The Four Aces Club was a pioneering music and recreational space on Dalston Lane in Hackney, London. Based in a building that had formerly been the North London Colosseum and Amphitheatre and then a cinema, in the 1960s and 1970s the club became one of the first venues to play

black music Black music is a sound created, produced, or inspired by black people, people of African descent, including African music traditions and African popular music as well as the music genres of the African diaspora, including Caribbean music, Lat ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It was credited with playing a significant "role in the evolution of

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

into dance music, from

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

, to rocksteady, to dub, to lovers, to dancehall and the evolution of

jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''ja� ...

." Many notable Afro-Caribbean musicians appeared at the Four Aces, which was often referred to as "the jewel in Dalston's crown". As well as reggae and dub artists, its clientele over the years including stars such as

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...

, Stevie Wonder and Jimmy Cliff.Emma Bartholomew
"Film about The Four Aces Club shows in Stoke Newington on Wednesday"
''Hackney Gazette'', 16 October 2010. In the early 1990s, it became home to the early indoor "rave scene" featuring acid house and

hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...

under the name Club Labrynth, where The Prodigy made their first live public appearance. The club was closed down in 1997, when

Hackney Council Hackney London Borough Council is the local government authority for the London Borough of Hackney, London, England, one of 32 London borough councils. The council is unusual in the United Kingdom local government system in that its executive fu ...

exercised the right to a compulsory re-possession of the premises. Despite an active campaign to save the building it was demolished in 2007. It made way for four residential tower blocks, in the new Dalston Square development, with the new Dalston Junction overground railway station aligning with urban regeneration plans for East London in the build-up to the 2012 Olympics.

History

The Four Aces Club was set up in 1966 by the Jamaican music producer Charlie Collins (Sir Collins) and Newton Dunbar,Maya Oppenheim
"The Four Aces Club Was The Jewel in Dalston's Crown"
Thump, 28 July 2014. to provide a live music venue catering for people from the West Indies. It at first operated from a run-down basement in Highbury Grove, but as growing crowds were attracted, a larger space was soon required, and The Four Aces relocated to 12 Dalston Lane in

Dalston Dalston () is an area of East London, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is northeast of Charing Cross. Dalston began as a hamlet on either side of Dalston Lane, and as the area urbanised the term also came to apply to surrounding areas includ ...

in Hackney. The disused Victorian theatre was originally built to house Robert Fossett's Circus in 1886Tim Burrows
"Four Aces, Phebes and London's Forgotten Reggae Venues"
''The Quietus'', 8 July 2009. It was known as the North London Colosseum and Amphitheatre and elephants performed alongside acrobats and jugglers. It had then become a cinema before being used for storage. According to one description, "this multistoreyed, multi-roomed, Victorian-built hulk was labyrinthine – a reggae centre as if concocted in the mind of

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known b ...

." It was the first club to open in Hackney, and "quickly became a meeting point for newly arrived Afro-Caribbean immigrants experiencing cultural exile". By the 1970s, West Indians not only from other parts of London but from all around the UK were flocking to the club. The police took an interest and the club was regularly raided. Dunbar was prosecuted 14 times by the police but never convicted. Both local musicians and top international artists played and sang at the Four Aces Club, among them:

Desmond Dekker Desmond Dekker (16 July 1941 – 25 May 2006) was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae singer-songwriter and musician. Together with his backing group The Aces (consisting of Wilson James and Easton Barrington Howard), he had one of the earlie ...

, Jimmy Cliff, Roy Shirley, Alton Ellis, Prince Buster, the Upsetters,

Ann Peebles Ann Lee Peebles (born April 27, 1947) is an American singer and songwriter who gained celebrity for her Memphis soul albums of the 1970s for Hi Records. Two of her most popular songs are " I Can't Stand the Rain", which she wrote with her husband ...

Percy Sledge Percy Tyrone Sledge (November 25, 1940 – April 14, 2015) was an American R&B, soul and gospel singer. He is best known for the song " When a Man Loves a Woman", a No. 1 hit on both the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and R&B singles charts in 196 ...

Ben E. King Benjamin Earl King (né Nelson; September 28, 1938 – April 30, 2015) was an American soul and R&B singer and record producer. He is best known as the singer and co-composer of " Stand by Me"—a US Top 10 hit, both in 1961 and later ...

Jimmy Ruffin Jimmy Lee RuffinRibowsky, Mark (2010), ''Ain't Too Proud to Beg: The Troubled Lives and Enduring Soul of the Temptations'', Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, p. 89. . (May 7, 1936 – November 17, 2014) was an American soul singer, and ...

Billy Ocean Leslie Sebastian Charles, (born 21 January 1950), better known by his stage name Billy Ocean, is a British recording artist who had a string of R&B international pop hits in the 1970s and 1980s. He was the most popular British R&B singer-son ...

, the Ronettes and many others. Among the influential sound systems were Count Shelly, Fat Man,

Jah Shaka Jah Shaka, also known as the Zulu Warrior is a Jamaican reggae/dub sound system operator who has been operating a South East London-based, roots reggae Jamaican sound system since the early 1970s. His name is an amalgamation of the Rastafarian t ...

and Sir Coxsone, with DJs vying to play at the Four Aces. In its heyday it was visited by the likes of Chrissie Hynde,

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

The Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the w ...

Johnny Rotten John Joseph Lydon (; born 31 January 1956), also known by his former stage name Johnny Rotten, is an English singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer of the late-1970s punk band the Sex Pistols, which lasted from 1975 until 1978, and aga ...

