Mr M's, New Bridge Street

Licensing laws were brutal back in the Eighties with pubs closing at half-ten, and so were the the dress restrictions at nightclubs. The wrong coloured socks could destroy your evening, so Newcastle's punks, Futurists, New Romantics and similar social outcasts had no hope of a late drink and a dance. Hence an 'alternative' scene developed in the backrooms of pubs and disused spaces in clubs, which its devotees followed from the Delby at La Dolce Vita, to the Packet of Cornflakes in a seedy ballroom on Worswick Street. By the mid Eighties, the alternative scene had found a proper home in the Bamboo Room at Tiffany's, which on Friday nights was known as Mr M's.

The club was run by two pioneers of the scene, Shaun Wilson and Ray Callan, who also worked the door while wearing louder suits and dafter hair than anyone who'd been turned away from other nightspots. They were also veterans of the Northern Soul scene and their DJs kept the floor in motion with the best upbeat tunes from a variety of genres, making Mr M's the first club in town where fashionistas could flaunt their look and their moves. They also promoted gigs in the main room at Tiffany's, such as Nick Cave and Aswad, but left the club scene to pursue other business interests in the clothing industry.