Sterns Nightclub

Sterns

The Mansion House
The former Sterns Nightclub, now Highdown Towers
Address	Highdown Hill Worthing United Kingdom
Closed	1998
Years active	1990s

Sterns was a nightclub located at Highdown Towers on Highdown Hill in Worthing, West Sussex. The club lies off the A259 road just north of Ferring on the South Downs. It was a rare example of an early UK club boasting 4 separate rooms with DJs playing Rave, Breakbeat hardcore, Jungle music, Techno, Progressive House, Hard House and Garage.

Although Sterns had played such music before and was a fore runner in underground parties, the most famous club nights were started in 1991 by a promoter named In-ter-dance run by the late Mensa. Such was the club nights' reputation that it was credited by a number of artists on their record sleeves, was one of the most well known Rave/Hardcore clubs in Europe and was regularly visited by clubbers from all over the UK.

Sterns was located in an old mansion on the southern slopes of the South Downs. It was also known as "The House on the Hill". The building was based on three floors and had a number of rooms, the "Top Floor", "Garage Club" & "Underground" each playing different genres of electronic music.

The main room was called the "Underground", complete with signs in the style of the London Underground logo. This was entered via 2 sets of downwards steps, with the Garage Club in between sets of steps. The Underground was located at the lowest level of the building partially embedded in the hillside in a large concrete bunker. It boasted a massive 30 kW sound system, incredibly powerful for the space. On the second set of steps the bass was so intense it was difficult to carry out a conversation with someone adjacent to you and for them to hear you without speaking right into their ear. The underground had an impressive array of lighting including a smoke machine, UV and a Laser.