Grand designs up Colon Creek
Struggle is not the word… Up to our eyes in borrowing, totally sleep deprived & sick with worry, we stumbled through the next year.
The weight of all the debt, as the clock was ticking down on the old Club, just cranked up the pressure. If we got this wrong & overspent, or ran over time we could easily lose everything.
Anth & Tommy, up on the top floor, sharing a 'Have we bankrolled our asses for a Pigeon Hilton..?' moment.
Mess Quest 2002/3
Experts arrive, to plan all the mess & realise they're gonna need to enlist short sighted Jimmy, to proper max it.
We put the word out about our plans to move & talked it up all over the city. There was no question of turning back, we had to reach the next level. We landed fab architects & cool builders, but this kinda caper never, ever runs smooth.
Jimmy arrives on site, ensuring the maximum level of mess shall be attained.
The days turned to weeks & the weeks into months, as time just ticked away…
His inspirational tutelage now applied, Jimmy's lads finally get stuck into the mess.
We would find ourselves in the Old Club, spinning tunes on a weekend & the lyrics of the songs we would play began to take on a new, deeper, almost mythical significance.
Ghostly builder flees mess in terror, as Jimmy's cunning plans begin to take effect.
Now that WHQ's relocation plans had been fully announced, we had publicly stuck our necks out...
A wee bit early for that fellas - still gotta turn this badger's sett into the ladies toilet.
As the clock ticked away, it became clear we were gonna run out of money & time...
Errr... Welder's day off..?
Yup readers, one thing was for sure, we had a Battle on...
Aye - the battle of the tea break at Butlins.
We kept having to put off the moving date, pushing it further & further back each time. By the third bump, folk honestly began to start wondering if it was really ever going to happen, or if we were just winding them all up..?
'No, no, it'll be New Years Eve, we'll just go like this & everyone will go nuts - honest.' Upstairs DJ booth construction.
There Goes The Dough…
We all know that feeling when...
We had to be out of Marlborough Crescent so it could be demolished & the new Club wasn’t gonna be anywhere near ready to open.
Knee chance - Stairs from the landing, leading down, as you leave the upstairs room.
If we couldn’t keep the Old Club open, we weren’t gonna be able to make the money we needed, to finish the new building.
Better bliddy hurry up then - view as you walk in the upstairs Club.
We were deeply stuck, up that well known, metaphorical colonic creek… Without a paddle.
The way things looked the day the money ran out.
We had already sold up to a bunch of developers who needed the Old Club building out of the way, to make a road to lead to a new Bus Station on the Western Boulevard.
Transportation Blues
These dudes had to provide this new bus station as part of a big project they were involved in, to eventually redevelop the Haymarket Metro Station into how you see it today.
Haymarket Metro
So we were caught up in high level, city transport system planning. Millions of pounds were involved & they couldn’t get their mits on the Haymarket site, until they could ease traffic, by delivering the new Western Boulevard Bus Station.
Meanwhile, we were still busy delivering a cross section of the DJ booth, in anticipation of Danny Crinnon coming to DJ one day & taking care to accurately replicate, his dapper nonchalance.
They had to demolish the Old Club to do that, so we were like the first, last & final piece of the jigsaw for them & holding up the entire scheme.
Ha! - They think they've got problems..?
Let's Get Ready To Rumble
They had waited a year, but now they were done waiting…
I fancy a snack... a little monkey might be nice.
Rumble with this...
All we could do was look to a sign, that has morphed over the years into our business plan. We used to (& still do) keep it on our office wall.
A massive version now hangs in the ground floor of the Club. We studied it, stayed focused & just kept on keeping on, believing the universe, karma & the power of music, would help us somehow.
(Yes chums, that is what we actually believe in & we can of we like)
The WHQ Business Plan
The sign that we sill work to today
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