Ravenous individuals would get an unexpected surprise when they knocked on the door of what they thought to still be a Chinese restaurant.
Situated between a shoe shop and hairdressers, on Cases Street stood a restaurant. However, unbeknownst to many, the venue was transformed into a “mysterious cavernous cellar club” which would later become The Masquerade.
As customers stepped off the street and into the club, affectionately known as The Mazzie, they were greeted with “truly scary, dark scary like Scottie Road” stairs which led down to an underground “Aladdin’s cave”.
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Once in, they enjoyed everything from disco to Hi NRG [high energy] as well as “classic oldies” playing in between to switch up the tempo. The music was delivered by Mark Lees, a 63-year-old who now lives in Wallasey.
The former DJ, who worked at the venue between 1978 - 1986, explained how everyone “was most welcomed because we all knew what the outside world was like for the gay community, constantly looking over your shoulder”. The retired bingo caller said that after someone’s first visit, they would become hooked and make the club “their regular haunt”.
He said: “The Masquerade was only one of a handful of gay clubs around that time but it was the most popular. A great atmosphere with regular members who packed it out on Fridays and Saturdays. We always had a marvellous time as most gay people believed that they were the only ones out there in the world until they found the likes of The Masquerade where they could enjoy themselves for a few hours a week and be who they wanted to be.”
Mark, who also acted as the club’s manager and licensee for a period of time, remembers catching the faces of Paul O’Grady, Holly Johnson and Julie Goodyear through the midst of the smoke dancing the night away.
For the likes of local LGBT+ historian, John Harrison, The Mazzie was a vital safe space during a turbulent time to be a member of the community, welcoming “all walks of life and different backgrounds”. John, who is originally from Dingle but now lives in Aigburth, emphasised that while it was safer to be inside the club than out of it, it doesn’t mean the thought of the outside world creeping in didn’t play on his mind whilst he was there.
He said: “It was a really difficult time to be gay. Homophobia was rife and it was made worst when the AIDS crisis of the 80s began. A lot of us were shunned for being gay even by our families. When I used to drink in other ‘straight bars’, once you had finished with the drink they would smash the glass because of the fear of catching AIDS. We were going through things psychologically with having to watch our friends die and worrying that we had AIDS ourselves.”
At the time, the gay scene “wasn’t that big”, according to John. He said it was made up of a couple of hundred people, which is nothing in comparison to Liverpool’s LGBTQ+ community today. Due to fear, he and his friends would travel in groups to and from The Masquerade “running from the previous bar” in the hope they would avoid “any trouble”.
He added: “It was one of the very places for the community to go to. It was like a form of escapism. We always asked for David Bowie, had a laugh and danced but then every couple of months you would be scared of it getting raided. Thankfully, I still have the friends to this day I met at The Mazzie. It was a very friendly atmosphere and that’s probably because we all knew each other because there weren’t that many of us who were out.”
Despite being over 40 years ago, John still has vivid memories of the place - especially of the co-owner, Harry, who would swirl around the premises with a tray of "stale" sandwiches. John said the night wouldn't have been complete without Harry talking through one side of his mouth and offering you a spam or cheese sandwich.
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