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Roxy Nighclub


Sheffield History

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ROXYS NIGHTCLUB

(formerly steely's and top rank club)

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THE LOCATION

The Roxy Nightclub, Arundel Gate, Sheffield

(bang opposite the Crucible Theatre)

INFORMATION

Huge 2 floored mainstream nightclub, with huge dancefloor, movable lighting rig and large stage area.

ADVERTISING

"Is that alright fo yerz ?" Barry Noble (in his famous radio hallam advertising campaign)

PICTURES

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pictured above: Michaela, Pete Waterman and resident Roxy DJ Malcolm Dale

THE LAYOUT

Coming soon..

THE MUSIC

Mainstream pop, dance, and cheesy anthems. Everything from the Stock, Aitken and Waterman catalogue through to 60's and 70's classics. If you liked Jason Donovan, Kylie Minogue, The London Boys, Big Fun, Technotronic etc you would have loved the Roxy !!

THE STAFF

Manager - Kevan ?

Head DJ - Malcolm Dale

DJ - Craig Justice (later DJ Dream)

ROCK NIGHT

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1st and 3rd Monday in every month

I need some information here folks - do you have any memories of these nights ?

LIST OF BANDS THAT PLAYED AT ROXYS

Kylie Minogue

Jason Donovan

Edwin Starr

Big Fun

Sabrina

VIDEO - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPsl7RXUDOQ

The video is of The Hitman And Her from Roxy's nightclub in Sheffield back in the 80's - enjoy !

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The main attraction was a MASSIVE night-club called the Roxy which was perched on top of a multi-storey car park in the city centre. The Roxy’s huge, red neon sign shone out like a beacon when approaching Sheffield at night, even if a lot of the time it wasn’t working properly and appeared to say ‘RO_Y’ or ‘_OXY’.

Over the weekend the club was your typical towny dive - one of those places that specialised in catering for all the Paul Calf moustaches who were too pissed up, too rowdy and too lacking in X-chromosomes to get in anywhere else.

On a Wednesday there was the world renowned student night which, as far as I was aware, was the largest of its kind on the planet. According to local legend both the university and polytechnic (as it was still known in those days) arranged their timetables to account for the fact that most of the student body would be nursing monster hangovers on Thursday morning.

I only went to the student do once during my 1990 spell in Sheffield and although I had an enjoyable enough time it was just like every other student night I’d ever been to; cheap, watery booze, paralytic kids throwing up everywhere and much the same blend of music - Come on Eileen and YMCA receiving the obligatory rapturous reception.

Those whacky students eh? They’re so wild and crazy!

Thursday nights saw the over 25’s do, the infamous Grab-a-Granny night. This was a Mecca both for ropey old dolly-birds with no self-respect and sexually frustrated lads who couldn’t get laid anywhere else. The former who would trowel the make-up on for the occasion, shoehorn themselves into skimpy outfits and wobble unsteadily across the dance floor until they were picked up, taken into the car park and given a joyless knee-trembler by the latter.

It was something of an admission of desperation to even consider going to one of these nights and there was an associated saying: ‘It’s been that long since I’ve had a shag that I’m almost ready to walk the ramp of shame’. The ramp of shame being the walkway up to the Roxy’s entrance.

But every second Monday there was the celebrated rock night which knocked Rock City right into a cocked hat. People from all over the country would descend on Sheffield for this and, as far as the metal scene in late 1980s and early 1990s Britain went, it was quite easily the best night out to be had. The annual Miss Glam Rock beauty contest which featured as a part of the rock night calendar was good for a laugh too.

In the 1989 contest an American stripper and porno actress, who had married a guy from Lincoln as part of a ill-conceived scam to get him US citizenship, set a precedent by going into her act when parading across the stage. After this eye-popping spectacle you could guarantee at least one impromptu strip show in every heat - much to the delight of the club’s more Neanderthal patrons.

There was a smaller club in the city called Rebels which was located next to the indoor markets on Dixon Lane and hosted nothing but rock dos every night except Sunday. While it wasn’t in the same league as the Roxy, was only a fraction of the size and looked like it had been decorated by someone on dirty protest, it did have a relaxed, friendly atmosphere and served as a kind of hub around which the Sheffield metal crowd’s social scene revolved.

Information from - http://www.dom-bescoby.com/ch01.htm

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Guest happygirls78

oh how I loved roxys it reminds me of my first job,my first paypacket and my first serious boyfriend ;) .

