We’ve all got that one special place that holds loads of memories from great nights out – but sadly some of our famous haunts in Grimsby and Cleethorpes are no longer with us.
Taking a trip back in time, party goers of the 80s, 90s, 00s and 10s recall the blurry memories they have from the likes of Gulliver’s and Park Lane.
For some, the best moments were simply dancing with friends throughout the night, for others, their fondest memory would become a story to tell their grand kids.
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One former bar maid, Danielle Cuthbert, described what life was like from behind the bar at The Pier nightclub in Cleethorpes during the late 00s.
She said: “Since the day I started it was busy every night. I enjoyed that side of it though, it never felt like you were at work.
“We all got on really well with everyone that came in too. The customers were lovely, we hardly ever had any problems with them.
(Image: Grimsby Telegraph)
“The Pier always brought in a variety of guests as well. We had a dance room as well as an R&B room – there was something for almost anyone.
“Most nights the dance floors were packed, especially on Thursdays and Saturdays. We would have had hundreds of people in, if not more.
“The best nights were when we had the foam parties. They were only about once every three months so when people knew they were happening they got really excited.
“When we had them, it was like being a kid again. Nobody was serious and everyone was just up for a laugh.
“The Pier in general had a really good atmosphere, you never felt like you were working because it was so much fun. It’s something I’ve never found again in a club or at work. There really isn’t another place like it.”
Revellers like Amanda Galyer agree The Pier had an atmosphere like no other, even in the late 80s. She said: “When I first went in there I think I was only 15 or 16, it was a great place with great people.
“When I was younger, it was the place to be in Cleethorpes. It’s a shame to see it go now, I’ve never had a bad time in there.
“You’d get your typical music from bands like Erasure, but with some early dance music thrown in for good measure. The thing I remember most about it has to be the sticky carpets or the fact that your drink was always served in a dirty glass.”
In Grimsby, Gulliver’s was the place to go for a Saturday night session, if you could make it up the stairs, that is. For Bev Green, the stairs proved to be her number one enemy on a night out during the early 90s.
(Image: Rick Byrne)
She said: “I always remember it was very dark and smoky, but at the same time, I always felt really safe and comfortable in there.
“The only threatening thing about it was the stairs. After you’d had a few drinks, they were a complete nightmare to try get up or down.
“I have to admit, my memories of Gully’s, as we used to call it are a bit blurry, but I have one fond memory of being sat on the dancefloor singing Sit Down by James as loud as I could.
“It was a great music scene in there. We had all sorts like The Smiths, REM and The La’s – it was brilliant.
“I really miss the atmosphere though, it was such a lovely place to be on a night out. It was so exciting, you always knew it was going to be a good night when you got there.
“My friends and I would spend all night trying to make it up the stairs sometimes. It was especially difficult if we’d been to The Barge before. You were never short of a laugh at Gully’s though, that’s for certain.”
Fast forward to the 2010’s and it wasn’t that much different as Jamie Lewis explains.
He said: “I always felt like they played the same music for years on end in there, but that was part of the novelty to be fair.
“It was always really dark when you got in there as well. I think when they first had a carpet put in it started out really vibrant with loads of colours, but it ended up all black and destroyed by people dancing.
“I always remember they had a great selection of drinks like Vodka slushies and something called a Grim Reaper, to this day I still don’t know what they put in that. That’s what people used to go for really, the cheap drinks. It was always the place to go after you’d started your night in The Barge.
(Image: Ray Corke)
“One night it was pretty quiet when they played Mr Brightside over the speakers and everybody leapt onto the dancefloor in unison, that was a brilliant moment. I really miss the place though. It was one of the last good places to go out in town with your friends.
“When it eventually closed, I think the whole structure of a night out in Grimsby died out. There’s never been anything quite like it.”
Gullivers has since ben transformed a number of times into different types of venue, and it is currently known as Fusion.
However, there were more than just these two clubs to keep the public happy on a night out. For Nick Gibbons, a trip to Park Lane was always one to remember in the 90s.
“Park Lane was always a fun night out. It was a little different to the other clubs in Cleethorpes with it having an over 25s policy.
“That made it really unique though, I don’t know of any other clubs in the area that you could go in and find 60 year-olds on the dancefloor.
“I remember it always being incredibly busy as well, it wasn’t the biggest of venues either so you were really packed at times. The stairs were a bit of an issue however, I fell down them more than once to say the least.
“We used to have such a laugh though, there was no fighting and no trouble, it was just fun.”
For some, like Gavin Bird, the place to go was JD’s nightclub. The former club is now home to a number of flats by the sea front, next to Sea View Street in Cleethorpes.
(Image: Grimsby Telegraph)
“I always remember it being a relatively good place to go when I was younger. There was a massive dancefloor on the bottom and a spiral staircase that lead up to a glass bottomed floor on top.
“You could just sit and have a conversation upstairs and look down on the dancefloor, it was an odd set up, but it made it a quirky place to go.
“I miss the place to some extent, but one thing I definitely don’t miss is the queuing.”
