

Those were the days. . .I remember the hottest ever night at Final Frontier. apill had evaporated inside a cellophane wrap in my pocket, the floor was an inch deep with sweat and water.
I remember the decline, nazi a$$holes stubbing out a cigarette on my chest. I remember we all migrated from clubUK to Absolute in Vauxhall, with only our memories, and a few blue water bottles to remind us of the blinders we had there.

Oli said...

Thanks for this post, it's bought back lots of wicked memories! I sadly lost all my olod music from this time in a house fire, does anyone know where old tracks can be found? Particualrlry the old Charlie Hall, Billy Nasty, Andy Weatherall techno room style stuff? Cheers for the memoties all!

Ronster B said...

Final Frontier Nights in the mid nighties @ Club UK were the pinnicle my clubing days. Reading this page has brought many memories back.....That bottle of water! :-)

Anonymous said...

Did anyone do the two venue night? Kicking off at Weatherall's intimate Sabresonic under the arches at London Bridge, then shuttle bus off to Final Frontier to see him do another set there? Club UK was such a great club, loved up crowd, good E, quality DJ's and acts and truly amazing sets. Will never forget those nights, but if you went you'll know exactly what I mean. Anyone know if you can get footage they used to show on BPM? I made a couple of appearances and have now lost the VHS tape...remember them! Peace.

Anonymous said...

This was the best club I went to back in the day I was only 14 when I went 'I know way to young' tunes were bangin every1 in there was of there faces. Best days of my life.

Anonymous said...

Hi all! Club Uk was the best!! The general manager was Frasier Donaldson and i was the Deputy Manager and went on to set up Club Uk Midlands! Friday night was promoted by Paul Shurey and Ian Wilkinson from Bristol and Saturdays where promoted by Bernie Sinclair and Steve Harvey. Final Frontier and Club Uk were also behond the first Tribal Gatering at Ottmoor Park! Remember that? Also the Frontier boys were behind the first tribal gathering at the old Munich airport in Germany and Uk was the first place in the Ukto have Red Bull!! Great nights and to many stories i cna tell!! Great to know theres so many of you out there with great memories!

Anonymous said...

my youtube channel was born out of dedication to club uk ,,,my youtube name is djclubuk1975 ,,i have done several posts in tribute to the once in a lifetime club ,full of all the tunes we all used to go nuts to ,,,,i also have a clubuk tattoo ,which i had back then during the messy times ,which i show in my post titled a tribute to club uk wandsworth part 2 ,,just the other day the legendery biko himself came onto my channel to pay respect ,,hes now running a club in jjersey called havana ,,but agrees like each and everyone of us ,that no other club will even come a close 2nd to the legendery club uk ,,,so if u wanna relive some of the good old tunes we used to get smashed to ,,,pop over to my youtube channel and check out my club uk tribute posts which have already had 1000s of hits due to 1000s of us still out there that find it hard to let go,,,,
djclubuk1975

intricate interconnectedness said...

haha club uk - i remember going to final frontier as a schoolkid and we were so green that we turned up at 7 or 8 to be greeted by .. a closed door. we bimbled around wandsworth for a few hours, nearly getting mugged in the process and then came back for a night of sweaty techno. carl cox. hahaha. nice one!

David said...

Great post, we used to drive up from Bournemouth. Much better than Ministry!

emmotronic said...

Amazing blog, my mate and I used to schlep from Sheffield every Friday in '95/'96. This was the best club ever.
Wandering around the Arndale, and drinking tea in the cafe around the corner are my safest memories. There was one awesome night when I thought everybody had gone home: I turned around and could right to the back of the room to the banana bar thing. One key phrase brough me back - just dance - for the next 4 hours!

The best night was Jeff Mills playing for 90 minutes with the lights on after closing time (after he failed to turn up a few weeks earlier).

Loving djclubuk1975 on youtube, but nothing comes close. The Toni Molkerei (2009) in Zurich with The Advent, DJ Rush and Felix Kroecher almost matched a night at Final Frontier.

Angelwings 2012 said...

I attended the same college as Andreas I warned him about drugs. His do called friends got him the drugs which killed him. I got death threats if I said anything
But u know justice will be done.
The safest part of all this his mother couldn't cope with the stress and died 3 months later of cancer.
Hope they rot the bastards
What a waste of life.....

