He's a club owner whose defining night out was watching Nirvana play Tufnell Park in 1990. He's a champion of new rock acts whose natural home is the DJ booth.

And he's a musical fashion-setter who claims he wouldn't turn down a Phil Collins remix if he liked the tune.

Erol Alkan is no panderer to taste - and yet his DJ appearances can still prompt standing ovations, autograph requests and solicitations of another kind.

Raised in North London by strict Turkish parents, Alkan's obsession with music turned professional in his teens, when he'd sneak out of the house to DJ in Leicester Square.

Some 15 years later and his name attracts bookings from New York, Barcelona and Rio de Janeiro up to a year in advance. But Alkan (aside from a bootlegging career which peaked - he might say troughed - with Kylie's performance at the 2002 Brit Awards, where Can't Get You Out Of My Head was mixed with New Order's Blue Monday) is best known as the host of Trash.

Established in 1997 and held every Monday at London's The End, the intention of this non-touring club night was to put the fun and glamour back into the capital's club scene with an eclectic playlist and an even more broad-minded dress code.

To begin with Alkan and his partner Ade would have to dash between the decks and the bar, serving up warm beer and spinning Suede B-sides.

But soon they were laying on early live sets by the likes of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Peaches and Bloc Party. "Eighty per cent of the bands Trash was supporting at the start became major artists four years on," Alkan reckons.

Six foot six with glossy black hair and a wardrobe composed largely of leather jackets, Alkan, one supposes, was not the sort to get into DJing because he felt awkward standing around at parties.

And when Trash kicked off he was swiftly adopted by London's fashion scene, his mug winding up everywhere from Vogue to The Face while his set-lists became the soundtrack for countless catwalk parties.

These days Alkan is dismissive of the hype and maintains that he was always "just a gangly old Turk playing Suede records", although recent successes such as his re-edit of Mylo's 2004 hit Drop The Pressure say otherwise.

"The time I feel most alive, and the only time I truly feel like myself, is when I'm playing records," Alkan declares. "And, right now, I'm more excited by DJing than I've ever been."

Starts at 10pm, tickets cost £10. Call 01273 673311.