The Slits The Slits were a punk and post-punk band based in London, formed there in 1976 by members of the groups the Flowers of Romance and the Castrators. The group's early line-up consisted of Ari Up (Ariane Forster) and Palmolive (a.k.a. Paloma R ...

Joe Strummer John Graham Mellor (21 August 1952 – 22 December 2002), known professionally as Joe Strummer, was a British singer, musician and songwriter. He was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and co-lead vocalist of punk rock band the Clash, ...

, and

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

Club Labrynth

Labrynth was founded by Joe Wieczorek and originally hosted illegal warehouse rave parties during 1988 and 1989 at the height of the acid house scene. As it became increasingly difficult to secure warehouse space, Wieczorek started to look into using licensed premises for parties. Dunbar handed over control of the club to Wieczorek, and in early 1990 ''Club Labrynth'' was born. Through the 1990s the musical styles progressed from house through

and finally onto

and drum and bass. The resident DJs were Adrian Age, Vinyl Matt,

Kenny Ken Ken Delsol (born 12 December 1969), better known as Kenny Ken, is a British jungle and drum and bass DJ and producer. Biography Kenny was working for London Transport when his first big break came around in 1989 as a result of him being a r ...

, and Billy 'Daniel' Bunter. The Prodigy played their first live show at the club. When the Four Aces closed down, the club moved to Tottenham.

Demolition

The club was closed in 1997 and eventually

(which had bought the building from Tesco for £1.8million in 1977) exercised the right to a compulsory re-possession of the premises. A petition of 25,000 signatures was made asking for the building to be preserved. It was

squatted Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

but the campaign to return the space to community use was unsuccessful. Despite objections from the

Theatres Trust The Theatres Trust is the National Advisory Public Body for Theatres in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1976 by an Act of Parliament to "promote the better protection of theatres for the benefit of the nation". The Trust has played a leadi ...

, the

Georgian Group The Georgian Group is a British charity, and the national authority on Georgian architecture built between 1700 and 1837 in England and Wales. As one of the National Amenity Societies, The Georgian Group is a statutory consultee on alterat ...

and the Cinema Theatre Association, the building was demolished in 2007. The cutting down of trees planted in the club's garden in memory of the young people who perished in the New Cross fire – widely believed to have been a racist arson attack – preceded the building's demolition. Subsequent campaigns took place putting pressure on the council "to prevent the eradication of monuments which hold the memory of Black history and the story of multi-racial political solidarity in the borough", in particular the successful petition to retain the name of

C. L. R. James Cyril Lionel Robert James (4 January 1901 – 31 May 1989),Fraser, C. Gerald, '' The New York Times'', 2 June 1989. who sometimes wrote under the pen-name J. R. Johnson, was a Trinidadian historian, journalist and Marxist. His works are i ...

on the relocated Dalston library."Saving the Legacy of C.L.R. James in Dalston"
Zombi Diaspora, 9 December 2012. This resulted in the new library on the redeveloped site being opened as the "Dalston C.L.R. James Library" in 2012.

Legacy

The club is the subject of a 2008 documentary film by Winstan Whitter, whose father was a barman and chef at the venue. Entitled ''Legacy in the Dust: The Four Aces Story'', the film uses stock footage and images shot by Whitter at club nights to trace the musical evolution of the Four Aces. Whitter screened the film at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

, venues in Dalston and various festivals but the cost of archive footage prevents a general release. The club was "reincarnated" for one night at the

Hackney Empire Hackney Empire is a theatre on Mare Street, in the London Borough of Hackney. Originally designed by Frank Matcham it was built in 1901 as a music hall, and expanded in 2001. Described by ''The Guardian'' as ‘the most beautiful theatre in L ...

to celebrate the end of their ''Rudy's Rare Records'' show, starring

Lenny Henry Sir Lenworth George Henry (born 29 August 1958) is a British actor, comedian, singer, television presenter and writer. Henry gained success as a stand-up comedian and impressionist in the late 1970s and early 1980s, culminating in '' The Le ...

and based on the successful

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

show of the same name. A campaign was launched in 2015 for a commemorative blue plaque to mark the former site of the club. A luxury development of 550 apartments was built on the site. The five blocks are named Labyrinth Tower, Dunbar Tower, Marley House, Wonder House, and Collins Tower (named for co-founder Sir Collins, the tower houses the CLR James Library). Newton Dunbar commented: "They called it Dunbar Tower without consulting me ..the demolition of The Four Aces laid down the roots for the subsequent gentrification of Dalston".

References

External links

"The Four Aces Club"
The Ransom Note, 2014. Includes interview with Winstan Whitter, director of ''Legacy in the Dust: The Four Aces Story''.
Sir Coxsone Outernational
at 4 Aces Club, Dalston, London, January 1987.
"Labrynth Dalston Lane 1995"
YouTube.

at DERELICT LONDON – THEN AND NOW PICS. * Mary Couzens

"Legacy In The Dust Taster Trailer"
YouTube.
"Rising from the dust: Newton Dunbar's story"
Eastcast Show, 17 October 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Four Aces Club Afro-Caribbean culture in London Music venues in London 1966 establishments in England Music venues completed in 1966 Black British music Nightclubs in London Demolished buildings and structures in London 1997 disestablishments in England Black British culture in London Afro-Caribbean music Squats in the United Kingdom Dalston Evicted squats Former buildings and structures in the London Borough of Hackney