Anonymous said...

Well reading all that. brings back some mental thoughts.I remember my big sis taking me to club UK for the first time the place was massive 3 rooms of sound my friend Gareth Cooke was playing he djed at culture shock romford & I'll always remember the warehouse room it had big massive chewing gum stages were you could dance I have to say that was the perfect club ever o.loved it its a shame we don't have that any more spot on .my name Andy scouse loved it open it up again

Pulling A Pint said...

Oh happy days . Luckily me and my flat mate lived on the Garret Road so it was only a 2 minute drive to there .
Best memory was driving to the club at 2am and just running out of petrol . Some of the bouncers and clubbers came to help me push my car into a side exit .
Alwats a great night , not surprised it finally shut the drug taking was so open but it was the most friendliest club i have ever been to and the best .
Now its a Virgin active fitness club .

Anonymous said...

Best eighteenth birthday I ever had. And I discovered Mills.

Anonymous said...

Me and my mates would make the pilgrimage to club UK from Winchester practically every Friday and some Saturday's when we couldn't go Friday! I have some great memories of the place. We used to get pretty messy in there so my memory is a bit fuzzy! I remember the atmosphere was like nothing else people were all on the same vibe never any trouble or strife! I was bloody hot but people just got on with it. CJ Bolland, dj Skull, Gayle San, Jeff Mills, Carl Cox, Derrick May, Colin Dale, Colin Favour, I remember when some of these djs would rewind tunes and that sent the crowd into a crazy state! I was in there when some one in the cosmic cave was swinging on a pipe and caused it to come off the roof and empty water into the club! Everyone carried on dancing until it was up to your ankles. We all got evacuated into the shopping centre. We then asked the fire brigade if we could get back in... We had to go to the fridge in Brixton instead!

Anonymous said...

Looking at these comments and pics bring the memories flooding back........like the lunar room did.
So many great nights as were the festivals.still got some of the flyers and lanyards.
Jeff mills final set comes to mind as does Dj dags marathon sets in motherearth

Anonymous said...

the best club in the world . I was there when they opened the fire door to the shopping centre on the clubs birthday blew my mind to many little round sweets . just bought of internet club uk the album happy days !

Anonymous said...

iam married with two kids would love just one more night with all my mates in the best club in the world with the best tunes happy days sadly missed

Anonymous said...

Great article. I loved the place and was there when it raided in oct 95. The funniest of times. Staff were ok by me. Seen worse at the time. Leisure Lounge and Bagley's door staff were malicious b'stads. Gayle San smashed it. The place had a terrifying huge Robot, when I spooned it was freaky.

Anonymous said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWM5wwIbVj4

Anonymous said...

Awesome!! I was there, although can't say I remember much of those days.....used to go every Saturday night for years and some Fridays too!! Was the most amazing club ever, my mates and I used to dance on the centre stage every weekend and loved it!!

Anonymous said...

Totally agree with you, I used to go every Saturday night for a few years and dance on the main stage........Club UK has never been topped in my book!!

Anonymous said...

Absolutely loved this place. But as someone mentioned lack of air and cooling. also the taps were not working to encourage you to buy overpriced water. I do remember one night everyone calling these e's L.B specials. that was the initials of a girl who died from taking one. well I did 2 maybe 3.. and I chucked up. at the end when the lights went on there was heaps everywhere. dodgy or what. good buzz though. maybe billy nasty was on that night.... cant remember. the place went off though. I can tell ya that. yeah defo lack of air and water. memories ahhhhh

Shane Club UK legend said...

Hi all you fellow pill heads, are you all forgetting the cosmic cave, carl cox sven vath, darren emerson, all on the same night. now thats music. That is what CLUB UK was all about not you namby pamby handbag house heads. And who can forget that brilliant night when the ALOOF played live and ripped the roof of the place backed up by technology park straight after and MR BONGO playing throughout the club. Now That's Music and how proper clubbers remember a proper club. CLUB UK IN MY HEART RIP JOHNNY SPOONER YOU LEGEND BOTH YOU AND CLUB UK IN MY HEART FOREVER

Anonymous said...

Paul Easterbrook.

Anonymous said...

Paul Shurey was the promoter for Fridays and was never a manager of the club itself.

Anonymous said...

