An "intimate" basement nightclub where "many great nights" were had called Liverpool home for decades.
The Liverpool ECHO recently took a brief look back at the Magnet, which held an illustrious and iconic place in the city's heart from when it was founded in 1958. Originally, a street level bar named the Rumblin’ Tum, an eating house famed from the outside for its geometric wood panelling at the window, the basement of the site was named the Sink Club.
One of the city’s first black music venues, many will remember entry was by way of a numbered sink plug on a short length of chain which proved membership. When the venue was called Sink Club, Freddie Mercury first played their with band Ibex.
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From 60’s soul to 70’s disco, to nuances of reggae and ska in the 80’s and electro in the 90’s, The Magnet for generations was a melting pot for different music genres. It also saw a number of acts also played the stage in the bars bustling basement over the years.
This included Gregory Isaacs, Ron Ayers, Deaf School, Pete Wylie and more. ECHO readers have since been sharing their fond memories of the venue through the years.
On our website, Jonesy485 said: "Fab place to go to and I used to love Lennons bar underneath Mathew street.." Slantyhead posted: "Delightful club back in the late 90s early noughties.."
PlanetJ posted: "Had many great nights in The Magnet." Santino Mella wrote: "It was called The Magnet cos they found the sign in a skip."
Tom Rawley commented: "Seen some bands down in there. Getting crushed at the front of the pit whilst the Parrots played. Show me the body's first UK gig outside of London, saw LA guns on there once as well!! And Laila Fiona wrote: "Wish it was still a club"
Under its warm red glow with a dance floor, stage and cosy booths, it felt like you had stepped into the VIP waiting room in Hades. In its time, the bar and club also boasted a long list of accolades including 'Best Bar in Liverpool' with The Guardian and sat proudly at No 29 in GQ Magazine's Best Bars in the World list.
Did you ever go to The Magnet? Let us know in the comments section below.
In 2011, The Magnet reopened after a multi-million pound refit which saw the club revamped into a Las Vegas styled gambling hall from the 1970s, before closing once again in July 2013. In May 2014, new owners of the legendary Hardman Street music hub celebrated 54 years of late night parties as they prepared to throw open the doors after a recent facelift.
At the time, manager Josh Boyd said: "Many of the bars in Liverpool have been on a journey since the 1960s and none more so than The Magnet. It's had many faces, each of which have helped it to become the place that many of us can associate with today – a distinctly different and intimate space that boasts a varied history, but always with music at its core.
"It was the first true ‘black music’ venue in Liverpool, at a time when social rifts were ever present in society. Parties down in the basement were a popular place for friends to meet in an environment that didn’t distinguish by colour or by creed, but instead brought people together through a shared love of emerging music of the time.
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"It is exactly this that we want to reintroduce to the Liverpool social scene, and we feel that now is as good a time as any. With bars like The Kazimier, Zanzibar and Studio 2 to name a few, already creating a buzz for the city’s music scene, we want to join that growing community and support and impart the rich and diverse musical history on which the city is so built."
But by early 2018, it was announced that The Magnet would no longer host gigs, as the site was "changing ownership and usage," according to Merseyside club promoters EVOL. At the time, John King of AE Audio, who look after the club's audio and lighting, told the ECHO: "A great deal of people have poured their hearts and souls into the place.
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"We took a run-down venue and turned it into one of the best live music venues in the city. I remember when JP Cooper came and did an acoustic set there in 2015, just before he went massive, you could hear a pin drop in the room.
"And I just remember thinking that it was such a special venue. I don’t know what the future holds for magnet, but hopefully at some point, future generations will know what it’s like to leave through that famous red door at 6am, ears ringing."
By April 2018, the ECHO reported how renovations had begun at the former site of Liverpool's much-loved music venue, The Magnet, as the Hot Water Comedy Club prepared to open. Promising to live up to the high-standards of it's sister venue on Seel Street, the club had started an extensive renovation at the old musical hot-spot.
In August that year, Hot Water Comedy Club officially opened and the team went to great lengths to maintain as much of the history of the iconic bar. Many of the original features were either lovingly restored or relocated to integrate into the state of the art live comedy and music venue.
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