Lesbian and Gay Venues in Nottingham - 3
The Hearty Goodfellow (Maid Marian Way)At the end of the 1970s the "Hearty" took over as the most popular gay bar in Nottingham and held that position until about 1982.
The downstairs bar was the gay bar and often there was a "Private Party" sign in front of it. The bar on the first floor was occasionally used by CHE for gay discos.
THE ASTORIA .... MGM .... OCEAN(Collin Street)
In 1984 a new phenomenon hit Nottingham. The big once-a-month one-nighter. The first Monday of every month was "The Astoria". In the 1960s there was a relatively sedate dance hall called the Sherwood Rooms on Collin Street at the bottom of Maid Marian Way. In the 1980s this had become the Astoria (and was later to transmogrify into MGM and then Ocean). The Astoria was a very large heterosexual disco club and they had been prevailed upon to use one of their off nights for the poofters. It was a great success.
Part of the success was due to the music provided by Peter Martine, who later called his nights "Revolution". Peter is fondly known as the "Sleezemeister". Many years ago a TV programme featured "Clarence the cross-eyed lion". Peter Martine is also fondly known as Clarence.
Nero's/L'Amour/Club 69/De Luxe(St. James' Street)
Club 69 attempted to fill the gap left after Part II closed. It only partially succeeded (as indicated by its need to change its name - becoming incrementally less tacky on each transformation - and relaunch several times).
The Casablanca/Kitsch(Greyhound Street)
When everything else had failed there was always the Casablanca, often referred to as the Khazi. In 1995 it re-opened as Kitsch. It is remembered for being very small.