Lost Night-Clubs of Leeds!

Krasberry · Post by **Krasberry** » Sat 22 Mar, 2008 6:24 am

russ wrote: Does anyone know whats happening with the Sports Bar? why is the sports bar closed? (it is the one that used to be the old bearings bank wasn't it) sorry like i say don't get to town much these days (last i was there was back end of last year)....Talking about 'sport related bars' does anyone remember the one that was part of the headrow center 'LW's' it was called i only went in a couple of times i went to building collage (Leeds collage of building north street) with a lad who worked the door there (can't remember his name though)ps not sure if LW's was classed as a nightclub if not i'm sorry for slightly de-railing the threadWell the sportsbar is closed at the mo,i drive past it everyday going to work and there is something going on inside theres joiners,etc there i dunno if its a refurb or what,hoping it aint closing ,one of the places i go on a night out,as for Berlins and its drinks "Deal Wheel" just before it closed they would spin it and find the drink it had landed on was out of stock so they would have to spin again lol,this happened a few times :\

Post by **cnosni** » Sat 22 Mar, 2008 4:02 pm

Foz wrote: The Warehouse (Somers St) was excellent when they had rock nights there, Saturday, then they switched it to Friday and finally to Thursday (surprisingly didn't last long!).Another good night was at Ricky's (cellar bar at Rios now) which had a 'normal' rock night and as well as The Lizard Club which was great as well at (deep breath) Riffs (North St.) The Phono and Ashfields (The Phono when it reopened and before it became Phono again) and I think it then went back to Ricky's but I may be wrong?Speaking of The Phono, Sunday nights were always very memorable as well!The Observatory (now Flares) had a rock night on a Tuesday which was fantastic for a midweek but of course the grandafther of Leeds rock clubs of course the well reknowned (Sc)Umpies!The 'gents' must have been the worst toilets in England, and at at the end of the night, carrying George up the stairs in his wheelchair whilst he whacked you around the back of the head with a bottle of brown! And of course, you can't forget the disco ball that was (not) on the ceiling or the the fact that if you ended up on the deck you got covered in what can only be described as black 'sludge'!Happy days indeed!!! Rickys/Lizard club became the haunt of the original Scrumpieites when the music being played there was mainly thrash,which i along with my fellow older Scrumpieites didnt take too kindly to.I think that this may have been the reason for its decline as its clientele were literally forced to go to Rickys to enjoy decent rock music as opposed to thrash.Needsless to say we ended up losing Rickys because of a refit,and then when it reopened there was no rock night.It moved to the phono,but that was more alternative than rock and waasnt quite the same.then there was the once a month rock night at the uni,with two rooms one for thrash and one for classic,shame really because if the two were in one room and there was a mix of bothe then both lots would have come to appreciate the others a little more.Rock night at TCs in the Merrion was good,more classic than thrash(which had seemed to have gone out of fashion by then) and now there Rios,which i havent been to (though did go Bradford one)yet.Shame really as its probably 15 years too late for me anyway!!Hope it picks up,though ive heard that the atmospheres a bit flat.

Chrism · Post by **Chrism** » Sat 22 Mar, 2008 4:52 pm

David Raven wrote: Chrism wrote: LeeRatbag wrote: David Raven wrote: Ricky's (behind the Merrion centre) had an 'alternative' night on a Sunday (£1 a pint for lager!). Rickys was down near the bottom of Merrion Street, under the Grand Arcade. It's currently the basement bar of Rio's, known as Sweeney Todd's. I used to love their Friday glam rock night. I think he meant Central Park, they did the Alternative Sunday nights with Simon from Bali-Hai DJing. Yes!Brilliant! It was the Central Park. Thanks guys (for filling in the gaps in my ale-addled memory! ). I think the Sunday 'alternative night' at the Central Park got moved to Ricky's in the Grand Arcade?Don't suppose you remember the name of the alternative music night that started (on Friday nights?) in the late 80s, upstairs in that club at the bottom of Briggate, near the viaduct? I think a guy called Andy DJ'd...CheersDave The Chocolate Factory?

