London clubbing in 2014: Looking forward or looking back?

Cries of “not as good as it used to be” have plagued nightlife ever since the first wild Neanderthal proto-hoedown. Yet there are plenty of voices – many of them not just the jaded old disco dads either – who mourn London’s undeniable loss of rave infrastructure, if not its party chops.

Our story celebrating the Lost London Nightclubs of the 90s really struck a chord with readers around the world, as did subsequent guerilla efforts to erect blue heritage plaques on what’s left of these once-hallowed buildings.

December’s reunion of The End’s tech house faithful highlighted the current problem. Five years on from that club’s emotional closure, its legacy had to be celebrated at a temporary venue which ran out of booze and where the disorganised cloakroom eventually collapsed into anarchy. Not exactly an evolution.

So with the squeeze still on (and no solution in sight) for big, purpose-designed venues in the capital, you can’t blame people for casting a rose-tinted eye back at what went before. And maybe that’s even what’s needed right now.

Billy Reilly, former owner of the trio of clubs (The Cross, Canvas/Bagleys and The Key), that once rocked Goods Way in King’s Cross, and still actively running venues including Pacha London, feels that the scene has simply – inevitably – matured.

“Being in King’s Cross running The Cross felt gritty, edgy and fresh 20 years ago when dance music was in the infancy of being a global phenomenon,” he says. “Whereas today, running a global brand such as Pacha is a well-oiled machine which has an established identity which needs to be nurtured and maintained. They are two different worlds.”

As he prepares to open his new, exclusive small venue The Qube in Victoria next month, Reilly continues to push the London nightlife envelope. And if that means doing things on a smaller scale, and requires some VIP table nonsense in order to succeed, then so be it.

He’s quick to dismiss a lack of authenticity in many of today’s big ticket dance experiences. “Through the eyes of an older man, I just see young people going through the motions,” he says, “being offered second hand goods which their parents danced too.”

Northern-born DJ/promoter Muzz Khan doesn’t see anything wrong with that. In fact he thinks London’s club scene is too fixated on the cutting edge, and would benefit from a taste of the North’s glorious tradition of classics-fuelled retro nights.

He’s on a mission, starting this Saturday with the first in a series of parties aiming to celebrate and faithfully recreate the golden era of Reilly’s Goods Way clubs, inspired by the story in Kentishtowner, no less.

“I already had in mind that I wanted to run a club night that paid homage to London’s lost, now-defunct nightclubs, but I needed a catalyst to spring myself into action,” he says. “The Kentishtowner article really brought home the emotion of those nights and gave me the inspiration to create The Dance Assembly.”

“London’s been crying out for something like this for ages,” says Muzz of his night. “I’m not saying that out of arrogance or over-confidence – I’m saying it because we sold out within 48 hours of going on sale, two months ago. (Those of you that are keen to come, we’ll be releasing a small handful of tickets on the night at 11pm).”

So why is taking a trip down memory lane going to be so good? “Classic house nights always have a magical, idiosyncratic, charged energy that’s quite unique,” he gushes. “The atmosphere is electric because you’ve got hundreds of people giving their all to tracks that mean something to them, historically and emotionally.”

As well as the instant misty-eyed dancefloor joy of dropping tunes everyone’s guaranteed to go batshit crazy for, Muzz wants to introduce fresher-faced clubbers who come for the other rooms – featuring nu-skool disco, indie dance, deep house and bass – to the music and vibe from a decade ago.

“We aim to unite and fuse together various chapters of London’s history, club and art culture,” he says. And with such admirable party intent and obvious enthusiasm from the ravers, he may well be onto something big.

So is going retro finally about to grip the capital? In March, Clockwork Orange stage another of their reunions, this one is undeniably big too; their 21st anniversary. Twenty one years! For clubbers of a certain age, there’s something quite reassuring, if equally a touch unsettling, about seeing a 2014 line-up including Tall Paul, Seb Fontaine and Brandon Block. But DJs and parties need not be put out to pasture, as long as they are full of people having a good time, right?

Despite not being one to dwell on former glories, even Billy Reilly might not be able to resist a return to his old stomping ground at some stage. “We are still in discussion with the developers regarding the possibility of a club on the new Kings Cross site,” he reveals. “Sadly this would most definitely not be The Cross, but a completely new brand and concept to establish its own identity.”

Just up the road, Egg London stands firm and bigger than ever, having progressed from its early days as a quirky afterhours kinda joint, to being one of the city’s leading larger venues. Some of this is by default – there aren’t any other similar-sized venues left. But it’s also due to some major recent expansion.

Owner and club legend Laurence Malice says “the venue today is very different from what I built here over 10 years ago. We redeveloped the dancefloors last year, increasing their size and layout dramatically, built a new roof terrace and garden at the club and installed the world’s first Flipside sound system. It’s a total rebirth.”

Malice is seizing the opportunity that the demise of other clubs presents, for those lucky enough to have that precious London commodity; the right space. “The work continues,” he says. “The project will only be completed when we are known as the best club in the world.”

So the endless recycling of music, plenty of nostalgia, some transience and a healthy dose of ambition. Sounds like business as usual in clubland after all.