Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Moreen Simpson: Seeing youngsters queue up outside Aberdeen’s clubs made me misty-eyed

Aberdeen's nightclub dancefloors are back in business (Photo: Lauren Taylor)
Aberdeen's nightclub dancefloors are back in business (Photo: Lauren Taylor)

No, I wasn’t among the hundreds who piled into Aberdeen nightclubs on Monday.

Now, there’s a surprise. In fact, I’ve barely heard of Prohibition; as for Atik and Tunnels – pass. But I’m delighted the three venues could open their doors for the first time in 18 months since Covid struck. Ticky-bets most of us wrinklies would have been first in the queues to get in for a bop had we been a mere half a century younger.

It was also great to see glorious old photos on the Evening Express this week of some of the city’s much-loved night-spots down the years. What a superb memory lane to totter down.

 width=
Treetops was a stylish venue for a night out in the mid-1980s

In the 1960s, the young teens’ first experience of going out on Saturdays was either to Madam’s in the Cowdray Hall at teatime, where – when the rest of the world was learning The Twist – we were taught antiquated dances like the Palais Glide. Or there was nearby St K’s, which was a whole lot more fun.

Once into our middle teens, the Beach Ballroom was probably the equivalent of today’s nightclub; the place to be on Saturdays, for dancing and, wi’ ony luck, gettin’ a click (a likely loon loon takin’ ye hame); Sunday afternoons for the pop quiz and evenings for appearances by all the top groups of the day. Jings, were we jammy?

Quines met around 9pm at Etam’s or Dorothy Perkins, having laboured for at least an hour and a half on perfecting oor backcombed and sprayed helmet-hard hair

A bittie older, we graduated to the Palace in Bridge Place, where the loons shuffled roon eyein’ up the giggly talent. The Palais in Diamond Street was aye a bit rauch for us (Snobs!) By contrast, The Mitch in Marischal College, mainly for students, was so damnt up itsellie, we were bored to tears.

Those were our haunts every weekend. Only losers stayed in. No drinks before. Quines met around 9pm at Etam’s or Dorothy Perkins, having laboured for at least an hour and a half on perfecting oor backcombed and sprayed helmet-hard hair.

Going steady and getting married put an end to big nights out

But all those wonderful and usually hilarious (depending on which comedian asked us up) nights oot ended when – queue Jaws music – we started going steady then, worse, got married.

By now, Mo reckoned hersellie to be a bit o’ a sophisticate, into good food and wine. On o’ you remember the superb Gerard’s French restaurant at the top of Rose Street? That’s where eye-watering prices reflected the start of the oil boom and I tasted my first fillet steaks (still canna stand them bloody) and funcy vino.

 width=
Long queues at Aberdeen nightclubs (Photos: Lauren Taylor)

A girls’ night oot usually involved knocking back pints at nearby Mr G’s then hurtlin’ doon the road to the Light of Bengal for our favourite dhansak or massala.

At work, our local was the Cocket Hat, where many a departing colleague ended up unable to depart unaided. Later our nearest watering hole was the much-loved Treetops; fab food, marvellous music, great company. For many years it was the top socialising spot for thousands of Aberdonians. Recently, bulldozed to kingdom come, all that remains of it is a crater behind a fence. But every time I go past, I swear I can hear the laughter, the singing and the swish of the pints being pulled. So sad.


Read more by Moreen Simpson:

This article originally appeared on the Evening Express website. For more information, read about our new combined website.