The lost nightclubs of Brighton – from Top Rank Suite to Honey

Nowadays we have the likes of Shooshh and Walkabout, which are always heaving to the brim on a Friday and Saturday night.

But if you're a little bit older, you might remember some of these classics.

No night out in the city was complete without a dance in Top Rank Suite at the end, which was later turned into Oceana and is now Pryzm.

And everyone always said that you had to go to Audio.

Here we turn the clock back a few decades and recall the other classic city clubs which you may, or may not remember too well.

Some of the memories are a little hazy but we've put together a small collection of venues which we hold fond memories of.

Let us know your thoughts on these chosen clubs we can no longer stumble out of.

Top Rank Suite, West Street

The Top Rank Suite opened in 1965 as part of a nationwide chain.

Big band jazz was still in the mainstream, with Syd Dean and his band backing solo singers.

As styles and tastes changed, rhythm and blues began to compete with the more staid big band sound.

From the late 1970s the Top Rank Suite entered its heyday, drawing the country's biggest names to its stage including acts like the Undertones, Public Image Ltd, Joy Division and Killing Joke, to the reggae music of Aswad and Toots and the Maytalls, to Eighties chart-toppers Adam and the Ants, UltraVox, Culture Club, Annie Lennox, Kid Creole and Level 42.

The venue had its first refurbishment in 1990 and was renamed the Event.

After another refit in 1996 it was renamed the Event II.

The club moved with the times as it approached the millennium.

It changed to Oceana for a couple of years before coming Pryzm in 2011.

Oceana

Audio, Marine Parade

Audio, one the Brighton’s best loved and most influential nightclubs, was at the forefront of the city’s nightlife scene for 30 years as The Escape Club, then Audio, under former owner John Holland.

Daft Punk, The Stone Roses, The Chemical Brothers, Carl Cox and Paul Oakenfold have all graced the premises.

The combined acquisition and refurbishment of the club by the Mothership Group in 2011 led to the club being rebranded to Patterns.

Sherrys, West Street

Opened on 11 November 1919, Sherry's Dance Hall dominated Brighton's pre-war night-life.

The height of the club’s popularity as the Mecca of dancing on the south coast came during the Second World War when all nationalities of allied servicemen and Brighton girls kicked up their heels and jitterbugged.

High energy dancing for high energy times which carried over into the post war years. Then the atmosphere in the dancehall was elevated by something different; the presence of members of Brighton’s criminal underworld – the gangsters immortalised in Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock (1938) who most certainly went to Sherry’s.

A decline in Brighton’s passion for dancing saw Sherry’s close in September 1948.

It re-opened briefly after this, but eventually succumbed to being a roller-skating rink, then bingo hall until it was demolished in 1969 and remodelled as a night-club and amusement arcade.

The club was most recently known as Hedkandi and – in the intervening years – as the Pink Coconut, Paradox, Creation, Tru and Project.

Christopher Biggins and Brian Capron kiss the winner of Miss In String at Pink Coconut Nightclub in 1984

Tru

Hedkandi

The Zap, Kings Road

 The Zap became famous in the late 1980s and early 1990s, particularly for the acid house nights that were held there.

Zap club founder members Ltor Pat Butler, Dave Reeves, Neil Butler and Angie Goodchild in 1985

It has been described as an "influential ... club which pulled together many of the underground strands of visual art, fashion, music, design, comedy, cabaret and theatre which were circling at the time".

The Zap closed in early 2005, reopening as The Union, which didn't seem to work so three months later, the club was renamed The Zap.

It was closed and refurbished yet again and re-branded as Digital in 2008, reselling again in 2014 and being re-branded.

Digital

Funky Buddha Lounge, Kings Road

Opened in 1999 and closed in 2010.

The club attached a diversified crowd and was especially popular on the weekend for its much appreciated after-parties, which started at 3am and went on until 8 in the morning.

The venue became The Tube in 2014, retaining its original features and underground flair to maintain an urban feel and intimate party atmosphere.

The Honey Club, King’s Road

Closed in 2012.

Formerly, The Beachcomber club and Comber Club and now home to Shoosh.

The Shrine, Dyke Road

The former school started operating as a club in 1990.

It was originally called Fozzie’s Club before later becoming The Sanctuary, The Shrine, Club New York and The Church before being renamed New Hero - the name it bore until its closure in 2011.

The Engine Room, Kings Road

The Icarus Line at Engine Rooms in 2008

The club shut down in mysterious circumstances in 2010.

There was no announcement on the club's website although its MySpace site had a small notice saying that the venue, which had been up for sale, had closed and that all shows and club nights were cancelled.

The Gloucester, Gloucester Road

The club was rebranded to the Barfly, before becoming home to the North Laine brewery.

Pasha, West Street

Closed in 2010.

Ocean Rooms, Morley Street

The club had its licence revoked at the start of February 2010 after Brighton and Hove City Council declared a "lack of confidence" in the way it was managed.

The club has hosted top dance music acts including Hot Chip, Felix Da Housecat and Groove Armada, according to its website.

But its licence was suspended at the request of Sussex Police, which claimed it was not co-operating with investigations into the assault and subsequent death of a man.

Ricky Brown, 25, was assaulted near The Ocean Rooms on New Year's Day and died five days later.

The Hungry Years, Marine Parade

John and Pepa Christoforou bought the nightclub, restaurant and pub opposite the Palace Pier in 1976, but sold it to Bass in 2010.

The club has changed little since it was first opened by ex-model Daphne Berry in 1973 after an £80,000 facelift.

That night 800 people crowded the dance floor in the 1930s-themed venue to listen to jazzman Bill le Sage and the next night they came again to hear the Bee-Bop Preservation Society.

Bass re-launched the bar as a gay venue with a bar on the ground floor called Charles Street and a late-night venue upstairs called Pool.

Have we missed your favourite? Comment below or email news@theargus.co.uk.