Paul Easterbrook was the general manager when Club UK opened and was later replaced by Fraser Donaldson! I was there before Club UK opened when it was called Hollywood until it closed and then moved to Hollywood in romford.

Anonymous said...

Fraser donaldson

Anonymous said...

Used to Love Club UK , used to go on Friday and Saturday nights.With a big group of mates.
Dj Dag, Gayle san,Carl cox, Justin robertson, had some crazy crazy nights there.Some of the best nights of my life.
Was there the night it got raided.
Had some very sketchy journey's home also.

simonheartfield7@gmail.com said...


Here's a video from a programme called BPM which featured Final Frontier [url]http://youtu.be/HsITMWZa0z0[/url]

Anonymous said...

I was lucky enuff to live 10 minute walk away ... that was getting there ..... took me hours to get home after the eddies had their wicked way hahaha .... good times

Anonymous said...

I went to final frontier on Fridays quite a few times complete mayhem loved it - during my extensive rave career :-) Those days are definitely missed suppose life changes and all that still enjoy my tunes mind. Interesting points about how alternative/rave scene was about freedom and love and partying etc yet rubbed shoulders with some dodgy elements, I guess for a lot of people it was about the party and having a good time and positive vibes instead of fighting and drinking and suppose the idealism never really is/can truly be? Anyway rave on in spirit :-) Most 'alternative' stuff gets absorbed by the mainstream eventually, like the rave scene in some ways, which is a double edged sword - but still plenty of good genuine stuff today out there things just just different. Still, they were the good old days they don't do them quite like they used to those sounds wrer all coming out for the first time and well it was what it was :-)

Anonymous said...

did anyone hang around near the tea room in the corner of the main room?

Anonymous said...

"All across the land
Below the surface, crime and love
They go hand in hand"

from "shoot out in china town" by the band

here in the states, the line between the alternative freedom-love-dance all night crowd and the dodgy thug bang-bang shot 'em up crowd was often times non-existent. and while it's easy to point the finger at the pathetic and ludicrous (and blatantly racist) drug laws in both our countries--btw, drugs in the us have effectively been decriminalized for white people for the last twenty years--there was also little or no effort on the part of the former to distance themselves from the latter.

Anonymous said...

Loved fridays. Just one friday remember oh my god i think it was called splitter!
But the best club. Good people

Anonymous said...

What a venue that was !!! The very best nights ever had there ,,, we loved it so much that myself and good friend darren linked our car stereos up in the car park and carried on the dance theme !!!! Oi oi !!! Great days !!!

John Mac said...

I used to go on a Friday and a Saturday , and on many occasions both in the same weekend. The place was a mecca. I went the week it opened and loved every night I had in there. The birthday nights were amazing...
Such a great crowd , such a great sound system .
Alas never to be repeated because for the time it was open it seemed that everything fell into place at the right time.. people place music...

Anonymous said...

The days of decent clubs are over.
Anyone thinks they are a DJ these days, turning up with USB sticks & waving hands in the air.

UK was proper.
It will never be like this again.

Period.

Nd said...

Never made it to Club UK but knew loads of mates that used to go there. I was a Strawberry Sundae loon, and it sounds like it was a similar life changing sweat box club that don't seem to exist anymore.

An amazing time to be a raver.

Anonymous said...

wow what a time and place this was ,I started working there as a bouncer the week after the big raid in October 95 for the panther security crew ,and it was about 6 weeks later that tony tucker and 2 others got their heads blown off ,pretty heavey times for sure ,it was a great place apart from the owners and management ,a lot of top people where working there as well as the punters where choice, a great night I remember was new years eve 95-96 and biko mixing a martin luther king speech ''I have a dream'' with the Robert miles track children as the last tune of the night awesome stuff, I remember one night about 2 or 3 weeks before the young guy died there we got the call on the radio that there was a man down in the middle room so we a couple of us ran in to find this geeza lying on his back ,he had no pulse and wasn't breathing so I when to give him mouth to mouth but he had his teeth clenched shut so I gave him a big breath through his knose and bang his eyes started to roll around like some cartoon character and he was back from the dead, breathing again , I had the long hair and goatie ,so maybe he thought I was jesus but that was my nickname from then on ,and I suppose it was the greatest experience from my days bouncing in London, I did a 6 month or so stint over at peach around the same time which was proper too ,Fridays at peach and Saturdays at club uk ,was a blast for a farm boy from new Zealand so I was blessed ,I only wish I could have helped young andreas who sadly lost his life there ,I never thought I would use the lifesaving skills I got as a surflifesaver on the beaches of new Zealand ,in a club in London, if anyone knows the guy I saved that night I would love to know what he went on and did with his life. all the best to all the club UK MASSIVE ,from Steve the kiwi

Anonymous said...

