Trade nightclub
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| Location |
Turnmills, London and other venues worldwide. |
|---|---|
| Type | Nightclub |
| Genre(s) | Hard House / Techno |
| Capacity | 1200-1600 approx at Turnmills (is more when additional rooms are opened). |
| Opened | 1990 |
| Website | |
| http://www.tradeuk.net | |
Trade was a highly successful, pioneering and influential gay nightclub started in 1990 by Laurence Malice. Trade was unlike any other club at the time as it opened from 3am until 1pm on Sundays at Turnmills, Clerkenwell Road, London. The club was touted as "the original all night bender". The door policy was firm but fair: "You don't have to be gay or a member to get in, but your attitude and look will count".
Trade quickly grew in popularity as other clubs at the time such as Heaven, G-A-Y and The Fridge closed at around 02:00-03:00 Sunday mornings, an hour or so before Trade opened at 03:00. Therefore, clubbers were able to go straight on to the club. At the time many guys went cruising in the parks after leaving other clubs. The name 'Trade' and the opening hours was to encourage guys to go to the club as a safer alternative.
Turnmills was the first club in the UK to be given a 24-hour "Music & Dance" licence. This was gained after Laurence Malice had for a long period of time tried to convince Mr Newman that there was a need for people to be able to party in a safe environment after 3am in the morning. Due to this licensing advantage, the venue's role was crucial to the success of Trade.
Soon after Trade launched the small original sound system had to be rapidly improved to cope with the tough demands being made of it. Each improvement made resulted in more people enjoying the music, that was the ethic. The sound system played an important part in the club's success, there were multiple sound systems, each to cover an area and it was equalised (tone controls) in real time for each record to maximise sound quality and enjoyment. This was a unique approach at the time and paid great dividends.
An air cooled, single colour laser was installed to complement the dance floor. John Newman (AKA Big John), the owner of Turnmills, was often seen in the DJ booth operating the light show & laser with a wide smile on his face.
Turnmill's dance floor was originally constructed of metal and the walls where covered in Athena and film poster. Laurence would spend all week washing and fire-retarding heavy black wool fabric, which was used to cover the tacky décor of the venue. Mr Newman would turn up at his venue prior to the Trade party, produce a lighter from his pocket and try and burn the fabric. This was a tedious weekly ceremony. After many many months, Mr Newman ditched the ceremony, dumped his kitsch decoration and painted the walls with black paint to create a "theatrical" (infinite) background. Using this blank canvas, Trade produced fluorescent banners and wall hangings illuminated by ultra violet lighting. These were created by Tim, Martin Brown and TradeMark (the artist who became closely associated with the club, later becoming Trade's manager). The banner and decoration themes changed regularly, usually on the special events parties held at Easter and on the Trade birthday party each October with spectacular fluorescent mobiles and effects projections.
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Wikipedia