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LE BEAT ROUTE photo archive

LE BEAT ROUTE : Started in ´81 by Ollie O´Donnell and Steve Mahoney.  Friday nights at Le Beat Route quickly became compulsory for London´s early clubbers.  Originally appealing to NEW ROMANTICS ,  Le Beat Route quickly toughened its image through the Djing skills of Steve Lewis.  Mixing old funk classics, ´60s sould gems and ´40s big bands cuts with the latest New York rap and electro.  Lewis created an exciting alternative to the dominant jazz-funk sounds of the soul clubs andthe soul-less electro-pop of the New Romantics scene.  Friday nights soon became a barometer for what was happening on the capital´s underground music and fashion circuit.  From the flamboyance of the New Romantics style to the ripped jeans of the hard times ethic via bebop berets and zoot suits,  what Le Beat Route regulars wore one week would surface weeks later in clubs across southern England.  A cultural melting pot which was the spawning ground of the bands like Sade, Animal Nightlife, and Blue Rondo A La Turk the club was also immortalised on vinyl by Spandau Ballet (´Chant No.1´) who were some of its earliest regulars.  More a way of life than just a club, regulars sang along with the ´Red Flag ´, the last record of every night.  Although the club finished in ´83 and its crowd moved on to the Wag Club and The Mud. Le Beat Route earned its reputation as a watershed between the different youth movements of the ´70s and the musically united underground clubs of the ´80s.  One of the most culturally important nightclubs of the decade. 80s -  A DECADE OF I-DEAS MAIN PICTURE : BOY GEORGE  - - -  ALL PICS BY DEREK RIDGERS LE BEAT CLUB MENU   /   DEREK RIDGERS MENU