Rainham History - History of Rainham Kent, Old Photos and Life in Bygone Times
Excalibur Nightclub - Gillingham - King Charles Hotel
Nowadays, we pretty much take the existence of the big, established nightclubs like Ministry Of Sound and Fabric and Gatecrasher for granted, but if anything, they have become something akin to cultural dinosaurs; large and unwieldy, their hay day seemingly behind them and, as people’s habits change, an uncertain future ahead. Yet, there was a time, only a few decades ago, with vibrant underground indie and dance music scenes in ascension, that conditions were right for the ‘super club’, as we came to know it, to emerge.
There were, of course, the trailblazers, opening up through the ‘80s on the back of the acid house wave, and who’s names have gone down in history: London’s Turnmills, Newcastle’s Tuxedo Royale and, most notorious of all, Manchester’s Haçienda. However, a page seems to have slipped from the history books, because, search as you might, nothing seems to exist that mentions what was happening down here in Kent, in an old former NAAFI club, situated in the no-mans-land between Gillingham and Brompton. I would say it’s arguable that, years before Cream Nation was so much as a glint in the milkman’s eye, Excalibur was the place where the Super Club was born.
It was in our home town, so why wouldn’t we have taken it for granted? I mean, huge, 2000+ capacity venues, where you could wander along and catch The Prodigy playing live on a Monday night existed everywhere, right? I guess, as the saying goes, we didn’t know we had it so good.
Originally built in 1948 as a NAAFI (navy army airforce institute) club, the building complex was eventually purchased by Canadians and became The Aurora Hotel. The Aurora’s substantial ballroom, that would come to be known as The Regency, had quite an illustrious career throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s, notably seeing an early performance by David Bowie and playing host to the renowned weekly ‘Village Of The Damned’ Blues Club. By the end of the ‘80s, though, a change in ownership brought about big Changes for The Aurora. Now in the hands of the Degiorgio family, the hotel was reborn under its present name, The King Charles, and the Regency Ballroom was refurbished and opened as a fully-fledged nightclub.
Decked out with black ceilings, mirror walls and copious amounts of chrome, the club's piece de resistance was its stage and dance floor. The stage was broken up into terraces of different levels, surround by stainless steel railings, topped by a curved wall of floor-to-ceiling colour TVs. To the right, was the DJ booth, clad in panels taken from old pinball machines. All this looked down onto dance floor, at the centre of which was an area about the size of a tennis court, that could be hydraulically elevated to reveal lights and a water feature underneath. By 1990, the names Aurora and Regency were gone and the days of The Excalibur had begun.
In a stroke of ‘Hook ‘em while they’re young’ genius, Excalibur ran an under 18s night, which took place every Monday. It was here that many of us embarked on a journey as clubheads. Limited to buying coca-cola and ice poles, we longed for the day we could get hold of a fake ID that might enable us to get in on a weekend, for the real deal, when we’d be able to get smashed on the Hooch and K Cider that we could see tantilisingly stocked in the fridgrs behind the bar, but not get our hands on.
Over the next few years, the club grew in both notoriety and size; slowly consuming more and more of the hotel. By 1995, there were several club rooms open under the name ‘The King Of Clubs’, catering for the broad clientele that the venue was attracting. The main room was still The Excalibur, with resident DJs Marky Mark, Darren J and Stevie D, playing pretty much everything you’d expect to hear in a club of the time; house, garage, R’n’B and a hefty dose of Jungle. The Sovereign, where DJ 'Ragga' Mikey played, reggae, dancehall, hip hop, swing and R’n’B. Upstairs, there was Ceasers, the 'party' room, witg DJ Ian Williams, who I swear played nothing but Come On Eileen on repeat. Lastly, there was The Palace, a large, smoke-filled cavern of a room, lit only by black lights and strobes, flashing in time to the thundering drum n bass rhythms of DJ Zinc’s Super Sharp Shooter, while faceless MCs spat lyrics ten-to-the-dozen.
Aside from the Saturdays, on which every room was open to anyone who came through the door, there were a number of independently promoted club nights that took up residency through the week. Disco Inferno and Spreadin’ Fever, are two that deserve mention, but, most notably, for a good many years on a Friday, the venue was home to the South East’s largest alternative indie/rock club night outside of London, the legendary SubSonic... a safe haven for goths, metallers, parka-wearing Oasis fans and those who lived their lives according the lyrics to Pulp’s Mis-Shapes, or Suede’s Animal Nitrate.
