Sunderland's infamous Blue Monkey club became topic of conversation on an unlikely platform this week, when it was discussed on Ferne Cotton's Radio 2 show.
Former Top of the Pops host Ferne has carved out a very loyal audience for her Sounds of the 90s programmes, which give BBC listeners a trip down memory lane every week.
She has been joined by celebrity guests including Katie Piper and former Going Live presenters Phillip Schofield and Sarah Greene in recent weeks and it was on the show featuring the latter that the Blue Monkey got a mention.
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Ferne received a message from listener Richard who, while now based in Perth, Australia, went to university in Sunderland in the 90s.
Scouser Richard revealed he left home in Birkenhead to move to Sunderland as teenager for uni, telling her: "On a Thursday we could drink lager, bought from Max's Convenience Store before heading to The Blue Monkey nightclub."
Ferne reacted: "What a great name!"
The Blue Monkey, situated in an old bingo hall in Sunderland's Bedford Street, became a haven for ravers in the 90s, but was surrounded in controversy, being regularly raided by police and finding itself at the centre of a murder inquiry in January 1992.
It has since being replaced by a cinema and The New Monkey, which opened in a bingo hall in nearby Pallion in 1999, was packed out with clubbers for seven years, before closing in 2006.
Both clubs were the subject of a documentary produced by two University of Sunderland students in 2019.
Plans were announced for a massive New Monkey reunion night last year, with a date set down for May 23 2020 but, after the event attracted huge attention on Facebook, it was shelved due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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