Saturday the 31st of October marked the end of a special era in Weston. Hobbits, the most homely and friendly nightclub I have ever had the joy to enter, closed for the final time.

It was back in 1995 that myself and a few college mates first popped into the Richmond Street original place (where Liquid Lounge is now, interestingly the former home for the reception office of the transatlantic cable) and got used to the small club, legendary sticky floor and dim lighting. Sounds awful but that was exactly what made it great. Saturday nights were always packed so you had no choice but to meet new people as you brushed up against them in the queue for the bar or to request a song from the DJ (ah the days of Born Slippy, Alanis Morrisette, The Fugees). I spent my 18th birthday in there, mostly so drunk I was sat on the dancefloor trying to get the music out of my head, but it was still brilliant.

At one point we were in there EVERY night it was open (all week save for Monday I think) and it would just be a few of us, dancing like loons to old Britpop numbers. It still felt like home after the few months I didn’t go there during 1999 and the last time I went through those doors and up those stairs back in 2001, two weeks before it closed, it was still home. The music was still great, the people still friendly, the trouble that infested other clubs rare if at all apparent.

So then I was introduced to the new Hobbits thanks to Sexy Dave. I was so fed up of places like Time and Voltz but didn’t know anyone who went to Hobbits anymore. Thankfully Mr Matthews did and one night I appeared, he made me welcome, introduced me to a lot of people and suddenly I was home again. I belonged somewhere.  I wasn’t constantly looking over my shoulder wondering which tracksuited buffoon would wonder if I was looking at his badly tanned, underdressed, whore first. I could dance, drink and be merry among a group of people who were genuinely nice. Was fun to be popular for a bit too.

And now it has ended. Saturday night was great. I have never stayed so late in a club and I was so tired I just missed the last few minutes but I was there for the last time… and it will never be the same. I am glad I have so many photos over the past few years that I didn’t have from the first club, it will be a lasting memory to an important era in my life and so I would like to say thank you… to Hobbits, to that dance floor which I often covered in beer whilst swinging around madly, to that bar where I stood and waved money in return for strong liquer which I saw again later, to those badly lit toilets and doing my eye liner in the reflection in the sink, to the VIG area pre-refurb and watching bad horror films and Saddam’s execution on TV, to the chairs where I stood with Dave and Andy Moss reviewing the people on the dance floor, to the stage which I helped pack away so I could get on with that dancing thing…

to Mark (keep getting better mate, you are doing a wonderful job and thanks for the bat SO much), Mark, Emma W, Helen, Mike, Dom, Magna, Derrik, Baz, Tony, Colin, Paul, Pete, Merv and all the staff who made the place like it was and to all the people I met, let me see how long I can make this list (and in no particular order)…

…Hwang, Chilli, Pouty and Stu, my Dear Brother – Paul, Christina and Rich, Mike and Harry, Ben D, Joe D, Joe A, Carl W, Rose B, , Angel, Jim, Emma D, Giles, Paul, Jade, Monkey, Sexy Dave, Marie, Dave V, Sam U, Beth L, Hally, Stacey, Justine, Kryssa, Andy M, Zoe, Craig, Charlie, Charmian, Chris R, Matt H, Ria, Andy, Kate B, Kate S, Sarah H and Mark P, Nat B and Rich, Russ and Robyn, Mel H, Miss Lily Rogers, Jamie L, Katie B, Mark H and Hannah C, Lemony, Caz, Justin, Matt, Brownie, Blondie (and all her friends), Mr Cheek,  Dory, Alex K, Bluey, Bugsy, Keith and Becca, Jon R, Colin, Kitten, Katie, Lil Oddy, Brem, Emma H, Emma D, Lexi, Danny H, James, Chris and Kate, Chris S, Terri and Terri, Gay Dan, Hannah, Baz, Sam S, Doc Robbins, Thongy, Kev, Dave C and Natalie, Adam W and Ginge, Lorna W, Claire ‘T’, Rachel W, Neil, Del, Flea and Claire, Lindsay T, Gem, Row, Nick, Lovechild, Bob G, Monkey Boy Jim, Seb, Neil, Dan R, Wayne, Sarah H, Stephage, Nay, Pugs and anyone I have missed…

… you all made those times when Hobbits could have been so like everywhere else, like NO WHERE ELSE.

Hobbits, you are not gone, merely closed until “tomorrow”.

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