Nightclub ended with a whimper instead of a big bang
DJ Tim White remembers the very last record he played at Llanelli’s Raffles nightclub. The 59-year-old said it was an emotional final night as the band Styx’s song Babe rang out.
But the club went out with a whimper rather than a bang as only a handful of people were there to toast the moment.
At one time the nightspot was one of two that pulled in the crowds – the other was the town’s Moonraker.
Tim said: “I know what was No.1 in the week it closed, it was Tasmin Archer’s Sleeping Satellite, which was No.1 from October 17 to October 31, 1992. The next week was Boyz II Men End of the Road, which was ironic.
“Styx and Babe was the last song I played. It was very emotional and quite a lot of old staff were there. We were left there with some of the regulars. There were people since I started there, which was quite emotional.”
But he said there were only 10 or 20 people there to bid the nightclub farewell.
“The atmosphere was flat; we were hoping to go out with a bang. The club had been dwindling for years – Barnum’s and Baileys had opened. Baileys had opened a year and a half before that on Station Road. It was the ‘in’ place to go and was the death knell for the club.”
An even firmer door will close on the club when it is demolished to make way for 12 two-bedroom apartments.
Swansea-based developer Pass Property Development is looking to replace it with a contemporary designed building using “modern building methods which will respect the established building line of Murray Street”.
It was marketed in the pre-planning report as “an attractive place to live in a prominent location within the town centre on the site of a historically popular bar and club.”
Tim said that in the 80s there were two places togo in Llanelli – the Moonraker and Raffles.
“It was the New Romantics in Moonraker and in Raffles – it was the downto-earth place. When I started there in 82 there was membership as it was the disco diners club.”
Raffles, which was owned by Karl Evans, whose father Albie Evans was a shop owner in Murray Street, was dubbed one of the best clubs during that era.
“It went through peaks and troughs,” added Tim. “People would favour Moonraker, then Raffles, it was just a great club.”
He said Steve Shaw, a friend of his, was one of the two DJS there when it opened.
“Steve is brilliant; he has such a great voice. They did the work in Raffles, I was over in the Stradey Hotel. On a Saturday night I would help out for half an hour. They went off and left me with the residency of Raffles.”
Tim, who runs a Facebook page called Raffles Remembered, said the venue was decorated on the front wall as a Swiss
Cottage.
“Everything was done out in Bavarian pine,” he said. “The dining area, it was done out like a German and Swiss ski lodge there were boards on the walls and people in German dress. It was of its time - towards the end it looked very dated. It was a great place.
He said the staff at the venue were as popular as the songs which were played there. It was the place where people got together romantically, but there were times when brawls broke out.
Tim, who now lives in Porthcawl, said: “The whole dance floor would be like a Western saloon when the lights would go up. I have seen people get together there and get married over the years. I knew one couple liked a song and it helped them get back together again by
playing song.”
He added: “My friend was married and got divorced from his wife and was a bit down. I introduced him to one of my first wife’s friends and they eventually got married. I met my first wife there.”
The club was such a hit, he said, that people would their favourite flock there in the middle of the week to make the most of the music.
“Wednesday was the busiest night of the week. It was surprisingly busy. My main memory was of the staff there. We would have so much fun.”
Nurse Jackie Antony, of Llanelli, said she had fond memories of Saturday nights in Raffles.
She said: “I spent many a Saturday night in Raffles, in my late teens and early 20s, in the ‘80s. After going round the pubs, we would end up in the Bier Keller downstairs. We would go upstairs to Raffles before the time we had to pay to go in. We’d have chips in a basket and drinks.
“We always sat upstairs so we could watch everyone else coming in. We would be there till the lights came on after the last dance.”
She added: “I was in sixth form when my friends and I started going to Raffles. I knew the owner’s daughter from primary school. Then I did my nurse training in Swansea and would still go out with my friends on days off. It was a great place, wood everywhere, I think it was based on a Swiss-german chalet!”