Larry Merrett leaves Brixton for Chelsea!
- Thread starter Mrs Magpie
- Start date
editor
hiraethified
I didn't like the Dogstar when it first opened - it's was waaay too in-yer-face, middle-class-yuppie-bar, but after the riot where it was given a bloodied nose, I found it a useful addition to the Brixton nightlife - after all, there aren't many London bars that let in scruffbags like me in the middle of the night for free! (it also provided a reasonably cheap alternative to the more 'earthy' charms of Bradys!)Maggot said:
For a while, the Dogstar was rightly popular with a lot of Brixton drinkers, but when the Merritts turned it into Cocaine Club Disco Inferno Hell, things went rapidly downhill.
Happily, things have moved on. I like the Dogstar now.
Gramsci
Well-Known Member
Maggot said:
Their were a few discreet "lock ins" around that didnt bother anyone.With the advent of Brixton Challenge the Council/BC decided to make central Brixton an "entertainment area".Seemed to have been forgotten a lot of people live in central Brixton.
It wasnt so much Larry initially as the granting of late licences in central Brixton-supported by the Labour group of the time.Despite a lot of people living in the market area it was not treated as a residential area.
The other problem was the move to large sound systems in pubs.Effectively making them nightclubs not pubs.The old Atlantic never caused any problems.They just played old ska on decks etc.The new Dogstar put in a sound system meant for a club.
At the end of the year the licensing laws are being liberalised to allow in effect European style drinking laws.I would like to see Brixton get European style late night "Cafe culture".I however dont see it happening in this country.What will happen is more "vertical" drinking establishments run by people like Larry.
("Vertical bars"---the bar/club is designed with a lack of seats and with loud music so the only thing one can do is spend money on drink.)
Ah. The famous game of Phoenix Pass the Parcel:Gramsci said:
1. Walk into the Phoenix
2. Say in a loud voice*: "Did you hear that X is true?"
[Wait for two hours]
3. Walk into the Phoenix
4. Someone comes up to you and says, breathlessly: "Did you hear that X is true?"
* Or use a soft voice, having first sworn the person to secrecy. This will get the message round in 1 hour if you choose your confident with care.
editor
hiraethified
....and dealt drugs and intimidated anyone whose face didn't fit, of course.Gramsci said:
I mean, let's be honest: the community wasn't exactly on its knees wailing for justice and starting massive protests demanding that the place be reopened after it finally got closed down, was it?
I'd rather have the current Dogstar than what used to be there (although I might not have felt that during the Merret mania years)
clandestino
no llevar papel
Gramsci said:
what's that? out of interest.
i assume you're not talking about nice toast and good mushrooms...
Gramsci
Well-Known Member
Sorry thought people knew.What you do is set up a business-in this case a bar-under two companies.In this case Living Room Leisure and Living Room Trading.You load all your debts onto one company and let it go under then continue to run the bar/business under the remaining company.Its called in business a "Phoenix deal".You re emerge with all your debts wiped away.
One of those business practises that make "entrepreuners" rich.
So im skeptical ,like Hendo, that Larry has left Living room.Other than get somone else to front it.
One of those business practises that make "entrepreuners" rich.
So im skeptical ,like Hendo, that Larry has left Living room.Other than get somone else to front it.
Yes, for Tarquins. Not for people for whom Brixton was not a theme park.Maggot said:
There were indeed two companies. IIRC they have both now folded. 'Ord Henry and Two Pack' appears to be applying to take over the licence. Yes, Merrett may well have peripheral fingers in the pie but that is to be expected. To all intents and purposes, though, it seems he is history.Gramsci said:
What on earth are you talking about?Maggot said:
a) A great many people are very glad to see the back of that nasty piece of work.
b) You seem to be claiming that he made the Brixton night-time scene a better place.
c) You don't know what you're talking about. If you read the thread, and past threads, you will see that there were movers and shakers in the council who decided brixton ought be sold as a cool and edgy slummin' experience (TM) to Clapham twats and that it just so happened that Larry was in with the right people to get in on the action, grab a fat slice of Brixton Challenge money and squeeze every penny he could out of the place without actually doing anything positive in return.
Shame it was him that was in with the right people at the right time and not somebody who gave a shit about Brixton.
So what is your point, Maggot?
dogmatique
merde alors
Maggot said:
Um, there's the Crack and Pipe on Railton Road for one, er, The Barbershop Shooting in Loughbrough Junction, The Track Mark Tavern on Stockwell Road, and not forgetting my favourite, The Truculent Absent Landlord on Landor Road...
Careful. You'll get accused of being a NIMBY.dogmatique said:
dogmatique
merde alors
IntoStella said:Careful. You'll get accused of being a NIMBY.
Not me, I still drink in the unrenovated Queen... just don't tell the new owners. They haven't noticed yet.
But the pain of actually leaving at closing time must be excruciating.dogmatique said:
What year was that? I remember the Dogstar getting trashed in the riot a week after it opened. [Deadpan] I was actually invited to the opening party because I was working for a licensed trade mag. I didn't go.editor said:
Incidentaly, I can't remember -- how long was the place shut between the Atlantic shutting and the Dogstar opening?
