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Small hurdles left in clubbing mural plan, say DJs

Alex McIntyre,West Midlandsand
Lee Blakeman,BBC Radio Stoke
Phil Johnson and Bob Leigh Two men, one with short grey hair and the other wearing a grey hat, smile as one takes a selfie of them. A blue plaque with "The Antelope" on it is mounted on a wall behind them.Phil Johnson and Bob Leigh
DJs Phil Johnson and Bob Leigh said they have raised the £11,000 needed for the mural

Two former DJs who aim to create a mural honouring a city's clubbing heritage say they only have "small hurdles" to overcome after raising the money they need for the project.

Phil Johnson and Bob Leigh announced their plans to install a 5m (16ft) by 25m (82ft) artwork in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, in January.

Their aim was to pay tribute to the city's venues and its DJs, with the mural potentially featuring a timeline running from the 1960s to the present day.

The pair confirmed they have since raised the £11,000 needed and have chosen an artist, as well as a location.

"It will bring a lot of people into town to come and see it, we just need to get over these small hurdles we've got at the minute," Leigh told BBC Radio Stoke.

He said one of the main issue was the fact Hanley town centre was a conservation area, meaning planning permission would be more difficult to get.

R00 A man with greying dreadlocks and beard, and wearing sunglasses, smiles at the camera. He is sitting in a room with pictures on the white wall and a pink door behind him.R00
MC Ragga pioneered early rave nights in Stoke-on-Trent in the late 1980s

The duo said they had enlisted artist Tom Edwards, who has designed other murals in the city, and the artwork would be installed at the Victoria Lounge bar.

On the support from the public, Johnson said: "It's been incredible. We've got 600 members on the Facebook group and they all want to nominate their favourite DJs and favourite clubs.

"It's going to be hard to accommodate them all, it'll be impossible. Everyone would be the size of a postage stamp."

Well-known Stoke-on-Trent DJs include artists like MC Ragga, who was instrumental in the early days of rave back in the late 80s and was a regular in clubs like Entropy in Longton.

'Everyone is waiting'

The city was also home to The Place – believed to be the UK's first discotheque – which opened in Hanley in 1963.

Other notable venues included Shelleys Lazerdome, Club Kinetic, The Antelope and Valentino's.

Leigh said an independent committee would vote on which clubs and DJs featured on the mural, adding that choosing the musicians was "where it gets tricky".

"Everybody is waiting for it," he added. "I think on the day it is finished we might have a party across the road."

Last year, Leigh and Johnson put up a series of unofficial blue plaques marking where former venues once stood and hosted tours to visit them.

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