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Locarno nightclub, London Road, Sheffield


VicRichardson

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27356294_1956229547781580_9156411840070986097_o.jpg.d524942b0fb647645edad6db14721d72.jpg

Not sure if thats spelt correct, but it was the dance hall at the bottom of the Moor. Also the "Hermatage" pub next door.

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J S Wood, Manager of the Lansdowne Picture Palace, London Road (1919)

and

G M Hurst, Manager of the Lansdowne Picture Palace, London Road (1925)

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Wow , It was years since I went past the Locarno I didn't know it had

now become a Sainsbury's.

I suppose it is better than knocking it down and building a Tesco. :rolleyes:

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Remember going to the Locarno in the mid 60's, some sort of Saturday morning kids dance.

I used to go dancing there when it was Tiffany's, I loved it.

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Wow , It was years since I went past the Locarno I didn't know it had

now become a Sainsbury's.

I suppose it is better than knocking it down and building a Tesco. :rolleyes:

That would have been a shame, its probably a listed building its certainly been there a long time.
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I went to the Locarno Saturday night dances from about 1961 (after a couple of years going to City Hall dances) until about 1966. They had a great band & singers.AS far as I can remember it finished at midnight so everyone could get last buses at 12.30. I also recall great Boxing Day &New Years Eve dances for which tickets were difficult to get!

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used to go there late sixtie nancy sinatra these boots are made for walking rang out i moved to oz in 1970 have they knocked it down?

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The building is still standing and is currently a Sainsbury's Local supermarket.

Previous topic on The Locarno merged with this one. It was in the places now gone section, which although correct for the ballroom was not so for the building.

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Never been inside, but my parents used to go there when they were courting in the '60s

Glad the building is still there, even is its ANOTHER supermarket.

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99% of the building itself was demolished, all apart from the façade and rotunda like entrance on the corner of London Road and Boston Street.

Look at the OP photo and you can see the pitched roof and the external brick wall (painted white) that constituted the old building. It was a rectangular shape, the narrow side being pretty much the width of the façade on London Road, the longer side extending some 100 or so feet down Boston Street.

I first went inside in the run up to Christmas 1988. I think (only think) it was called Locarno then, but had been called something else for some period before reclaiming the original name  would explain you knowing it as Tiffany's?).

Downstairs was a large space of double height (right up into that large pitched roof), with a long bar, MASSIVE dance floor and some seating areas. In the part of the building that fronted London Road were the toilets and a VIP room, which were single story, and a staircase (often closed off with doors) that led to the smaller second story above this.

The second story had a medium sized room with dance floor and bar and then a smaller "chill out" room. The upstairs also had it's own independent entrance on London Road (where the cash machine can be seen in the modern photo), and would often host club nights independently of what was going on downstairs.

The Lorcarno of the late 80s/early 90s was a "toiwnie" club...all very pop music and lots of larger being downed by blokes in shirts and ties. Things changed though when it became The Palais, around 91 (I think), where Chicago/Detroit house and garage music was the order of the day, with a much more dressed down and more drugged than boozed up crowd. 

It closed for a while and was then reincarnated as The Music Factory sometime around 1995 (I think). This was again a dance music focus, but perhaps a bit more "up class" and dressed up than The Palais days, as dance music as a whole had become more mainstream/big business. For the first couple of years it was hugely successful and queues would stretch long down Boston Street and often end up with a 1 in 1 out policy being imposed. There was often football related violence there at times unfortunately...sometimes between "supporters" of the Sheffield clubs, but more often between the "BBC" and the security staff and there was a long running feud which put many people off going (me included) and culminated in an incident where CS gas was let off inside, which obviously effected lots of people adversely and I think (again only think) led to it being closed down for a while by the authorities.

It never quite regained its popularity and closed down again, before being re-opened as Bed. Things turned more studenty in the final couple of years in the downstairs, although upstairs hosted some great soul/funk/hip-hop nights.

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Just found this after quick search.

https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/retro-pictures-the-music-factory-bed-palais-tiffany-s-the-locarno-can-you-spot-yourself-in-our-gallery-of-legendary-sheffield-nightspot-1-8632696#comments-area

I don't recall it ever being 42nd Street, or Gatecrasher at the end, but turns out my memories were otherwise largely correct....which surprises me greatly!.

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I have just come across this picture of The Lansdowne Picture Palace / Locarno when Marks and Sparks had it in the war.

lansdowne_pictures_1941.jpg

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Just come across the poster for the Dave Allen Showband...Dave played his trumpet whilst at FPGS and went on to become something of a night club impresario as well as a Director of SWFC.

 As a young lad  I went into the M and S store with Mum on her occasional  shopping forays down the Moor   and always remembered the sloping floor toward where the screen must have been.

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