Lost Night-Clubs of Leeds!

Krasberry · Post by **Krasberry** » Fri 21 Mar, 2008 4:57 am

russ wrote: hi all its been a long time since i've logged onto 'Secret Leeds' so here i am.I 've been reading through this 'lost nightclubs' thread and i remember a hell of a lot of the names that have been mentioned (my hey day was 87'-97') before the 'married' thing happened LOL.I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Big Lil's and Spooks that was upstairs.That was my usual nightclub haunt (cheap & cheerful LOL).Spooks was a right dive but me & my mates had some great nights there (the dj was a guy called Steve Randell (an ex mod and was supposed to have been a right handy bugger) the place was all black with the whole room surrounded by mirrors and when it was full it was a right old sauna in there.Shame its shut down now but the then owner (Kevin) still owns it as far as i know (he did own Upstairs downstairs in Armley and the Primos II nightclub (the gay bar as we used to call it) at the bottom end of the market..... Totally forgot about big lil's always made sure we popped in there for the cheap drinks and to witness a punch up,got involved in afew,didnt take much to end up in a ruck in there,Only went in spooks twice kinda put me off after stepping in a pool of vomit on the way in,anyone remember the really dodgy "Berlin" bar that was further up than Europa(Opposite side of the road towards north street)second port of call after Big Lil's and just as dodgy,I was in there just before it closed about mid 99 when the bouncer got stabbed with a hyperdermic needle :\

russ · Post by **russ** » Fri 21 Mar, 2008 4:55 pm

LOL i remember BERLINS i didn't go in there much but i know what you mean about it being a rather 'rough' place it was always full of big groups of lads and you could 'feel' the tension when you walked in LOL before that it was a restaurant called IKES i believe (could be proved wrong on that one but it was called that at some point) not sure what its called know (not much of a townie these days feel old now going into places like Bar Risa,Tiger Tiger etc...and i'm only 37 as well LOL).Still town was best for me mid to late 80's and early 90's going to Barney's,Yel bar,The box office and finishing off in Ritzy (oh how much i miss those days) town as changed so much over the years but i still do love town but don't get in much as i say....

Chrism · Post by **Chrism** » Fri 21 Mar, 2008 6:39 pm

anthonydna wrote: I was pestering the Bali Hai guy for Numan too, he would only ever play "We are so fragile" ! That'll be Simon!

Krasberry · Post by **Krasberry** » Fri 21 Mar, 2008 6:45 pm

russ wrote: LOL i remember BERLINS i didn't go in there much but i know what you mean about it being a rather 'rough' place it was always full of big groups of lads and you could 'feel' the tension when you walked in LOL before that it was a restaurant called IKES i believe (could be proved wrong on that one but it was called that at some point) not sure what its called know (not much of a townie these days feel old now going into places like Bar Risa,Tiger Tiger etc...and i'm only 37 as well LOL).Still town was best for me mid to late 80's and early 90's going to Barney's,Yel bar,The box office and finishing off in Ritzy (oh how much i miss those days) town as changed so much over the years but i still do love town but don't get in much as i say.... You feel old going in Tiger Tiger & Risa,i frequent both and im only 27 lol,another old haunt mentioned Ritzy's absolute dive but i was saddened when it closed,Does anyone know whats happening with the Sports Bar?

kierentc · Post by **kierentc** » Fri 21 Mar, 2008 7:20 pm

russ wrote: before that it was a restaurant called IKES i believe (could be proved wrong on that one but it was called that at some point) ikes was one of the first places i bought an alcoholic drink. aged 13 <blush>

frisbee · Post by **frisbee** » Fri 21 Mar, 2008 7:24 pm

russ wrote: LOL i remember BERLINS i didn't go in there much but i know what you mean about it being a rather 'rough' place it was always full of big groups of lads and you could 'feel' the tension when you walked in LOL before that it was a restaurant called IKES i believe (could be proved wrong on that one but it was called that at some point) not sure what its called know (not much of a townie these days feel old now going into places like Bar Risa,Tiger Tiger etc...and i'm only 37 as well LOL).Still town was best for me mid to late 80's and early 90's going to Barney's,Yel bar,The box office and finishing off in Ritzy (oh how much i miss those days) town as changed so much over the years but i still do love town but don't get in much as i say.... I remember going to Berlin's on Thursday nights about 10 years ago. They had a huge spinning whel and when it landed on a prarticular drink, it was sold at something like 75p a bottle until the next spin.

David Raven · Post by **David Raven** » Fri 21 Mar, 2008 8:16 pm

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

raveydavey · Post by **raveydavey** » Fri 21 Mar, 2008 10:19 pm

russ wrote: LOL i remember BERLINS i didn't go in there much but i know what you mean about it being a rather 'rough' place it was always full of big groups of lads and you could 'feel' the tension when you walked in LOL Still town was best for me mid to late 80's and early 90's going to Barney's,Yel bar,The box office and finishing off in Ritzy (oh how much i miss those days) town as changed so much over the years but i still do love town but don't get in much as i say.... Berlins! I'd forgotten about that - they printed vouchers for cheap drinks on the back of bus tickets.They also had another plusher bar area upstairs that only got opened at about 9 or 10 o'clock and they had drinks promotions with a spinning wheel with all the different offers on every half hour. Strangely the "offers" seemed to get less generous as the night went on...

russ · Post by **russ** » Fri 21 Mar, 2008 11:58 pm

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 thread

Foz · Post by **Foz** » Sat 22 Mar, 2008 4:37 am

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!!!