This morning the Guardian has a photo-essay on the Limelight Club in the 1980s. It was an “it” club for a while with lots of famous London scene people.
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I used to work at a night club just of Oxford Street in the mid-eighties. Sometimes as many as three or four nights a week as a barman. I used start at 8 PM to set up the bar and get hone for 5 AM get a few hours’ sleep and during the week be back in The Royal Institution for coffee at 10 to do science. The club closed at 3:30 AM.
How I managed to get a Ph.D. remains a bit of a mystery…
It was on these early morning walks back from the night bus stop home when I knew beyond doubt that my time of day is the pre-dawn and dawn. London viewed from Kingsbury / Wembley in the summer, as it wakes up, it quite quiet special. The mental space is near silent and it is just fantastic.
I was a regular after the club closed at various fast food stalls near Oxford Street tube. On first name terms. Travelling home in my barman’s black and whites I use to often have females sitting next to me on the night bus for safety. I was not as pissed out of my skull as some of the other passengers. I was awake because of my Soul fate. I often had a few dabs to keep going.
Once a month one of the clubs would host a staff club night. These were free and only for other nightclub staff with reduced bar prices. They would start at 4 AM and go onto around 7. The DJ at the Limelight had an in depth selection of rare jazz funk and mellow soul groove. He would play it for us the discerning who needed a break from the stuff they had listened to all night. When it was the Limelight’s turn to host it was my favourite.
Because I spoke “posh” whenever the nightclub owners (possibly gangsters) came visit our club the manager would hold court one end of the bar. Only I was allowed to serve them. There was a cupboard with top notch classy booze only for VIPs. I was allowed to talk with them too. The others were kept at a distance. After I left the manger told me that if I ever needed a job to get back to him.
Seems not so long ago…
Dreamyoga 