The Excalibur continued to reign supreme throughout most of the ‘90s.
It’s nearest rival, The Ritzy, on Canterbury Street, had not the capacity to compete, and The Avenue, on the A2 near Twydall, was, in essence, little more than a pub with a dress code and delusions of grandeur. In those halcyon days, Atomics in Maidstone was possibly the only place that gave Excalibur a genuine run for its money, with regular events, Pure Science and Club Class, pulling in big-name DJs from the worlds of House and drum&bass, including the likes of DJ Hype, Shy FX and even Boy George. However, the King Of Clubs, had broader appeal, slightly rougher around the edges and playing to wider-ranging crowd, you could make a night there whatever you wanted it to be and with nothing resembling a dress code, it was hardly pretentious.
Needless to say, all good things come to an end. In many ways, the initial demise was the result of the venue becoming victim of its own success - it’s notoriety over the south east soon brought the London gangs, which in turn brought trouble. Regular police appearances in response to violence soon began to taint public perception of the club and, by association, that of the attached hotel. By the time First Leisure opened their fancy purpose-built mega club, Amadeus, in Strood, people we’re keen to latch on to a fresh club experience - but one that wasn’t perhaps quite so visceral. The problem was, Amadeus was not unique - it wasn’t so much a club, but rather a soulless corporate template, which could be stamped around the country, in the middle of pre-identified catchment areas and lure punters with drinks prices that independently run clubs could just never hope to compete with. Sadly, people got wise to this too late. This was a blow too many. In 1998, after a brief time opening under the name 'Legends', with former Invicta Radio DJ, Ceaser the Boogieman at the helm, The King Of Clubs closed its doors and slipped quietly into Medway history.
I'm sure, like me, there's a good few people around here who, years later, still feel the corner of their lip curl a smile as they pass the corner of Bromton and Prince Arthur Road, as they give a knowing nod to the memory of their drunken teenage self, stagering home, with sound of Strike's anthemic U Sure Do rining in their ears.
And so, it's with much nostalgic sadness that we learn that the old club building is to be demolished to make way for a new development, such is the way of the world I guess. But holding such a place in the hearts of so many of us, I felt that its story was worth a few lines and, finding that nobody else had apparently done it, I decided that i should just do it myself.
If anyone has a story to tell, please share it, if you have any pictures, particularly of that levitating dance floor, we'd love to see them.. Let's put that page back in the history book.
I will forever remember my teenage nights, emersed in the rave, to sound of CJ Bolland's hardcore remix of NRG's I Need Your Lovin, bassbins driving so hard that they impeded your breathing, the sight of a hundred hands reaching up through the ultraviolet mist and their fingertips silhouetted as they broke through the ethereal blue and green tunnel of lasers that emanated from a tiny point at the far end of the room and coned out in a frantic, strobing cyclone of light, to project the giant glowing letters, that somehow, to this day, seem to remain burned into my mind... E.X.C.A.L.I.B.U.R
Written by Ross Ian Christopher Hutchinson
Camp School Maidstone Road 1955/57
The photos are dated on the back by our mother.
I am John Clements, and my (4yrs older) sister is Diana Clements. Until April 1958 we lived at 23 Maidstone Road (first house past Thames Avenue) and walked to school together.
Di is the girl in the centre of the photo playing the recorder, and sixth from the left, back row, wearing the striped cardy in the class photo.
I am sat on the floor, front right in 1956, and fourth from left, front row, in 1957.
I have no idea who anybody else is in these photos. I do recall some Hungarian refugees living in the old prefabs on Maidstone Road, and being friends with a boy from there, who may be in the photo.
I have a lot of old family photos, most of which are unmarked so are of people and places that I cannot identify. If I find any more Rainham-related ones I'll send them over. My parents, Ivy and John lived there between 1938-58, and mum was an active Townswomans Guild member. She returned to live in Parkfield Road in 1972, where she lived until her death in 1989.
