"Slappers'': Chapter One starts new chapter. Is this right?

TollingtonTom

I'm stunned and a bit damp at the proposal to turn the old Chapter One bar (where I had many a happy night with Dorcas in the old days ) into a lap dancing club . 'Gentlemen's establishment', as it says on the website.

I know these places are more socially acceptable these days, and I suppose they do help keep certain behaviour off the streets. And I do have sympathy for the poorly paid 'artistes' who gyrate endlessly to old Wham! hits. And I sympathise (to a lesser extent) with the 'audience' who probably don't get any cocoa at home.

But still, I think to put one in the middle of a community like this (and next to Tesco come to that) is not on. And it won't do the PR of SG any good with so many big events coming up (big events - like the Royal Wedding - I might say, which can well do without starry eyed bints wobbling around to 'Careless Whisper')

I know the Council has to raise rents given the cuts but surely there must be a better and more socially acceptable way of a) making money and b) getting a cheap thrill in Stroud Green?

Anyway we are writing to Harringey council to protest.

miss annie

There's a joke to be made about damp but I'm not the one to make it. This thread might make interesting reading for you... <http://www.stroudgreen.org/discussion/2358/haringey-council-sex-establishment-consultation/>;

Ian

I am pretty convinced that TT is a wind up merchant. A quick search of islington plannind shows this is not true. I am also pretty sure the roads are not being closed for the royal wedding. On the amusing side, we could attempt false indignation so that Islington Gazette start writing up all the stories as true without sourcing them. They wouldn't bother with a planning search.

miss annie

That's a totally great idea!

TollingtonTom

Annie, thank you. That is very intersting - it is a complex issue. . Ian sayst Chapter One is in Islington not Harringey (who have always claimed moral superiority, quite rigthly) so it may be a bit more complex, but check out the Secrets site for the proposal (not from a work computer I would add).

Ian

I tell you what TT - why don't you put a link here to that and to the islington council royal wedding road closures information?

TollingtonTom

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TollingtonTom

Does anyone have pictures of the old Chapter One in the good old days? Woudl be good when talking to the council. We need to show the quality that has been lost.

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TollingtonTom

I definately don't want to see those pictures Misscara ! Dorcas would have a fit.

kreuzkav

This has had me in stiches. Chapter One was no quality establishment. It was very tacky. I came back to London last April in its dying days. Let's just say people round it were glad to see its demise.

Misscara, whatever happened to your plans to open up that establishment?

Ian

<BLUFF>

TollingtonTom

Regardless of what I assume are differing reactions to the proposal for 'Slappers' (I'm against it , for the record) can anyone tell me why the excellent Chapter One closed? One day it was rocking, the next dead as a door nail. We had some good nights there (weekends usually) and I enjoyed the poker games. It's odd that a high quality neigbourhood bar would close...perhaps there was some underworld connections? (why otherwise would it become a gentlemen's club ? and I'm not talking about the Garrick if the eye watering website is anything to go by). The campaign starts here: bring back Chapter One!

miss annie

The Garrick, now there's a club worth going to.

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Ian

@Misscara - they also caused a hell of a lot of noise pollution as they didn't soundproof and so they lost their licence to have music.I had sleepless weekends every week for a few months, and I don't back onto it - I was a street away. The people who lived around it must have had a terrible time. With the help of the Tollington councillors we got Islington noise team to stop them.

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ADGS

That doesn't sound quite right about moving the bands, because I went to Chapter One within the first week it was open and the act (a pretty good jazz singer/keyboardist called Nick of Time) was right at the front. But I used to go fairly often early on and was quite fond of the place - it helped that a friend got talking to the owner and they turned out to have roots in the same bit of Ireland. Then that friend moved a bit further afield, the venue started playing silly buggers as Misscara says, and I drifted away.

kreuzkav

I think Chapter One opened about 2001-2002. I wasn't living on the road then but in the area. When I moved onto SGR in early 2003 you'd hardly hear a sound out of it during the week. At the weekend you'd hear the bands but it wasn't anything annoying. I spent most of my weekends out, or at an ex gfs then. I can't remember when it became a problem but I think the change in licencing laws and the introduction of the smoking ban around 2007 ushered in a much louder Chapter One. The music turned into what I refer to as 'generic house/techno' and I do like good house and techno music. Around 2007-2008 I spent even more time going out and would just come home to the tail end of this. I moved away to Berlin around the end of 2008 and I heard from neighbours it really went downhill from then. When I came back last year (in April) I witnessed the last few weeks of it which included fights outside and people being chased up the road by police dogs.

The Irish owner was on the surface a pleasant guy but I think what he said and what he did were two different things. I think basically he wasn't hands on enough and lost control of the place. The neighbours in the house next door were constantly talking to him and he was promising a resolution, but I think at the end of the day places like this only respect the rule of law.

Arkady

Tom, you have a limited amount of time to demonstrate that you are not a bullshitter. If the stripper rumour proves untrue then you will not just be a bullshitter but a prick-tease too. I could just about handle royalist hysteria if it was accompanied by a good lap-dance.

Hannadala

I think I'm in love with tollington tom, although he does seem to have an awful lot of time to come up with these very elaborate and almost convincing lies.

I also happen to think chapter one was some of the best days of my life! I remember an especially ridiculous night in which they held a talent show for local 'MC's'... comedy gold.
They were good for a lock in/ smoke in too.

Ali

Chapter One is triple glazed at the front. It went down hill when they got rid of the “Moroccan” look and went to the flashing lights on the floor and bar etc. Smoking ban, licensing laws and more competition put it down. It will be interesting to see if much else opens on SGR or if we end up with a lot of shuttered shops etc. Recession could kick in again and everyone will be a lot poorer either through loosing a job or the NI and tax increases in April. Royal Wedding day is conveniently positioned date wise as it is the day working people will be getting their reduced pay-packet !

tosscat

Did y'all really have to research to realise this was bollocks? Did you not read the post?

TollingtonTom

I once went to For Your Eyes Only a lap dancing club in Rark Royal . It was a colourful stag do and it brought tears to my eyes. Mainly the cost, it has to be said. so the recession is not a good time to launch this sort of up scale attraction (thus maybe it will fail) . Interestingly there were some women in the audience and Hassan brought Joyce who was relaxed about it all, but the smell of baby oil clashed with the pipe smoke she said (shows how long ago it was - smoking etc!). I dont think noise is such an issue ( and good to hear about the triple glazing) but I can't see it working without a car park unless their plan to use Tescos yard after7 works. I hope not.

Emma

The posts aren't <i>that</i> elaborate, to be fair. He is getting massively tiresome now, anyway. I'm trying to work out which comedian he is trying to rip off - possibly Dom Joly?

ADGS

I'm enjoying him a lot more than his predecessors eg thenorthernheights. Or indeed, Dom Joly.

missisclack

I think I preferred the northern heights because it was obvious he was properly twatted each time he posted any of his insomniac ramblings. And he hated us.

TT just wants us all to be his (and Vitor's) friend; which is nice. But not for me. Bored already. Sorry TT.

WillM

In my head, TT sounds very similar to Giles Brandreth...

Ali

reviews here pretty well tell the story <http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/22/2299/Chapter_One/Finsbury_Park>;

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TollingtonTom

maximum vasa vacua voce...