Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Club where we all
Revellers met stars under plastic palm trees
THE Coconut Grove opened 40 years ago and gave Dundee clubbers the chance to live out their fantasies in “true tropical splendour”.
Dundee’s “new corner of the Caribbean” was advertised as the “hottest club in town”.
It was the place to “forget about mortgages and bills”.
The nightclub at 150 Marketgait originally became famous as the JM Ballroom when local businessman James Murdoch Wallace entered the dancing scene in 1954.
In 1975 Mr Wallace’s son, Murdoch, completely refurbished the JM. The opening of the Barracuda changed the whole idea of dancing.
The Barracuda featured swaying palm trees, coral reefs, caves and fish swimming in rock pools. Top acts included the Eurythmics, Tony Christie and Frankie Vaughan.
The layout behind the doors was based on the submarine Nautilus, created by Jules Verne in his book 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
The underwater themes were gone by March 1984, however.
That followed the name change and extensive £250,000 facelift by Mecca Leisure.
Coconut Grove advertised for “go-ahead people with outgoing personalities”.
They wanted staff who were “young and good looking” to fill a number of vacancies before the opening.
Female objectification was alive and well 40 years ago – in adverts that would not see the light of day now.
One asked “girls to fit fashion sizes 10-14 please”.
Reality was suspended when
Coconut Grove appealed for a “taped application” from a “fast talkin’, soul searchin’, plastic spinnin’, street cruisin’, high rollin’ disc jockey”.
Outside the club, neon palm trees and lights attracted clubbers to what general manager Derek McPhail described as “fantasy land”.
Special sputnik lights would revolve “giving the effect that the whole place is moving”.
Lighting would “create a waterfall effect” in the centre of the floor.
Banana boxes served as tables. “The image we’re looking for for Coconut Grove is as a place where people can come and live out their fantasies and forget
about mortgages and bills,” said Mr McPhail.
There would be “bar staff, floor girls and a novel touch, hospitality girls”.
Running Coconut Grove meant a return to Dundee for Mr McPhail. He had previously worked at Tiffany’s and was delighted to have the chance to spearhead the facelift.
Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Robert De Niro’s Waiting by Bananarama and 99 Red Balloons by Nena all would have been blasting out of speakers in March 1984. The nightclub became the city’s go-to place for pina coladas and plastic palm trees.
Among the party-goers at
Coconut Grove in the 1980s were some of the generation’s biggest singers and soap stars.
The reformation of pop duo Dollar brought Thereza Bazar and David Van Day to the dancefloor in 1986. That was alongside a now-mandatory nightclub booking for Coronation Street actor Chris Quinten.
The band Danny Wilson returned from a successful US tour and arrived to meet their young fans at the under-18 disco before Christmas in 1987.
The three musicians were riding high on the success of their first album. The guys waived their appearance fee with the cash given to the Brittle Bone Society.
Things got even better in 1989. Pete Waterman brought a host of music stars to perform as part of his Hitman Roadshow.
The neon flamingo and plastic palm trees remained when they decided to ditch Coconut from the name and call it The Grove.
But things started to go downhill.
Chief Constable Jack Bowman submitted a letter of complaint to Dundee Licensing Board following 17 instances at the premises between January and July 1993. Most were disturbances outside the nightclub.
They closed it down.
Then a blaze gutted The Coconut Grove in October 1994, causing £1 million of damage.