Caesars Nightclub - Streatham, South London - November 2014

[The_Raw]

The History

Caesars started life as the first purpose built Ballroom in England opening in 1928 as 'The Locarno Ballroom'. It was one of the premiere London nightspots of the time, with Glenn Miller, Laurel & Hardy, Audrey Hepburn, and Charlie Chaplin among the top names to grace its stage.

​

How it looked back then

Streatham Megabowl sits to the right nowadays

In 1969 it became the 'Cat’s Whiskers Club' with a revolving stage where bands such as The Rolling Stones, The Small Faces & Rod Stewart performed. Miss World and Come Dancing (now Strictly) started their legacies there and it became a regular haunt for people in the London underworld such as The Krays. It went on to become 'The Studio' in 1984, 'The Ritzy' in 1990 and eventually 'Ceasars Night Club' in 1995 owned by Fred Batt. The new owner started the first lap dancing club for women in there, it also became a boxing venue and held the first ever pro female boxing match. In recent years cage fighting took place in there and since it's closure there are rumours that illegal boxing matches went on there.

Fred Batt with the dancers

​

​

It made several TV appearances, most notably in Guy Ritchie's movie Snatch for Brad Pitt's boxing scenes. Most Haunted filmed there in 2009 where they attempted to investigate the ghost of Ruth Ellis, the last female to be hung in the UK who is said to have worked in the club in 1948. The episode can be viewed here >

Arty shot of the night

The Stage

Strippers billboard

Stripper poster, one for the ladies

Backstage

Bits of the PA system amongst rubble on the dancefloor

Extremely grainy shot of the stage from the balcony

The sorry state of affairs, if only we'd got there 2 weeks earlier....this gives you an idea how big the place is at least

Plaster decorations ripped off the walls

Stairs leading up to the balcony, most rooms up there appeared to have been stripped already with asbestos removed

Looking towards the balcony from the top of the stairs

One of the countless murals dotted around

The bar

Looking across from one balcony to another with large leather seating downstairs

Cage fighting poster

Hand written bubbly menu, perhaps from an illegal boxing match....?

More murals

Carpets with Caesars logo

Balconies

Compliments slips in one of the offices that hadn't been stripped yet but were trashed

Found this sign amongst the rubble 'Smile you're going on stage'

Thanks for looking at some of my crappest photos yet, you can see more shots from Caesars on their still functioning website here http://www.darkforce.com/caesars/

RIP Caesars

 

[Lenston]

Very nice that mate, got some great history that place as well

 

[Wevsky]

That looks a decent one mate

 

[The_Raw]

Cheers guys, been on the list for a good while this one

 

[Nelly]

Great stuff, love the arty first shot!!

 

[Lara]

Really nice to see this, nice one Mr R

 

[skeleton key]

A cracker that mate and good to see.

We went here years back but my mate got knocked back as the monkeys on the door said he was too pissed lol

Great write up looks like a hard one to light up

 

[The_Raw]

A cracker that mate and good to see.We went here years back but my mate got knocked back as the monkeys on the door said he was too pissed lol

Great write up looks like a hard one to light up

Haha probably a good job mate or you might've ended up watching male strippers all evening

 

[Lara]

Haha probably a good job mate or you might've ended up watching male strippers all evening

He might of enjoyed it

 

[skeleton key]

Lol I think back then was just a Nite club if not we had a lucky escape

 

[shaddam]

ace stuff mate

 

[jones-y-gog]

Colourful place in many ways

Cool report dude

 

[The_Raw]

One of my Streatham friends just posted this on facebook, old TV footage from 1938 when it was the Locarno ballroom, looked a hell of a lot different back then!

Can't seem to embed this for some reason I'm afraid....

 

[Lenston]

One of my Streatham friends just posted this on facebook, old TV footage from 1938 when it was the Locarno ballroom, looked a hell of a lot different back then! Can't seem to embed this for some reason I'm afraid....

Great footage, real shame about that place with its history