A former local nightclub owner has published a new book about legendary New Brighton club Chelsea Reach.
Paul Chase was both manager and doorman at Chelsea Reach, and his new memoir, Chelsea Nights, tells the story of the iconic nightclub and its impact on Merseyside’s famous nightlife.
Mr Chase told Mersey News Live: “Chelsea Reach was the first pub disco outside of London”
Mr Chase added: “It first opened in 1971, I worked on the door there for the first two years it was open, then I went away and did other things, and I came back to manage it from 1979-85, and then again in the late 1990s.”
Opening in the early 1970s and running until 2001, The Chelsea Reach quickly became an epicentre for the rise of disco culture in the North of England.
Mr Chase said: “It wasn’t deep, it wasn’t something that would cause you to reflect, it was to get you up and dancing.”
Situated in New Brighton, the venue helped to shape nightlife and youth culture in Wirral and Merseyside.
Mr Chase said: “I bump into people who remember me and who remember the place and say ‘I met my future wife or future husband there; I got drunk there for the first time!’
“I would tell stories to people of things that have happened and people were saying to me, ‘well why don’t you write a book in which you put all of this down?’ so I’ve been writing over the course of the last couple of years.”
The club was owned by Chase’s family alongside ‘The King of Clubs’ Roy Adams- who was the last owner of The Cavern Club in its original location- and drew crowds from across the region.
Being at the forefront of the North’s disco revolution, the book celebrates the DJs who turned the club into a pulsating hub of sound, like Greg Wilson, Derek Kaye and Pez Tellet.
Chelsea Nights is available to buy on www.chelseanightsbook.co.uk.
@merseynewslive Paul Chase, former owner of the Chelsea Reach nightclub, has released his memoir of his time running the venue! https://chelseanightsbook.co.uk/ fyp merseyside wirral #nightlife