The recorder one, is Stephen Sykes as the conductor, Me(Diana Clements), then Geoffrey Hunter, Susan Hunt and I think the side view of Susan Vale. We were in the larger Huts opposite the playground, and the teacher was Mrs Whitehead. I think, as she used to play the piano at assembly in the big hall where the other picture was taken
Wigmore Estate Plans 1911
The Wigmore estate was created in the early 1900s by selling off plots of land to people to build their own houses. It explains why the houses in the area are mostly different to each other.
Maidstone Road runs across the top of the picture and Woodside top to bottom at the left.
£10 per plot for 20x200ft
The Railway Pub Rainham Kent - JD Wetherspoon
JD Wetherspoon have now reopened the old Railway pub as their newest venue opposite Rainham Kent Station. The pub has a long history dating back to the early 1900s but closed around 2012 due to declining trade. It stayed empty until JD Wetherspoon bought the building and have massively extended it to create the new Railway pub. What was the old pub car park has now been turned into part of the building and there is an outside terrace for smokers and drinkers that faces towards Rainham station.
How the Railway Pub used to look back in the early 1900s when it was known as The Railway Hotel
The Railway pub in 2009
Ramsgate ROMCC Bucket & Spade Run 1990
I've been sent these photos by Trish of old classic cars driving through Rainham in the 1980s. Having previously attended the Bucket & Spade run in my classic car myself I thought it was possible that these were from one of the early years of the Bucket & Spade run when it started from Gillingham Business Park. The run started in 1981 so these could be some of the very earliest Bucket & Spade run photos. The cars shown in the photos are SBR216V (Lada 1600), EXN767 (Railton) and PV2231 (Citroen? - plate reregistered).
On closer inspection there is a car at the rear of the second photo that looks a Mk3 Ford Fiesta which was launched in 1989 so these would have been taken after this date.
Rainham Jubilee Party 1977
This information and photo was kindly sent in by Jade Parker.
I managed to find a photo from July 1977 of the Silver Jubilee Street Party. The photo attached is on my nanny's road. Bettescombe Road, where my nanny, grandad, mum, aunt and uncle lived since '72.
My mum remembers there was a fancy dress competition where my aunt and uncle participated, they dressed up as a pearly king and queen and their outfits were made my great grandmother that was from east London. The time of the jubilee competition was changed and sadly they missed the start and they had already chosen the winner. It was disappointing since my great grandmother spent many weeks sewing their outfits.
Rainham Tip/Dump Landfill Household Waste Site 1970s/80s
Until the late 1970s/early 1980s there was a household waste landfill site otherwise known as "the tip/dump" just outside Rainham. The site has long gone but the location is still visible when you walk past and from the air.
The site was between Otterham Quay Lane and Seymour Road with the access via Otterham Quay lane and Canterbury Lane. I remember trips there with my dad when we had rubbish to get rid of from the garden clearance and house rebuilding project that he was working on from the mid 1970s.
Unlike current household waste dumps where there are separate bins for different materials and you load the waste into the various skips to be taken away off site at this dump there was a low wall that you reversed up to and then literally just chucked your waste from the back of the car into the tip so it filled up the massive hole in the ground over time.
If you go past the site now it is mainly grass but with ventilation pipes popping out across the site which are for venting out the gases from the decomposition of the waste underneath. Building of new houses is taking place nearby but planning permission has been refused for some due to the proximity of the landfill site to the proposed development.
Ludlam's Stores Station Road Rainham - Paynes Motor Spares
Ludlam's stores on Station Road/Solomon Road junction was bought by proprietors Sid and Ivy Ludlam in 1954. These photos were taken by their son Frank. The store later became Paynes Motor Spares and Owen Hair Design but has now been converted into flats.
Subcategories
Historical tales Article Count: 3
Historical tales
Rainham Life Article Count: 10
Rainham Life
Local Events Article Count: 48
Local Events
Photos Article Count: 143
Photos
Action Forum Article Count: 234
Action Forum is a free monthly magazine that is distributed to the Rainham area covering Wigmore, Parkwood and Hempstead as well. This archive covers old copies of the magazine dating back to its initial publication in 1969 and give a fascinating glimpse into life in Rainham over the last 50 years.
Link to Article Index - Action Forum Index - Photos and Articles from 1969 onwards