David Raven · Post by **David Raven** » Sat 22 Mar, 2008 6:14 pm

That name rings a bell! Thanks Chrism!(But was that the name of the 'night' or the name of the club?)CheersDave

Chrism · Post by **Chrism** » Sat 22 Mar, 2008 6:57 pm

It was the name of the night, it took off after the 'alternative' night at The Warehouse went all Indie-fied (Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Smiths and all things Madchester!!)

julesd · Post by **julesd** » Sat 22 Mar, 2008 8:35 pm

Krasberry said: "Well the sportsbar is closed at the mo,i drive past it everyday going to work and there is something going on inside theres joiners,etc there i dunno if its a refurb or what,hoping it aint closing"My boyfriend has just rung as he went to watch Leeds on the tele at the George (Great George St), said that he'd passed the Sportsbar and it is open up again, so presume it must have been a refurb as Krasberry mentioned

dERvXeroX · Post by **dERvXeroX** » Mon 24 Mar, 2008 9:22 pm

David Raven wrote: That name rings a bell! Thanks Chrism!(But was that the name of the 'night' or the name of the club?)CheersDave The Chocolate factory was a night on the top floor of Rockshots where they also had Back to Basics. There is a picture of the building when it used to be Belindas at the top of this thread:http://www.secretleeds.com/forum/Messag ... dID=333One of the bouncers had a thing for me and used to let me in for free until he realised I wasn't gay.

compton · Post by **compton** » Mon 24 Mar, 2008 9:45 pm

Well done skippy, I remember the Windmill on North st. it was damn near the only nightclub in Leeds then, casino as well. My mate and I once got a verbal from Tony for standing at the bar upstairs, was,nt allowed, seated only. the old Leeds United team, (the good one) could often be seen there, Jack Charlton etc. training I assume.

LeeRatbag · Post by **LeeRatbag** » Tue 25 Mar, 2008 2:30 pm

Foz wrote: The Warehouse (Somers St) was excellent when they had rock nights there, Saturday, then they switched it to Friday and finally to Thursday (surprisingly didn't last long!).Another good night was at Ricky's (cellar bar at Rios now) which had a 'normal' rock night and as well as The Lizard Club which was great as well at (deep breath) Riffs (North St.) The Phono and Ashfields (The Phono when it reopened and before it became Phono again) and I think it then went back to Ricky's but I may be wrong? The Lizard Club was a great night, I used to go all the time when it was at Riffs (mind you, walking back up North Street in cowboy boots was not to be recommended...). It would only play rock form 67 to 73, so we'd get loads of Doors, Hendrix and so on, but they'd also play plenty of stuff like the MC5, the Stooges, New York Dolls - stuff nobody else would play. Its remit seemed to get a bit wider later on after it moved out and it seemed to become just another classic rock night. Good for what it was, but not the same. Quote: The Observatory (now Flares) had a rock night on a Tuesday which was fantastic for a midweek but of course the grandafther of Leeds rock clubs of course the well reknowned (Sc)Umpies!The 'gents' must have been the worst toilets in England, and at at the end of the night, carrying George up the stairs in his wheelchair whilst he whacked you around the back of the head with a bottle of brown! And of course, you can't forget the disco ball that was (not) on the ceiling or the the fact that if you ended up on the deck you got covered in what can only be described as black 'sludge'!Happy days indeed!!! Heh. George was bloody lethal with his bottles. I always thought he should get a cowcatcher fitted to his chair, cos he wasn't averse to just ramming through the crowd in it. Oh yeah, and the carpet...good grief, the carpet.

wayniac · Post by **wayniac** » Wed 26 Mar, 2008 12:55 pm

A place I used to go in the late 60's was the Central Dance Club. It was downstairs near the corner of Boar Lane and the little street behind Woolworths.It used to be a waxworks and when I started going there, it was a place only for teddy boys and rockers. They only played rock and roll, mainly Eddie Cochrane, Elvis, Gene Vincent type stuff. The guys wore brothel creepers, drainpipe trousers and velvet collared coats or leather jackets.It was a real throwback to the 50's. The bouncer was a black guy called Willie, he had a huge brother called Jimmy.It was scary place really, you never looked at anyone.......I remember going over to the Mecca (Spinning Disc) one night with some of my mates and we were really out of place with the Mods all dancing to Tamla Motown.......ack.