The doormen in this club have got to have been the best most plcid ever but they didnt take no shite from anyone i still see one of them now and again i think i could possibly remember you steve the kiwi you had a nickname which i wont disclose but you was a good geezer i was there every bithday christmas and new year bash also every friday and saturday odd saturday at bagleys and satterlite but nothing took club uk off the map i never qued up just walked up to the front door past the crowd and up them stairs and bang i was in no problems we would go in ten up and my pals couldnt believe their eyes when they went with me cos it was no ques funny enough my worst night there was when choice was there atmosphere was completely different a different clientelle that made it feel uneasy.

Unknown said...

I remember going there with my mate sreve who was djing several times the best night i ever had was on club uks 3rd birthday with boy george there that was awwsome walking out in day light you new you had been partying proper there loved it miss it theres nothing that even comes close to club uk

Anonymous said...

Steve the Kiwi > RESPECT

Peter G said...

Ho ho.. Accurate. We used to supply visuals to Club Uk through friend Bernie and Shaun ( promoters ) was a shit hole snooker club on its knees before bernie and shaun took it on. Owners were very very unpleasant greeks chris george and his brothers who in the end ( I think ended up in a bank fraud and f***ed off back to greece).. For info the club UK bottled "mineral" water was in fact tap water. We used to get free confiscated drugs off the security guards, interesting times,, nasty club owners..:)

IainH said...

Man, this has brought back some memories, in particular the New Year's Eve Eve party in '94. Fabi Paris was playing the midnight-2am set in the main room. I remember lots of droning sitars in his set.

It was also the night that Double Doves first made their appearance. Fuck me, they STRONG and TRIPPY AND FUCK. The main room turned into an Indian temple. The back room was covered in patterns and dragons and Jeff Mills grinned. The grin split his head in two and the top of it went flying over the crowd before settling back on his head.

An unforgettable in an unforgettable club! :D

Unknown said...

Mental was a sterns boy house on the Hill 😂then graced club uk😈best nites of my life

Anonymous said...

Great article. Thanks for the memories! I seemed to recall the place looking a bit better than the image shows but maybe that was just me :) Your right, people came from all over to this place. Clearly it was the vibe and not the decor. I only managed a few good nights here as I lived outside London, I wish there had been more.

Best wishes all
Gordon

Anonymous said...

Great post,brought back many memories,club uk and the leisure lounge were our fave clubs.



Hanibi said...

Great post. UK club brought me some memories when i was young !!

Andy S. said...

I still have a more or less mint condition Club UK label water bottle - the blue plastic one. Not sure what to do with it? Put it in a display case?

Unknown said...

Best club ever music atmosphere
Doors opening onto the arnedale centre, even when it was raided was all very chilled and we were all still dancing !
Steps down grab a warm tea and then try and navigate out of the car park in daylight rushing !!! Xxxx

Mixmaster Morris said...

I played at Club UK about 4-5 times, mostly at Final Frontier. Still have the flyers for most of them.
It was a great club, and the music was much better than what you hear nowadays.
They also had a chill out room, sometimes with a bouncy castle in it!

Unknown said...

Big shout going out to the ONE OH MASSIVE 1-0
Big Mark and his possee, RESPECT.
Keep it real...

TheBudda said...

My best friend was the light jock Hollwoods Romford & Club UK. We both used to go on a Saturday and end up at 9am in Club SW1 Victoria for Sunnyside UP. Roll out of SW1 at 10pm and a quick move to The Tube at Tottenham Court Road for Fevah. At 3am roll out of there, we would skip on to Club 414 Brixton till 8am Monday morning. And, if you were real HardCore you would end up at The Joiners Arms in Hackney Road! Ahh, the best times of my life!!

White Knight said...

Club UK was where I danced the best time of my life with my girlfriend at the time, Nicola Van Spall, we had the best night ever and fell deeper in love than we had ever been during that night out...

Unknown said...

Loves the complex

Anonymous said...

