The End

The End

controlling interest

The END is nigh

features, January 2009, COMMENTS

As legendary London club The End prepares to close, owner Layo Paskin and managers Liam O’Hare and Ty Vigrass speak to Rachel Esson, reflecting on the best and worst moments of its 13-year history.

At the beginning of The End, when a fresh-faced Layo Paskin glanced around in horror at the fallout of the club’s opening night, he could not imagine that it would ever open again, yet alone go on to become one of London’s most influential and long-standing clubs. “At the end of the night it looked beautiful, but it looked ruined. I never believed that it could be cleaned, or look even vaguely like it once looked, so I was absolutely devastated,” he remembers. “It was so stressful, I was so young and it was so overpowering for me.” Ty Vigrass, general manager of The End’s sister venue AKA, laughs: “The amount of booze that we threw out over the bar that night was absolutely ridiculous. By the end it was swimming in broken glass and booze, and Layo’s Dad was pulling his hair out!”

Now, 13 years later, a 38-year-old Layo, of internationally-acclaimed DJ duo Layo and Bushwacka! cannot imagine life without The End. But sadly, like so many other London clubs of late, time has been called upon it. Although the offer proposed to The End was the best one they’d ever received financially, Layo insists money was not the sole incentive and that timing played a big part in the decision. “It’s partially a circumstantial decision, and partially a decision of choice,” he states. “We wanted to do something very unique – and we’ve done that. Even though the past few years have arguably been our most successful as a club and as a business, I don’t particularly believe that there’s anything more that we can achieve.” The club will throw its final farewell party on 25 January, before moving out and making way for a new office development. But back to the beginning, for now.

Although the chaos of the opening night clouds Layo’s memory of it, he can still recall the magic that he sensed for its future. “There was a moment when I turned the corner with my Dad and the building was lit up. We both looked at each other and we cried, because the feeling of having done it was the most amazing feeling.” Back then The End was very much a result of Layo’s leap of faith; a testament to what can be achieved by those young enough to be uninhibited by trepidation. Layo had been involved in running clubs since his teens during the nascent acid house scene of the late ‘80s. He went on to operate a night at university, through which he met his future business partner, DJ and rapper from experimental electronic music band Shamen, Mr C (aka Richard West). After leaving university, Layo moved to his father’s flat in London and did a stint at Muzik Magazine, but found himself lost for a career in the big city. Since his father was an architect, he asked him to look out for any buildings that may be suitable for a warehouse party.

When Layo’s father, Douglas Paskin, eventually led him down underground into the maze of brickwork and tunnels of the former stables to the Royal Mail’s horses – where The End resides today – a more sceptical pair of eyes would probably not have envisaged it could become a world-renowned superclub. Both Layo and Ty use the words “total mess” to describe their first impressions of the site. Says Layo: “You could see all the horse troughs and it was all dripping with water, but I just knew in my head that I had to make it happen.” Youthful whim may well have played a huge part in the beginning of The End, but the venue also possessed the timely components of a winning formula for Layo – it was on its own street, it was steeped in history, and more importantly, Mr C also shared his vision and agreed to put forward the £50,000 deposit on the lease.

Douglas also jumped in on the project, offering up his skills as an architect and designer. Eighteen months later, The End was born. Speaking to Disco Mirror Magazine (now NIGHT Magazine) in February 1996, Douglas commented: “Various structural alterations were required, such as lowering the floor by two metres to create extra volume. Because we knew the lighting would be subdued, everything within the design had to be very sharp and clean, hence we used a lot of stainless steel, glass, cold cathode lighting and bright colours.” The club was a beacon for forward-thinking nightlife at the time, and a huge departure from the relatively unsafe and unsupervised warehouse raves that were prevalent in the city. The End put the customer experience at the forefront for the first time; the club had a custom-made Thunder Ridge sound system by Shamen engineer Phil Lowther’s company Sonix Audio, a state-of-the-art climate control system, a uniquely flexible lighting scheme by The Spot Co’s Andy Walton and a proliferation of drinking fountains. The 30k sound system was a thumping combination of Thunder Ridge SB6 sub bass and XPS mid/high enclosures driven through PSL VP series amplifiers. Although new five-way crossover technology was installed in 2000, the sound system has remained relatively unchanged throughout its entire lifespan, as has the club’s two loyal sound engineers Gaz Hughes and Gidian Langford, whom Liam feels “privileged” to have worked with. Operations manager Liam O’Hare comments: “We made a very bold statement by putting the DJ booth in the middle of the room and the sound system set us apart from everybody else in terms of the technology that was available. Even now I get a visceral thrill when I’m in the room at the right time and the frequencies are all right - and that bought us a very loyal following.”

Ty cites the club’s friendly, close-knit vibe as being another factor that made them a favourable slot for not only the customers, but also the DJs. “From day one we put our heart and souls into everything we do and I really think it comes across. The DJs and promoters that come and do events here can see it and they feed off our enthusiasm and, in turn, give it to the customers,” he says. “I think The End and AKA have always been one of those venues that DJs and promoters really like because we’ve been around for such a long time and they know me and Liam, and obviously Layo and Zoe, and they can come down here and let their hair down.”

