Discoberfest Chester
This is on the face of it a strange sounding name for a blog post. It may seem an even stranger name for an event. But that’s what the event is called. Discoberfest Chester is coming to Chester this Saturday, 21st October. Let’s get the formalities out of the way first. The event commences at 7pm and lasts through to midnight. Tickets are priced at £10.00 each. With your £10.00 you get admission obviously, but you also get a commemorative Stein and an Apfelkorn shooter on arrival. You can still get tickets for the event. Tickets are available HERE.
There’s the formalities out of the way. So what exactly is Discoberfest Chester? Good question!!
Discoberfest Chester
Discoberfest Chester-21st October 2017
The night will involve a mixture of classic disco hits and live band crowd pleasers. Add this musical concoction to the normal Oktoberfest style festivities – i.e. beer, food, beer, merriment and beer!! – and what do we have? A great night to be had by all by the sounds of it. And it’s all to be found in the heart of Chester city centre at the Town Hall.
The event has been organised by Steve Davies. See more of what Steve says about the event HERE.
Being of the age when discos were called discos (what do today’s youngsters call them?), it will be curious to see what music will be played. Will it take us back to our Chester nightclub memories from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s?
Chester Disco Scenes From Days Gone By
I’m probably showing my age when I reel off the names of the clubs that we were brought up on in my day. For lovers of live music you couldn’t beat Quaintways, also known as The Jazz Club (or the Jazzy!!), or the Wall City Club on a Monday night. Yes, weird wasn’t it, one of the best nights out in the week was on a Monday!!
I must say here (honestly!!), I was only a baby when I used to sheepishly queue in Northgate Street to gain entrance. Bands like Thin Lizzy, Lindisfarne, Budgie, Groundhogs, The Real Thing to name a few and solo artists like Leo Sayer and Tony McPhee graced the stage on a regular basis. Hands up anyone who said, “Who?…Who?…Who?…to those list of names?
Pints of Double Diamond at 15p per pint served in a chunky handled glass. Great stuff. With the band finished, all upstairs to the top floor for the Soul Disco!! Young lads crowding around the dance floor while the young ladies danced around their handbags.
Always an excellent night with so many good memories. With the night over, pop down to the “Hole In The Wall” for a quick ‘snack’ before going home. Mind you, can you call cottage pie, chips, peas and gravy (out of a silver, tin container of course) a snack at 2.30am in the morning!!
The “Hole In The Wall” by the way was in Brook Street where the Chester Tandoori is now.
For The Big Kids – Kings
At the same time Quaintways, or the Jazzy, was in vogue a maybe more sophisticated venue was Kings in Boughton. My lasting memories of Kings was entering via the metal steps after going out of the back of the “Tavern In The Town” pub below. Another memory that sticks in the mind is the free bitter and cider on a Sunday if you were in before 9.30pm.
Legendary DJ of the time, Neil Hayes, used to spin the discs (is that the right phrase?). A nightmare, not a memory, that has stayed with me all these years was when a young lady (who shall remain nameless) threw up all over me on my brother-in-laws stag night. I have that effect on women!!
Sixteen years of age, drunk, a sneaky packet of 10 Embassy in my pocket and covered in puke!! I’ve arrived I thought. Thankfully the being puked on wasn’t a normal occurrence.
And I’ve still got the bruises for dancing The Bump!!
Not Kings, but here is what The Bump was all about…..a lot of gyrating hips and blokes in Lionel Blair’s and the girls in hot pants!! What’s not to like??
There were other clubs about in those days – for instance, the Alpine and the Silhouette – but I didn’t really venture into those. I’m sure some readers will know more about those and other clubs.
The Kings Is Dead – Long Live Tiffanys
After Kings had it’s day, it was replaced by the nationally owned Mecca chain of nightclubs known as Tiffanys. What a place that was. Tiffanys was that good it was hard to say which was the best night. A Wednesday (after a stint in the Boathouse beforehand), a Thursday, a Friday or a Saturday? The social scene in those days was really buzzing and it was hard not to find a lively, fun-filled venue to visit.
