Started going 'out out' in 1998 at 16 when a mate's sister got us into Hutton Sixth Form 'doos' which were held in Madison's (which became Revolution) then Arrabellas/Aquallennium. Support bars came in the form of the Jazz Bar & Guild Tavern who would serve anyone ID or not. The music was shite and I spent a lot of time doing my best Paul Calf impression by asking 'wanky student bands' instead of Eiffel 65 and Will Smith. Once old enough this evolved into Tokes and I recall two very drunken nights on their after PNE Vs Rovers and PNE Vs Birmingham in 2001 with bottles of 'Source' 241.
Our first helping of 'alternative' music nights came on Mondays in 99/00 when Squires/Quincey's would split into two and the PA guy from North End played thrash, metal, pop punk and a bit of Indie in Quincey's. According to the wife we once had a very drunken conversation in there around 2000 which she remembers vividly because she told her friends I was 'the drummer from North End'. I have no recollection whatsoever.
Eventually (as we somehow remained oblivious to the Warehouse until the late 2000s) we found our indie night at Roper Hall on Fridays with DJ Karl Yates and between 2002-2008 we virtually lived there whilst some Saturdays were spent at The Mill during its brief revival. These were SERIOUSLY good times that I will cherish forever and miss like crazy. It was no surprise to anyone when Karl DJ'd our wedding in 2018 and brought the memories flooding back.
However Friday nights at Roper eventually got too poppy with management leaning on Karl to suppliment Oasis, The Roses, Kasabian, Arctic Monkeys etc with Lady Gaga, Gnarls Barkley and various other pop acts because it kept people in and buying drinks for longer. I sometimes gave Karl a hand in the DJ Booth taking requests and helping with the dancefloor lights and it became obvious late 2006 onward how things were going as more and more people asked for pop music or the likes of Mr Brightside, Sex On Fire, Good on the Dancefloor and got very wound up when they weren't played.
When Karl gave up the Friday slot the night died and we belatedly moved across town to the Warehouse. It was awesome at first and we had some very good night's there but by the early 2010s it was starting to go the same way as Roper with the metal/rock floor becoming 'Grime' then full on pop. We also found that getting in at all was becoming issue, especially if we didn't have any girls with us. The last time I went was 2016 with a female friend whose chest probably got us in as by this point we were a good 10/15 years older than most of those around us. We lasted half an hour before leaving in disgust at the dreadful music which was followed up with being refused entry at Blitz for being too old (doormen used the excuse we didn't have photo ID with us for their entry logging system).
The best 'club' night out I've had in recent years was 2nd April 2016. 1-2 victory at Ewood followed by a full on Britpop Disco at The Ferret. Absolutely fucking mega. A close second was the 'Exit Rock Bar' in Dubrovnik during our honeymoon in 2019. Classic rock and great beer all night long.
Do miss a good dance but a night in the Moorbrook usually does for me nowadays (well whenever we were last allowed to do that sort of thing).