Maggot
The Cake of Liberty
I saidIntoStella said:
referring to the fact that there weren't many late night clubs and bars pre Dog Star.
Then you said:
i.e. The options for late night drinking pre-Dog Star were only limited if you were a Tarquin or from outside the area, so I challenged you to name all these exclusive places.
Quite simple really.
editor
hiraethified
It's all a bit hazy, but I think the pub was still open at the time and the owners just left the car wedged up into their wall (or maybe it was just after it closed - it's all a bit hazy now!).IntoStella said:
I watched the Dogstar get burned down - there was an upturned, burnt out car outside on Atlantic Road and the streets were strangely empty - so kids were going into the smoking building by the side doors and coming out with crates of booze!
Annoyingly, my camera ran out of film just as I started taking snaps!
Donna Ferentes
jubliado
Hence taking one from vertical to horizontal in the swiftest possible time.Gramsci said:
Why are you derailing this thread, which is about Merrett leaving Brixton, with an irrelevant argument that has in any case been done to death?Maggot said:
Are you trying to make out that anyone who didn't appreciate Merrett's unpleasant ways is some sort of Hatboy clone?
The fact of the matter is that the purpose of Brixton's existence has never been to provide weekend amusement for sherbert-snorting Clapham trusties, thwilled with themselves at how "street" they are before they get their taxi home. Do you have some sort of difficulty with that?
A few late places that we used to go to before -- and of course during --Merrett's tenure included the Queen, Brady's/The Railway, the Windmill, the Hob, the Fridge Bar, SW9, The Brixtonian, the Prince of Wales and the Canterbury. A couple of those are fairly Tarquinesque but obviously not enough -- thank god for Lawwence for making Brixton cool and twendy, eh?
Oh, and they weren't 'exclusive' places. Quite the opposite. Unlike Living with its door policy. But never let the facts get in the way of a good myth.
clandestino
no llevar papel
yeah, i can imagine the fridge bar being exclusive. i remember during the summer in the mid nineties we used to sit at the bus stop with our after hours pints!
i have a vague memory of the duke of edinburgh on ferndale road being open late but is that the mind playing tricks. the landor certainly was. i remember one new year's eve they shut the bar just after midnight so that all of the non-regulars would fuck off and then they opened it again at twenty past. it worked a treat!
i miss the old landor. the old duke of edinburgh and late nights in that back beergarden (went in there over the summer and uggggh). the old queen...
i have a vague memory of the duke of edinburgh on ferndale road being open late but is that the mind playing tricks. the landor certainly was. i remember one new year's eve they shut the bar just after midnight so that all of the non-regulars would fuck off and then they opened it again at twenty past. it worked a treat!
i miss the old landor. the old duke of edinburgh and late nights in that back beergarden (went in there over the summer and uggggh). the old queen...
editor
hiraethified
The Edinburgh certainly had played a jazz interpretation of the licensing laws back then, but now - like most Brixton boozers - it's pretty strict.ianw said:
Pat at the Albert was famous for her laissez faire attitude towards serving beers at the end of the night and I miss the post-pub madness of the Railway/Bradys (although I will grant you that its free-for-all, alco-fest moshing could be acquired taste for some.
Most of all, I miss Cooltan. That place was a shining beacon on Coldharbour Lane. Ironically, the success of Cooltan in bringing so many 'outsiders' into Brixton for a great night out might possibly have highlighted what a lucrative market the place could be to entrepreneurial types...
It was. I remember being thrashed at table football by the Editor there. And of course there was the Canning before it was Hobbified. And Mingles.ianw said:
Pat Burke also used to stay open on a Sunday afternoon before the licensing laws changed (she was meant to shut at three). Gawd, that seems so long ago -- getting hammered on a Sunday afternoon just because we could.
.clandestino
no llevar papel
mingles?!?
is that your equivalent of the bagelodeon? (still waiting to meet a single person on the boards who remembers that place...!
)
is that your equivalent of the bagelodeon? (still waiting to meet a single person on the boards who remembers that place...!
)Beigelodeon, surely?ianw said:mingles?!?
is that your equivalent of the bagelodeon? (still waiting to meet a single person on the boards who remembers that place...!
You know -- Mingles? Harmony?
clandestino
no llevar papel
um...no.
my brain has atrophied. i'm convinced of it. yesterday i couldn't remember the words 'moses' and 'cambodia'. i had to sing 'holiday in cambodia' to myself before i could remember the latter. which, as it was mid conversation with someone, probably looked a bit weird.
anyway, i don't get it. any of it. please explain.
my brain has atrophied. i'm convinced of it. yesterday i couldn't remember the words 'moses' and 'cambodia'. i had to sing 'holiday in cambodia' to myself before i could remember the latter. which, as it was mid conversation with someone, probably looked a bit weird.
anyway, i don't get it. any of it. please explain.
christonabike
Elm Park Bencher
I remember the bagelodeon
Well, I presume I do
Landor Road?
Well, I presume I do
Landor Road?
clandestino
no llevar papel
christonabike said:
hurrah! yes, thank you!