The ground floor of Tiffanys was known as Bali Hai. It was quite revolutionary in those days to see the main feature of Bali Hai. There was a huge, fake, palm tree plonked in the middle of the dance floor. A different spin on ‘dancing round your handbags’ I suppose. Dancing round your tree stump more like.
A short lived feature of Tiffanys was a Wednesday night £7.50, “eat as much as you want and drink as much as you want” extravaganza. This event didn’t last long. Even though a £7.50 entrance fee in those days was a lot, it still represented good value. A pal of mine, who was manager at the time, told me that it was stopped in Chester as Mecca were losing money on the event.
What were we dancing to? Mainly soul music and any night always seemed to involve a bit of Boney M and a trouser staining “Rowing Boat Song”. You used to get home and your trousers were filthy. Here’s why….
City Road
Arguably, as popular as Tiffanys in those days, was Champers, which subsequently became Blimpers. Located at the top of City Road, Champers was mega on a Wednesday night. An entrance fee of 15p and 15p a pint. What a result!!
It wasn’t uncommon to flit between the two some nights. Start off in Tiffanys and pop over to Champers or Blimpers, or vice versa.
Cinderellas and Rockerfellas
Cinderellas-Boughton Chester (picture by Steve Howe)
In the 80’s, Tiffanys was renamed Cinderellas and Rockerfellas. Sadly though, Cinderellas was on the decline in the 80’s. It did eventually close and has since been knocked down with apartments and offices replacing it. Such a waste!! The end of our highly popular social scene surely? The end…..you must be kidding!! Far from it.
Say Hello To Rendezvous
It could be argued that one of the reasons for the decline of Cinderellas was as a result of the emergence of Rendezvous. Based in the old Quaintways building, Rendezvous was ideally located in Northgate Street. Still with 3 floors, Rendezvous slowly but surely took over as the Number One nightspot in Chester in the 80’s. Clubs were still really referred to as discos, so the wide range of music played and the various dance moves on display, could be considered as being suitable for the Discoberfest Chester event.
From a personal point of view my nightclubbing days ran out of steam in the late 1990’s. “Enough, enough”, my body was telling me. So, consequently, I can’t really comment on the club scene from the late 1990’s onwards. Mind you, clubs had really lost their “disco” label by then. So, any resemblance between Discoberfest Chester and my clubbing days in my pomp will be limited to an end date of late 1990’s I would suggest.
On The Doorstep
The above has been a quick recap of just some of the ‘disco’ venues available to all us eager party animals in Chester. There are still quite a few Chester discos not mentioned. This is because I didn’t really frequent them. But as already mentioned, I am sure there are plenty out there who can recall clubs like The Alpine, Silhouette, Pintos, the Northgate Arena and the Plantation (who said “Grab a Granny”?).
But let’s not forget the many other discos we used to visit on our doorstep. To name a few, the Tivoli Ballroom (as it was quite ‘lively’ it was often known as the Tivoli Brawlroom), Leighton Court in Neston, Dixieland in Rhyl and Colwyn Bay, the Hamilton Club in Birkenhead, Scotts in Wrexham, the Stables in St Asaph and the many, many venues over the water in Liverpool.
The social scene was so very enjoyable and a great learning curve in many respects. It’s great to have the happy memories isn’t it. No doubt many of you have your own. Why not share them?
Discoberfest Chester
So, I’ve hugely digressed here haven’t I with the “all our yesterdays” memories? Back onto this weekend’s forthcoming event – Discoberfest Chester then. Hopefully, the music to be played will provide us with some good 80’s and 90’s ‘bopping’ sounds. Unfortunately, two dodgy knees and a bad hip will prevent me reliving “The Bump” if it’s played. If the music played on the night however allows us to enjoy the night in anyway close to our heydays, then it will be a great night indeed.
And let’s not forget, as well as the disco music there will be beer, food, beer, merriment and beer to be enjoyed. To all those going, let us know how you got on. It will be interesting to hear from you. Enjoy!!
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