I don't think any club has really touched it, spent most of my time in the pop art on Saturdays, pilled of my nut and speed bombs for a little more. passed out on poppers funny shit. Adam, Liz , Emm P Emma the Hat purple strobes and a fashion show, Wierdly standing by the stacks at the stages helped up us come up but ears rang for days

jimbo said...

Me and a load of us from work came down from Liverpool, we had a good night in there.

Anonymous said...

Best times of my life at Club UK too - still searching for a replacement. Maybe we should get our shiny disco balls out and club together for a Club UK reunion party!

Unknown said...

Club UK was the best club I ever went to, used to drive up from Thanet most Fridays sometimes even by myself knowing I would have a room full of mates there. The back room was mental, hard hard techno and the DJ's were amazing, Billy Nasty, Gayle San, Carl Cox, Lauren Garnier too many to mention them all. Nothing has come close to being that good since. Amazingly I was oblivious to all the other goings-on mentioned in this article, the security was always good in my experience, didn't fuck with you once you were inside and I never once saw any trouble inside the club so even if they were gangsters they did a bang up job of keeping the club safe for the punters. Miss those days so much but thankful I was able to experience it, had the time of my life.

Michael said...

We used to travel down from Milton Keynes nearly every Friday during 94 for the Final Frontier nights. We even did the Final Frontier organised trip Sven Vaths's club in Frankfurt-The Omen. What a Crazy weekend that was! After that I Spent more time going to the Club UK nights on the Saturday though 95 and into 96. An amazing experience and we ever really knew how good we had it back then. I'd love just to do one more night there!

Anonymous said...

So many memories, was there every week, earning a 'wage', mainly on the corner in the back room by the door. Was well run, some great nights and other memories I can't share. I remember D:REAM dropping before he performed one night off his head, Baby D, the two security teams having a punch up as the club was closing etc.. Oh as for the raids, we were told to stay home that night.. Watches it on TV lol

Anonymous said...

I was there that night when it was raided. My dad saw it on tv. He wasn’t happy with me.
When there most weeks. Great memories.

Unknown said...

I loved Club UK ,I went to Final frontier on the second Friday night it ran. I lived in Hayes and not being a local , I ended up getting the tube to Trafalgar square and getting the free bus ( laid on by FF) to Wandsworth. We didn't even know where Wandsworth was!!
Little did i know that,that Friday night of dark techno and chemically feelibgs with the most 'up for it' would change my life..
I attended every Friday and Saturday for 2 and a half years from that night ..
Final frontier on Friday was the best night in the world at the time..
I dance my tits off to so many to Dj's.. Gayle San, DJ DAG, Sven Bath, CJ Bolland Satoshi Tomiee and the unforgettable Carl Cox..
A friend of my then GF new the guy that ran the impromptu chillout area on the stair behind the bar on the main room and we ended up in the pre chill area for acts ( would be called a green room now) and we met loads of top Dj's which was mint . Apart from everything else about the club , I got to carry Carl Cox's record box for him to the back room ( pop art I think!!) I stand out for me cos I had to negotiate the metal ramp from the main room to the middle room which was like an ice rink with sweat after an hour of opening..
It was well funny trying to balance with e record on the slippy ramp whilst coming up on chemicals..
That night my them gf and I sat facing the ramp in the middle room watching fellow buckled clubber trying to scale and descent the ramp.. lol funny as fuck!!
Seen Judge Jules play a Saturday night with John Kelly , when he was just coming up on Kiss 100, before he got fame hungry and went all crasher kid..
We wers in attendance for the doors opening to the shopping centre and for 2 raids I think.. a friend did time for grabbing a bag that had been disgarded by a dealer during a raid. She thought it was an opportunity , and it backfired..
Crazy though..
Loved the place, loved the bar sraff even though they frequently short changed me) , the security were the best .. but the people made the place. The time , the emotion, the culmination of society and the rave suppression meant that the club was unique and will never been surpassed or even equalled..

White Knight said...

Yeah, those days were the best for sure...

Anonymous said...

Had many a top night at Club UK, including a mental NYE night there in 94 or 95, when the doors were opened to the shopping centre next door as a chill out area. The drive home to Portsmouth could get quite “interesting” lol.

Anonymous said...

