Long-running London nightclub Turnmills have announced they'll be presenting their last ever gay-themed Trade parties over Easter Weekend, an impressive 23 years after the venue first opened. The 1st-ever flyer for Trade The legendary East London basement club was first opened in 1985 as a wine bar by John Newman, the father of DJ Tall Paul and Gallery promoter Danny, though was radically transformed when equally infamous alternative club promoter Laurence Malice decided to host his fledgling afterhours party Trade there in the early '90s. Turnmills was the first club to obtain a 24 hour dance licence in the UK, spearheading the move to all-night clubbing in the 1990's. Its Trade night was the first after hours club in Britain. "When I first came across Turnmills, it wasn't anything like the club you see today," Laurence recalled in a press release issued this week. "There was a grand piano - which people danced on, a stainless steel dance floor, wine barrels above the bar and a carvery at the back of the dance floor. Times changed. "To have been associated so closely with a building in which I achieved and accomplished so many of my dreams and clubbing aspirations it makes me realise just how lucky I was to have been in the right place at the right time," he added. Turnmills director Danny Newman, meanwhile, issued an upbeat press statement about the club's closure. "It feels as though it's come to a natural end, and we are finishing on a high. "The most important reason is of course that the lease is nearly up and the landlord wants to develop the site. To be honest it's been on the cards for a couple of years now, we've always wanted to leave on our terms and it just seems like the right time to go," he explained. "Thanks to everyone that ever came down, it was YOU that made the place what it was, we were just doing what we do behind the scenes," he concluded.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Thursday, 31st January 2008 - 8:51am