Quaffers, the ace of clubs, remembered
IT’S been more than 20 years since the iconic Stockport variety club Quaffers closed its doors for the final time.
The 2,600-capacity venue hosted a number of famous acts and popular club nights for over two decades from its Bredbury site.
The Hollingworth Road club was even a hot favourite with celebrities and sports stars such as George Best.
Owned by multi-millionaire hotelier Dougie Flood, the venue - with its raised dance floor and live entertainment - became a firm favourite among Stockport’s smart set in the 70s and 80s, along with the Firkin Inn next door.
But as fashions changed and variety entertainment dwindled in popularity, the final curtain came down on the club in December 1998.
Quaffers played host to string of top entertainment acts back in the day - the likes of Shirley Bassey, Tommy Cooper, the Drifters and Suzi Quatro all performed on the famous stage.
In its later years, the club hosted a performance from a newlyformed boy band - Take That . Quaffers was famed for the rising stage in the middle of the dancefloor - a sight imprinted in the memory of those who witnessed it. The impressive hydraulic stage would lift many famous guests upwards over the years, usually to the sound of the Thunderbirds theme tune.
Quaffers was renowned for its regimented rules on attire. Following on from its days as a cabaret club, punters were required to dress smartly to gain entry - with those falling foul of the regulations being turned away.
Former Quaffers regular Alison Bowden
The rules, which included no white socks, no piercings or visible tattoos on males and no shaven heads, made headlines after entry was refused to a man on his works Christmas party because his hairstyle was deemed ‘unsuitable.’
The door policy is something that is well-remembered by former guests.
Angela Redman said: “1970s I think. My hippy husband and I were given a couple of tickets. The doorman said, ‘Sir and madam can’t come in dressed like that!’ We found it hysterically funny!”
Alison Bowden said: “My hubby got turned away because he was wearing white socks.
“He went back to his parents’ house in Romiley and borrowed his dad’s coloured ones and went back and got in.”
Adult-themed entertainment was also on the programme, which included a wet t-shirt contest on a Wednesday night.
And Bernadette Cresswell remembered: “Went every Wednesday and Friday with free tickets and my friend and I danced all night and drank water when we had no money but best-ever club.”