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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Jess Molyneux

Liverpool city centre hotspot known for its disco and cabaret

A Liverpool city centre hotspot known for its disco and cabaret attracted members and clubbers for nearly 20 years

Located on Victoria Street, many will remember The SHE club being a city centre institution. Opening in 1971, it was owned by Tony and Mike Coburn, who also used to own the Continental and the Hippodrome.

Known for its disco and cabaret lounge, in its heyday, numerous Mersey groups and comedians appeared there. Boasting several floors of music, at one point the disco was said to be located in the basement, with the ground floor having live acts perform and a restaurant operating on the top floor.

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With a strict door policy, most who went there had to be members and other club owners and workers would often venture there after a shift. Back in 2001, the ECHO reported how film maker Colin McKeown was making a documentary of how the changes from the She Club to a new venue symbolised the city's "rebirth and vibrant prospects."

Pete Price was a regular comic and disc jockey in the old venue and together the pair returned to the site to reminisce. The article reads: "On this cellar floor, he paraded in white stockings, high-heeled shoes and hot-pants with a topaz ring over three fingers which was so heavy that his doctor advised him to stop wearing it, or he would get rheumatoid arthritis.

She Club, Victoria Street, Liverpool. October 12, 1978 (Trinity Mirror Copyright)

"Then he was young, learning that cabaret was tough. Those men in the audience only wanted to sweet talk the girls, as their bellies were swelled by lake-draining quantities of lager.

Now they are gutting this room where Pete prayed for laughter. "You know I was the only fella to leave the club at night without a woman," he said with a knowing smile.

Do you remember The She Club? Let us know in the comments section below.

On July 24, 1981, the ECHO reported how the club was celebrating a decade in business. The article reads: "Champagne corks will be popping at the She Club in Victoria Street tonight.

"They are ten years old today and will be offering a magnum of Most to the lucky person who can calculate how many hours the club has actually been open." At the time, a She spokesman said: "We're open six nights a week providing live cabaret from 9pm until 2 am."

But after almost reaching the 20 year milestone, the She Club on Victoria Street closed in 1989. However the club does live on in the memories of those who went and worked there, as well as rare old photos.

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Years after its closure, the site became The Living Room in the early noughties, which boasted a bar and restaurant on the ground floor, a club called Mosquito below and a secret VIP bar and club - Vampire - below that. The popular celebrity haunt closed its doors in 2014 - but it later got a new lease of life.

In 2016, the Liverpool venue became the first Sugar Hut to open outside Brentwood, Essex, where the original venue had shot to fame as a favourite on TOWIE. Launched by the late Mick Norcross and Terry Pullen, the blend of British dining room, cocktail lounge and two clubs in one place did see a number of locals and celebrities pass through its doors.

But a short time later, the Sugar Hut closed in 2018. The site is now home to restaurant Dash and XOXO nightclub

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