The Salon Bal, a dance hall that opened in 1926 on Green Lanes in Harringay, evolved from a Jazz Age venue into Bolts, one of London's first major gay nightclubs, where George Michael was a regular and Take That reportedly got their start.
Early Years and a Fire
The venue opened at the peak of the Jazz Age, with a first-night appearance by celebrity pianist Billy Mayerl and his Billy Mayerl Salon Syncopators. It became a well-known high street dance hall and was highlighted in Harry Francis's authoritative History of British Jazz as a notable London dance venue.
In 1932, a fire in the Woolworth store beneath the dance hall spread quickly, completely burning out the premises as crowds, many in their night clothes, watched from Green Lanes. The venue was profitable enough to be refurbished, and by 1934 the music press reported that "good business" had resumed.
Post-War Jazz and Community
After the war, the venue continued to thrive and was sold to new owners in 1956. Soon after, a young Ronnie Scott made an early appearance there as part of a band led by drummer Dave Davies. The Harringay Jazz Club also offered more traditional jazz from its base there before transferring to the Manor House Tavern as the Downbeat Club.
The Salon acted as a community hub, hosting community dances and a school of dancing. A Harringay resident, Stephen Holliday, shared memories of his childhood in the late 1940s and early '50s: "Above the shops was the Salon Bal ballroom. My mother loved dancing; as my father worked the late shift at the Post Office, I was taken to dances organised by a woman she knew, running around with other children and invited to take part in the Oki-Koki and the Conga. The band, run by Charlie, consisted of a large number of banjos. On a good evening, they were not bad!"
The Birth of Bolts
After a short life as the Melody Ballroom in the 1960s, the dance hall was bought by a former Turkish policeman from Cyprus by 1970 and renamed the International Palace, referring to music from Turkey, Greece, Beirut, and England. Ten years later, it was home to Lasers night club.
In 1981, a young Greek entrepreneur, Nicky Price, launched the UK's first gay one-nighters in straight clubs. Called 'Bolts', it was one of three huge new gay nightclubs that opened in London in the late '70s and early '80s, bringing gay nightlife out of pubs with small dance floors. Bolts became a launchpad for Eighties pop names, with George Michael a regular and Take That reportedly getting their start there.
During Price's early years, virtually every Hi NRG/Disco Star made an appearance, including Gloria Gaynor, Divine, and Hazell Dean. Local resident Michael Anderson remembers a 1982 Wham! set at the club: "They were miming, so I assumed it was one of their first appearances." At the height of its popularity, a free 'Bolts Bus' ferried people to Harringay from outside the Black Cap, a gay pub in Camden Town.
Anderson was struck by how democratic the club was, recalling chatting to an MP, a senior civil servant at the Home Office, a police officer, and the singer Miquel Brown. In the late '80s, amidst the AIDS hysteria, the club closed down. Although it reopened a few years later and ran in various guises until 2010, its glory days were behind it, and the premises was converted for use as a gym.