Girls nights out would be so much better if we could all still dance round our handbags at roxys :P .

Thanx for bringing back some happy memories

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We're continuing to work on this section - including a major fantastic surprise for you all (if we can pull it off !)

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Guest Slimsid2000

Hey remember the time Pete waterman lost his toupee on the dance floor? No, me neither it never happened.

But seriously ....... Roxy's used to have a couple of girl dancers that would get up on stage at around midnight and dance to the party tunes. They wore cycling shorts. i think one was called Joanne. She was quite a well built girl if you know what I mean.

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Guest grandad

Poxy Roxy's!

Grab A Granny on Thursday nights was legendary - they came from miles around!!

And I remember seeing Limahl onstage there - the music failed and he had to sing acapella!!

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Guest Slimsid2000

Black Cycling shorts ?

And black and white tops ?

I remember blue and white tops and white cycling shorts (I think but could be wrong). Also the bar girls also wore white cycling shorts.

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Remember when the Roxy lighting rig collapsed onto unfortunate dancers beneath it ?

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True Story - Edwin once turned up at Roxy about 20 minutes before he was due to go on stage (probably that night you mentioned) and had just come from restaurant and had food from his meal all down the front of his shirt and suit jacket

A member of staff (who shall remain nameless) walked up to him and this is the conversation

"Edwin - you've got 20 minutes to go on stage if you would like to get changed into your stage clothes"

"Young man.. these ARE my stage clothes"

He went on stage with tomato soup down his shirt and food hanging off his suit

But as usual gave the crowd a fantastic time

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Guest lesvegas

I went a few times on the weekend but we used to go on a Wednesday to the student night

The que was always miles long and it was rammed inside, huge dancefloor and the whole place seemed MASSIVE, dead easy to pull aswell.

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Guest sheffsteel

My brother has just given a quick summary of the Sheffield niteclub scene.

Its a bit of a generalisation but theres a element of truth behind it, thats why its funny.

He's says in the late 80's there was only THREE main niteclubs in Sheffield.

Josephines was for the unemployed whom have their own trust funds financed by daddy.

It was a club for the Dore and Totley crew, old rich men and very attractive blonde bimbo types looking

for a sugar daddy. Josephines was the smallest club and they could afford to be quite select.

You were never 100% sure if the bouncers would let you in.

If you were refused here then you'd go down market and move on to Cairo's

Cairo's was a good high standard niteclub for the employed "normal people".

It was a fairly large club and you had a good chance of getting in.

If you were refused here then you'd go further down market and move on to Roxy's.

Roxy's was basically for the unemployed from council estates.

It was a MASSIVE club (easily the largest in Sheffield) and they would let anyone in.

Even if you were unbelievably drunk, under age or over age you could easily blend in.

If you were refused on the door at Roxy's then you knew you'd hit rock bottom.

IT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE ULTIMATE INSULT.

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Guest Horrorbelle

Great Pics - I remember going in a gang when I was at University, we always got annoyed at how the DJ would cut in in the middle of a good tune totally spoiling you bustin some ace moves!!

My other half started writing a film a while back about vampires in Sheffield who live in the abandoned Roxy.

I'd love to get in and have a wander around.

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So would I

An afternoon in there taking pics would be fantastic

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Guest mega_monty

some pics taken today..

Anyone know what happened to the missing X ?

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Guest thegreatmilenko

anyone know why the place closed ? Or what the plans for it are?

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Poxy Roxy's!

Grab A Granny on Thursday nights was legendary - they came from miles around!!

My sister used to go on Thurdsay nights and would quite often get bothered by grandads. The tell tale sign - when the ultra violet lights were on not only did white clothes glow purple but also their dentures did as well. !

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anyone know why the place closed ? Or what the plans for it are?

At the time customers had moved elsewhere - mainly to Pulse and Vogue and also Kingdom

Add to that the pub scene had moved to West Street so it was further for people to walk to get to Roxys

And finally the emergence of dance music hurt Roxys too who were best known for commercial chart and party music which went out of fashion

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Guest Kathryn_1956

I'm sooo old, It was the Top Rank when we used to go there on a Saturday morning 9.00 - 12.00. The DJ was Tony Prince (who I think went on to work on Radio Luxemburg)

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Guest tika

I worked there for 6 years till september 95 it could hold 3.500 pepole and i was told that it was the biggest night club in europe at the time

have seen many bands play on that stage all for free perk of the job

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