Skegness Magazine

Source: Skegness Standard 23rd May 1997

Street Fever on the Front

Street fever hit Skegness on Saturday night when over a thousand visitors stepped out to the town’s exciting new seafront attraction on its official opening night.
Actor John Inman, star of the former television series Are You Being Served, cut a ribbon to mark the official opening of The Street – the £2 million attraction and brainchild of Skegness businessman Mr Mervyn Cooper and his wife, Sue.
John described the new indoor attraction as “marvelous” – a place, he said, where you can do a pub crawl without getting wet!
First night nerves showed through at the preview on Thursday night at which Mervyn donated £500 to charity.
“It will be either a tremendous success,” said the big-hearted businessman, “or a very expensive arcade!”
But any initial worries were soon wiped away.
“It was fabulous,” said Mervyn. “The turnout was a lot better than we had expected. The atmosphere was brilliant and the staff fabulous – I can’t praise them enough.”
The Street lives up to its mane – a cobbled avenue marked with old fashioned posts and streetlights.

Six Themed Bars

Described by Mervyn as “a total entertainment venue” it houses six themed bars, a cafe, restaurant and a sensational new nightclub – all under one roof.
Visitors can choose to drink within the whitewashed walls of the Holiday Bar or by the Manhattan Skyline of the American Bar.
There’s music to suit all tastes from traditional jazz in the New Orlean style Jazz Bar to the lively sound of an Irish jig in the Irish Bar.
Flower power rules in the Sixties Bar while the ornate Regency Theatre sees pictures of famous movie stars all over its red walls.
The stone effect walls of the ghostly nightclub house a large dance floor and plenty of seating space.
A brand new state of the art sound system dominates the room, at a quarter of a million pounds.
The Street’s initial success has led to further plans for the attraction, including air conditioning, laser displays and wind effects.
The main attraction of The Street, says Mervyn, is that it offers a bit of everything and appeals to any age from 18 to 80.
“I don’t know of any pub where you can get food drink and entertainment in the venue,” says Mervyn, “It’s not a nightclub, or a pub, or a restaurant – It’s different!”

end of transcript

Did YOU go to The Street in Skegness?

I went on its first opening night and it was absolutely fabulous! The nightclub at the far end of The Street was called ‘The Crypt’, remember? That first night, I walked in, gazed around and walked out again, wet through! It was packed with heaving bodies dancing to the the brilliant rave music, ‘We are the children of the night’, ‘Return to Toy Town’, but it was SO hot! It wasn’t long, though, before the air conditioning was installed, which made it MUCH better! Remember everyone having those hand held red laser light things which they used to wave in people’s eyes? And the ‘whistling call’ – a raver on one side of the Crypt would whistle and someone on the other side would answer like for like!

To cool off, we went for a walk down the cobbled Street (which could take ages as it was so packed), got a bag of chips and ate them on the bandstand!

I mainly used to hang out in the Crypt or the Sixties Bar. It was fantastic! Why did it have to go?