Opening night at the Music Factory, London Road, Sheffield. May 15th 1994.
A poll to decide the best nightclub of the 1990s attracted votes from hundreds of people but it was unlikely to ever have anyone but the Republic as the winner.
Though its life was a rollercoaster from beginning to end, the significance of what it achieved was pivotal for the growth of Sheffield’s evening economy.
If there d been no Republic you wonder how the fortunes of the city s nightlife would have fared.
Bed Nightclub, formerly the Music Factory, London Road. Gatecrasher managing director Simon Raine at the club.
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Los Angeles artist Arshia Fatima Haq was thumbing through racks of dusty vinyl at New Yorkâs A-1 Records a few years ago when a title caught her eye:
Disco Se Aagay, or âBeyond Discoâ in Haqâs native Urdu. Peering out from the sleeve was a teenage girl with bouffant â80s hair, a white dinner jacket, and a Mona Lisa smile. The album was billed as âa step further in the field of disco musicâ; the musicians were identified in the credits as a brother and sister, Nermin Niazi and Feisal Mosleh, from Birmingham, England. Nermin, the singer and lyricist, was âstill a school-girl,â according to the sleeve notes. Feisal, a college student, had composed and produced the music, writing some of the songs at just 17. The copyright was dated 1984; there were synthesizers. Naturally, Haq took the record home.