Hanley in the ‘90s, when every tune was a ‘choon’
Author DAN WEATHERER recounts his steps through the ‘90s clubland of the Potteries, recalling the great and the good of the local music scene and nights out on the town...
IFIRST heard ‘Insomnia’ by Faithless while I was babysitting for a family friend. To my teenage ears, the brooding, trance epic was unlike anything I’d heard before (my brief flirtation with music having started and ended with Britpop).
I asked in the playground the next day if anybody knew the name of the tune, trying and failing to describe it to my guitar-band loving friends.
They didn’t get it, but it was okay. ‘Insomnia’ ignited both my love for music and my latent teen rebellious streak; they didn’t need to get it.
I didn’t know it at the time, but that record started a love affair with clubbing and dance music that would go on to shape my life well into my late 20s, costing me thousands of pounds in vinyl and DJ equipment.
Looking back, it’s hard to believe how important Hanley was to the UK clubbing scene in the 1990s. I was raised on tales of the Jollees/shelleys nightclubs, but they were shut down by the time I’d legally be allowed to set foot inside a nightclub. Valentino’s, The Place and The Void were the clubs of choice if you were a dance music lover, and the late 90s saw them at the height of their powers.
The Void, in particular, was a favoured destination for clubbers from all over the UK, regularly hosting world-famous DJS such as Pete Tong, Carl Cox, Judge Jules and local legend, Pete Bromley.
Sadly, most of the places I’ll mention in this article are long gone, residing only in the memory of retired clubbers who, having hung up their glow sticks long ago, these days look forward to a quiet Saturday night in. Not me, by the way, even though it is a muggy, overcast Friday morning, I’m blasting classic house out of my PC speakers and having the time of my life!
A typical night out in Hanley for me would begin with me catching the Disco Bus – the 232 Uttoxeter to Hanley service, every quarter past and a quarter to – into town.
The starting point for an epic night out was always The Pig and Truffle. I adore that pub, and although it lived on in various guises, it’ll always be the P&T to me.
With great music – they played a solid mix of underground house mixed with pop and retro classics – cold drinks and a relaxed, friendly vibe, it was THE meeting point for my group.
It was just low key enough to be busy, but not so much that you couldn’t find a space for your drinks and your warm-up dance moves. After that, it’d be on to Yates’s if it wasn’t too busy.
Even early, the queue for the bar could be as much as three deep, with its roped-off upstairs area (just for the DJ to lord it over the sweating masses) and its notorious downstairs toilets that claimed many a spilt drink.
If Yates’s was a no-go, it was into Trinity’s for a swift one, where the battle plan for the night would be discussed.
If The Place was the club of choice that night, we’d head towards Millionaires for a quick one, followed by an extended stay in Flackets.
Out of all the bars I visited in my youth, this one holds my fondest memories.