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‘Back then it was anything goes’: Remembering lost mad nightclub Henry Afrikas
One minute you’re finishing your GCSEs, the next you’re washing glasses at a nightclub with strippers.
That’s exactly what happened to Jamie Harrison, now 47, from Oldham. Still a boy and straight out of school, he took his first steps into the adult world working at the notorious Henry Afrikas nightclub in Oldham in 1992.
For those who have never heard of Henry Afrikas, it was a cabaret-style nightclub based on Clegg Street in the 1980s and ’90s. A time when Jamie said the club scene in Oldham was “booming”, with numerous nightclubs filled to capacity every weekend.
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“There were about 10 nightclubs in Oldham, all around a similar size and they were all packed,” Jamie said. “There were no dead ones. Friday, Saturday and Sunday were rammed.”
Oldham wasn’t the only place with a Henry Afrikas venue. The nightclub was part of a chain of clubs scattered around the UK at the time, including venues in Wigan, Scunthorpe and Glasgow.
Described in their advertisements as “the north’s top cabaret fun bars” the “African themed” venues were a jarring sight on the high streets of the working-class towns and cities they were located. Describing the décor, Jamie remembered: “You went it and it were like bloody fern leaves all over the place and model animals hidden away – it was that sort of theme inside.”
During the week, the club staged acts which included fully nude strip shows like the Dreamboys and page three models, as well as bands and comedy acts. Controversial club comedians like Roy Chubby Brown and Bernhard Manning performed at the venue, which is to modern sensibilities somewhat surprising, considering the club’s inclusive reputation.
“It used to be the main gay place in Oldham,” said Jamie. “There was [drag queen] DJ Roxy Hart.
“You had quite a few gay people using it but it was transitioning really from a gay venue. It was really busy when I worked there, but there was gay and heterosexual people all enjoying it.”
“It was of its time,” he added. “If you did stuff like that now it would be hitting the news for the wrong reasons, but that’s what happened.
“But it was always treated as a bit of fun, I don’t think anybody would get offended, it was just pure fun.”
“Three of us were glass collectors as we weren’t old enough to work behind the bar,” Jamie added. “I may have even lied about my age but I looked about 15 anyway. I don’t know how I got away with that.
“It started off glass collecting but it pretty much ended up being a full-time job. I was there in the day filling the fridges up and emptying bottles out.”
“It was a proper coming of age within about two months, you know what I mean? I’d come straight from school, from where you’re messing around with your mates and you’ve got a childish sense of humour, and then you’re in a grown up world all-of-a-sudden.
“It was a shock, but a good shock. I was in my element because I loved it but I’d never experienced anything like it before.”
One of the most notorious memories from Oldham’s Henry Afrikas is of the live strip shows by two of the club’s resident strippers.
“It was a bit cabaret, so you generally had a live act or a couple of strippers on called Stan The Man and his partner Sexy Sue. They always did a turn and a full strip. I think they were husband and wife – they were definitely a couple anyway.
“Being a 16-year old getting exposed to all that it certainly rounded the edges off a little bit. I used to take them a few drinks up before they went on, they were dead friendly.
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Although he was just employed to collect glasses, that didn’t stop Jamie getting press ganged into being part of the club’s entertainment.
Jamie said: “The DJ would then play something like YMCA or The Time Warp and there would be bar staff involved and I would get hooked on. So there would be four of us on stage in front of a semi-full nightclub doing the dance to it.
“It was fantastic fun. I’m a DJ now and I think I got the love for it through that time.”
He added: “The DJ, Roxy Hart, was great. I was a massive electro music fan, so Erasure, Pet Shop Boys.
“I remember having their latest album and walking in with it and asking if they would play that track, and Roxy would do. It was such a good buzz.
“I remember hearing Take That when they had their first hits, they were playing them heavily, stuff like that.”
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Jamie says working at Henry Afrikas is an experience he wouldn’t change for anything. “I had the time of my life, it was brilliant,” he adds.
“As a 16-year old you’re still a kid really, and you treat it like an absolute laugh – it was a lot like that really. We used to go in there on nights off because basically I was allowed to get in there where I would struggle to get in other places.
“Me and few mates would go in and cadge a few free drinks here-and-there. It was like a little family.
“It felt a bit like a lot of waifs and strays in society ended up there. We’d end up at parties after we finished around somebody’s house.”
Sadly, Jamie’s time at the club came to an unceremonious end when he and several other employees were pulled into the office and sacked after a night out. Despite this, he has nothing but fond memories of the now lost nightclub.
“When you think about it now, the clubs had changed maybe two or three years after that to things like super clubs [Cream and Hacienda] and stuff like that. The nightclub scene changed and bars were opening later as well.
“On reflection it was brilliant but it was probably the sort of place I would have hated to go in if I was a bit older at the time, when I was into a certain type of music. But back then it was anything goes.”
Henry Afrikas Oldham venue closed its doors in 1997. Now a Sainsbury’s supermarket and a branch of TK Maxx are located where the club once stood.
Even though it’s been closed for over 25-years, many former clubbers from Oldham remember Henry Afrikas with great affection. In a recent post on the Oldham’s Past public Facebook group, people took to the comments with their colourful recollections of the lost nightclub.
Michaela Hardman, who owned and ran the food bar inside the club in the late 1980s, vividly remembered stripper Stan The Man and his performance tricks. She said: “I made his tea for him most weeks. he was the one who told me the secret of putting the elastic band round his willy to make it stay looking bigger.”
Theresa Sackfield, remembered “the ladies toilet always flooded,” adding: “Sticky carpets and wiping your feet on the way out. Best nights out ever [laughing emojis]”.
Does Henry Afrikas awaken any memories for you? Let us know in the comments section below.
Debra Taylor, said: “Oh my goodness! We had some of the best nights in there. Fab venue and always a great time!”
Janet Cain, posted: “Had so many good nights in there early ’90s – I was in my early 20s. Wednesdays were the best nights but I was always so ill on Thursdays. Worked on reception in insurance company in Manchester, was always in trouble and sent home for being so hungover.”
Michael Higgins claimed it was the “best night out in Oldham,” adding: “Loved it.”
Do you remember Henry Afrikas or another colourful nightclub or bar you loved back in the day? If you would like to see a story on the venue in the M.E.N. then email our nostalgia writer at [email protected]
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