An iconic Scottish nightclub once dubbed the best in the country has been honoured in an artist's latest work. The Metro nightclub, previously known as The Metropolis, in Saltcoats, Ayrshire, was a hugely popular venue in the 1990s.
The nightspot attracted dance fans from across Scotland and further afield, with scores of English ravers also regularly making the journey to the club. And Ayrshire artist Tragic O'Hara, real name Steven McIntyre, highlighted the importance of the club to the county by including it in a mural he painted earlier this month.
He painted the venue's famous sign as part of the painting, which also features other local landmarks. It now adorns the side wall of the town's Home Hardware store, on a lane between one of the streets in the town's shopping district and the shorefront.
The 35-year-old, who is originally from the neighbouring town of Ardrossan, revealed the mural was inspired by his own experiences. Tragic, who runs his own YouTube and TikTok channels, grew up in the area, known locally as The Three Towns, and went to the Metro in his youth.
He said: "It features some famous landmarks such as an octopus living in the Harbour House and a Hermit Crab using an ice cream tub as a hat. Things I would see funnily enough on the walk home from the Metro back in the day.
"I started writing graffiti when I was 15 and 20 years later I got asked to paint a wall in the Three Towns where I grew up."I'm pretty chuffed with the way this one turned out and the reaction it's got. Hopefully there will be a few more walls marked for reformed vandals such as myself."
We previously reported how he secured his first international commission after a homemade video of him painting Donald Trump was spotted by an American record label on YouTube. He was asked to design the artwork for the company's Fear and Loathing in Atlanta release after they loved the clip showcasing his work, which he shot in his garage.
For years Tragic would sneak silently along streets and rooftops in darkness, avoiding the police, to do what he loved. But he now gets paid to do graffiti walls - which could have landed him in jail all those years ago, after beginning to paint and play guitar at the age of 14 and quickly becoming engrossed in the world of graffiti.
More than twenty years on, grabbing a can of spray paint and transforming a wall is something he still loves to do, and the Saltcoats piece is his latest colourful spray painted mural. Tragic, who carried out a "Big Art Attack" when he painted a Space Invader in his back garden during lockdown, also runs art workshops and has held exhibitions showcasing his work.
And he has previously carried out work for a host of private companies, Scottish councils, private customers and the National Trust for Scotland. The Metro is often described as one of the best clubs to have ever existed in Scotland, and users of website oldskoolanthems.com have raved about the venue.
One wrote: "What a club of this nature was doing in a provincial small town in Scotland I have no idea, but between, 1990 and 1991 it was the place to be".
Another said: "I used to travel from Edinburgh nearly every week to go there me and my mates had some blinding times".
And another wrote: "Having been about the years at the Metro 89-91 were something else. The best atmosphere of any club i had been to before or after".
A fourth posted: "The massive popularity the club had at one time even going so far as being recommended best night out in Britain back in '91".
The Metro closed down a number of years ago but a team has been working on restoring the venue and hope to reopen later this year. The METRO Saltcoats Facebook page describes the venue as "SCOTLAND'S MOST FAMOUS NIGHTCLUB" and says they hope to open by Hallowe'en.
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