In the seventies, there was such an abundance of good clubs in London, that clubbing after a late dinner used to take hours. During the beginning of that decade, one of the most popular clubs in London was the Sombrero on High Street Kensington, known to its loyal gamblers as ‘Yours Or Mine’. It was supposed to be a gay club, but sponsored by trendy heterosexuals and all the stars. Bianca Jagger with her entourage of trendy gays was a constant visitor. The club was small. The tables were covered with red paper tablecloths, the lighted dance floor was tiny, but the subterranean dive had a magical atmosphere. The characters in “Frantic,” my novel about the nostalgic early 1970s, almost lived in a club called The Igloo, which was a pseudo name for The Sombrero. At The Igloo, the desperate couple passed the prohibitive doorman at the door promising to pay their ticket money next time. Half running, half jumping, they descended into the murky bowels of the club.

Tramp on Jermyn Street was still an institution, and the Speakeasy, the Music Business club on Maddox Street, still worked. But when the nightclub became fashionable in the late seventies, a large number of clubs were opened. On the way to Tramp, which was still playing The Rolling Stones hardcore, a club called Maunkberry’s was populated by a younger crowd. The late Marc Bolan and David Bowie used to hang out there, as did Arnold Schwarzenegger during his bodybuilding days. Wedgies on Kings Road was a bit off the beaten path, but all the Toffs used to go there for dinner and dancing, due to the club’s titled managers Lord Burgesh and Sir Dai Llewellyn. Regine, the international queen of nightclubs, has added her London club to her international chain. It was on the top floor of the old Derry & Tom’s (later Biba) on High Street Kensington, but it turned out to be a bit off the beaten path for committed clubbers in the end. At the club’s conception, Andy Warhol and his entourage strolled through the rooftop garden, and European royalty like Carolina of Monaco had parties there, but the club soon died.

Without a doubt, The Embassy Club on Old Bond Street was the best club in town. It was the British clone of Studio 54, and it had a good-sized dance floor, perfect for dancing disco to hits like Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I Survived’. The opening party was packed with British aristocrats and members of the glitterati. Michael Fish, who invented the herring tie, asked a select group of ‘brunch ladies’ to organize guest lists, forbidding them to invite their gay friends, which was ironic as the club’s male clientele later went on his bisexual majority.

In addition to the big clubs that favored dancing with amyl nitrate, there were more intimate membership clubs like Mortons in Berkely Square, famous for its long bar on the ground floor, and of course the futuristic-designed Zanzibar in Covent Garden. On any given night, you would meet “everyone who was someone” at their long bar. The owners formed the successful Soho club called Groucho’s in the 1980s. But, for clubbers in the late seventies who loved to dance until the wee hours of the morning, clubbing went downhill thereafter.

Copyright: 2006