Many will now know it as nothing more than a decaying eyesore which could soon be demolished, but, for around a decade, Circus Circus was one of Hull city centre’s most popular nightclubs. The Spencer Street venue opened its doors in June 1995 after a £500,000 refit by Tetley Pub Company, part of the giant Tetley Brewery organisation.
As those who frequented the venue, which had previously been Monroe’s, will remember, it featured – as the name suggests – a circus and fairground theme including a dodgem car suspended from the ceiling, and a trapeze. Tetley already operated other Circus Circus bars in Leeds and Newcastle.
Its arrival was heralded as evidence that the Ferensway area was sealing Hull’s place as the “party city of Britain” as it came after the nearby Lexington Avenue (LA’s) nightclub and Luckies bar had celebrated a whopping £1.5 million refit by throwing a glamorous party a few days earlier. Circus Circus originally opened with a pub licence meaning it had to close by 11pm, though it soon applied to extend this to midnight a few months later.
The big opening night on Thursday, June 1, 1995 saw a circus troupe called Big Gals perform. After around a decade in operation, the saturation of nightclubs over previous years started to erode and a number of venues around Hull city centre closed in the mid-Noughties, including Circus Circus and LA’s.
Circus Circus has now been left abandoned for far longer than it was open under that name, and has fallen victim to numerous fires over the near-two decades since revellers last danced the night away inside. But this week, plans were unveiled to raze it to the ground to make way for a six-storey development with swish apartments. Developer DBG Group – which is also driving forward the conversion of the former Debenhams department store in the city centre – has applied for permission to demolish the Spencer Street nightclub and construct a huge building which could play a vital role in the continuing regeneration of the Ferensway area.
The proposal is for the demolition of the derelict nightclub and redevelopment of the site to create a six-storey mixed use development with 164 new homes.
The photos below were taken over the first year or so after the venue opened and are bound to bring back many mid-Nineties memories!