Wow used to go there both nights. I never seen no trouble. I was the one asked them to get ice pops in. Also helped with control on the last raid by singing a tune, most joined in and got online. I wasn't searched most where, think coz helped chill the ravers down a bit. Back room I used to like.

Mary Kathleen said...

Please please please post the mix tape audio on YouTube x

Anonymous said...

Yes it was, probably the best and happiest vibe of one ever. Never saw them again.

Unknown said...

Too right!

Unknown said...

I know that robot!

Unknown said...

Will never be beaten - totally sublime

Anonymous said...

Another shout out for the harder edged stuff from Gayle San, Dag, Sven Vath and Billy Nasty. I seem to remember spending most of my time in the bag back room that had the Chewits and Juicy Fruits podiums.

Similar intensity to The Orbit, in Morley of the same period, where Vath was a favourite but where other world wide techno Gods came to preach the Gospel.

Good times.

As others have said, criminality could have been excluded if our governments weren't wedded to the US's corrupt and built to fail War on Some Drugs.

Mark Wilson said...

The bottle. Great memory. There were a few of those in our Halls Of Residence at Roehampton (The old Southlands College site). We were in Bathgate Rd, so not too far away and I went on a couple of Fridays, which was more my thing. I recall the raid, as I knew someone at the Uni who was there; then the closure in Feb '96.

Dj tyson said...

I djed at club uk, the joiners arms played there on a monday, completely forgot about that mental place!! Check out club uk London on Instagram

Dj miss tyson said...

Club Uk reunions are happening! Peach now run club Uk, for more info check out Instagram DJ MISS TYSON and CLUB UK LONDON , club Uk show every Sunday 5-7pm (except last Sunday in the month) WWW.KANEFM.COM/listen KANE103.7fm SOUTH AND WEST LONDON /Surrey
I use to play the middle room on a Saturday night ‘GIRLS BEHAVING BADLY’
Facebook page CLUB UK WANDSWORTH lots of pics and club uk memories

Anonymous said...

Dj flavours - gotta have house

Anonymous said...

Some great nights had at club UK. Went every weekend for 3 years & only ever paid once after getting to know bar staff & dj’s. No club ever came close to the nights we had there & then it got raided & I was on the news coming out (much to my mothers disgust as I was feeling quite proud)! 🤣 Never went to any other club after it closed. I grew up, had kids and that’s where my clubbing days ended! Always cherish the times spent with Danny Rampling, Beko, Steve Goddard, Queen Maxine & Mark French! Some proper banging tunes were spinning inside the dj box & the crowd erupted like a mad sea of waves!

Anonymous said...

Strawberry Sundae was just up the road from Club UK. We ran for years there and never had a death or a shut down. Over a thousand ravers for years, every week. We never had any firms muscling in or organised crime. Sometimes I think people like to blow things out of proportion. Chinese whispers among 1800 ravers and accounts of incidents from hundreds of unreliable, 3 days deep witnesses aren’t to be trusted.

Anonymous said...

Strawberry Sundae is still around and it’s still a great time to be a raver. Since 1994, no one has died, no firms muscled in, no people got shot in Range Rovers. I loved Club UK too but there were plenty other hedonistic full on rave clubs that weren’t shut down and didn’t make the news.

Anonymous said...

Final frontier highlights for me were Twitch and Brainstorm and Jam and Spoon. Circa 1993/4 Epic nights.

Anonymous said...

Went to clubs all over the United Kingdom - Club UK on Friday night was by far was the loudest sound going - especially the back-room - it was so loud in that room that my throat was thumping & body throbbing

Gutted it got shut down, i was their from day one till the last night it got raided, there is no other club experience like that with the best DJ'S on earth, when Jeff Mills & Carl Cox gigged their i'm sure the tech-guy cranked it up too maximum overdrive :)

Anonymous said...

Went to clubs all over the United Kingdom - Club UK on Friday night was by far was the loudest sound going - especially the back-room - it was so loud in that room that my throat was thumping & body throbbing

Gutted it got shut down, i was their from day one till the last night it got raided, there is no other club experience like that with the best DJ'S on earth, when Jeff Mills & Carl Cox gigged their i'm sure the tech-guy cranked it up too maximum overdrive :)

Anonymous said...

Greatest of times and been chasing those Club Uk nights ever since. Always remember Access raising the roof and then mixing in Welcoome to the Club... Boom.