THE nightclub scene in Bournemouth in 1989 was thriving.

Basement club Glasshoppers in the Lansdowne was a firm favourite and across the road Kevin’s House was about to throw open its doors for the first time.

The two clubs are set to host a reunion as they look back on those days, to mark the 35th anniversary of the opening of Kevin’s House on June 8, 1989.

Kevin Scott, the man behind the eponymous Kevin’s House, looked back on his memories of the club and the scene.

“The club got voted 8th best in the country by Mixmag back in the day, along with like some iconic clubs that you've probably heard of, like the Hacienda in Manchester and Studio Val Bon and loads of others,” Kevin said.

Bournemouth Echo:

“Across the road at the Lansdowne as well, I think it's now a chemist, in the basement, there was a fantastic cool club called Glasshoppers [run by Martyn 'the hat' Harris].

“I think it was a couple of hundred capacity, but it was really nice to see the Lansdowne buzzing.

“In those days, the fire station was a fire station, literally. The firemen used to come in after their shifts and have one or two.

“Kevin's House was synonymous from everybody that was at the BIC, like Cannon and Ball, Barbara Windsor, bless her soul.

“People like that used to come in after their performances at the Pavilion or the BIC and come in because nobody bothered them.”

Bournemouth Echo:

Kevin said he named the club Kevin’s House so that when young people who lived at home were speaking to friends on where they were going out, it wouldn’t sound suspect.

“A lot of people back then lived with their parents, and it was a lot stricter back in those days,” he said.

“So, it was ‘mum I’m going around Kev's house’.”

The club was full six days a week and it opened for a free event every Sunday, with the queue snaking down to the Lansdowne Roundabout and round to what is now Zephyr and used to be Chablis.

It hosted world-famous DJs, including Carl Cox and Adamski, who performed live.

Bournemouth Echo:

Kevin also reminisced on how the club went the extra mile to get an extended license to 2am.

“Back in the day, if you wanted an alcohol licence and music license, the actual licence was only until 1am, unless you were a member's nightclub,” he said.

“But if you wanted to be a membership club, basically you could get 2am and that was the latest licences you could get in the town at the time.

“We said to the powers that be, the licensing committee, that's fine, we've got loads of friends. We'll make the whole town [members] because we grew up with them.

“They came back to us and said, unfortunately, you need to charge for it.

Bournemouth Echo:

“So, if you look back in the Echo archives from 1989, you had some ads running in there saying, if you'd like to join the membership of a brand-new club, please stick your 1p here.

“The ironic thing was it was only 440 capacity, legally.

“We ended up with 22,000 members and lots of 1p coins before we opened the doors.”

The reunion will take place on June 8 at Canvas.