Some of the biggest names in DJ talent have called The End their spiritual home over the years, many getting their big break at the venue and going on to tour the world, but always coming back to host some memorable parties. Yet another secret to The End’s esteemed reputation over the years is its commitment to intelligent programming and its ability to spot and nurture up and coming talent. As a result, The End became a breeding ground for future heroes, holding a beacon for the music industry. For DJs like Roni Size, Fatboy Slim, Erol Alkan, and Layo & Bushwacka! The End played a pivotal role in the explosion of their careers, and Layo names Laurent Garnier and Andy C as real ambassadors for the venue. Liam says: “We’ve always struck a balance of promoting the good talent that we’re really passionate about like Andy C, Grooverider, Layo & Bushwacka! and Erol Alkan, because they get bums on seats, but it’s also important to assimilate in the programming new talent. New talent gets better when they play in front of more people and we’ve always been able to develop in that way, promoting them, not The End.”

The End has always steered away from the commercial route, instead opting for a variety of different nights, genres and new sounds, which has attracted fresh people up through the clubbing ranks throughout its career. This is an ethos that Layo and Mr C adopted from the outset, working hard to stand by their ambition to bring through new electronic music that was bubbling under the surface in the late ‘80s. The club grew up with drum ‘n’ bass, pioneering the genre’s first all-nighter with ‘Speed’, developed with big beat via people like Skint’s Fatboy Slim and pioneered the first all night techno raves in the West End. Remembers Layo: “As well as being out there with a lot of risk, we caught the zeitgeist of a very good creative moment and really capitalised on it. We knew who we liked, which was quite narrow, but it was enough to get us started and I think because of our policy and because we were young and keen, people came to us.” Over the years, gay night D.T.P.M, garage night Twice As Nice, tech house session Subterrain, indie/dance club name Trash and Bugged Out! have all brought different influences and crowds to The End. Layo approached Johnno from Bugged Out! in the summer of 2002, which led to The End becoming the club night’s longest running residency in its 15-year history. Some of Johnno’s most memorable moments include Mylo playing live on its 10th birthday, Erol Alkan's residency in the lounge from 2002-2006, and JoJo De Freq's late night sets. Johnno gives his impressions of the club: “It was always a club I'd had my eye on for Bugged Out! Its island DJ booth, awesome sound and great staff all lend to the intimate party atmosphere it creates. It will be a real shame when we have to leave, as we have made some good friends there.”

As the interviews with The End’s personalities unravel, it is clear that to relate the story of the club is to relate the story of its people. Both Liam and Ty have been part of The End’s fabric since its inception; building from day one a club that demonstrates unrivalled commitment to the highest levels of operation and best practice – one of the secrets of its longevity. Says Layo: “I think to this day we’ve not exploited the public, we’ve always tried to make it as fair as we possibly can here, whether it’s pricing, or the way it’s run. We don’t believe in doing things unless we can do it in a good way and I think the public love that about us without knowing that’s why they love it.” With a background in running squat parties and a gastro bar, Liam joined The End as bar manager, but was promoted to general manager a month later. He says: “When I heard that Mr C was opening a state-of-the-art nightclub by clubbers for clubbers I was very much inspired by that ethos. I was a sprightly 27 and Layo was 23, we were way too young to be doing what we were doing at that time, but I thought it was part of something coming through that was really good.”

In the early ‘90s, there were limited facilities that were available to young clubbers. “If you wanted the underground edge you had to go to the underground squat and warehouse parties. They had a certain element of excitement, but if you scratched underneath the surface, they were unlicensed – not governed by rules like capacity, lighting, or comfort. Nightclubs weren’t very good for clubbers either,” Liam continues. “There was over-the-top security, a lot of violence and the sound systems weren’t very good.” So when The End came along, offering a high end club package with a customer friendly security team that were handpicked and hand-trained, a state-of-the-art sound and lighting system, and premium spirits and champagnes, to a public that weren’t used to being treated very well, Liam couldn’t wait to get involved.

Ty was interviewed by Liam to become bartender and later went on to run The End’s sister venue AKA, which opened in July 1998 and broke new ground in London by pioneering the concept of a late night DJ-led bar and restaurant concept. The idea of a stylish West End bar that served cocktails and had a high end restaurant, yet had cutting-edge line-ups and no dress code, was totally new to the pub-going/club-going nation. Ty says: “AKA has really transformed from its early days; when AKA was first born out of the success of The End, we opened more as a cocktail bar and a fine dining restaurant, but partly because of our location that didn’t really work and over the years it has progressed into a late night DJ bar.” Its location meant the turnover during the day for lunch and dinner was not high enough to sustain it. The food offering progressed from fine dining, to Pan Asian sushi and is now predominantly pizzas. Layo adds: “The trouble was that we were getting really good reviews, but people who wanted to go to the restaurant didn’t really want to be next to a nightclub.” Top quality chefs were replaced by top quality DJs and AKA continued to attract a discerning clientele through its unique drinks offer, stocking many speciality spirits from across the world, as well as a bespoke brewed AKA Appleton rum.

Layo’s sister Zoe returned home in 1998 from where she was living in Barcelona to help Layo launch the restaurant in AKA. She came with the intention of helping out for six weeks, but like so many others, was enticed by the venue’s magic and ended up staying for 10 years. Thus The End grew organically into a family-run business. Says Layo: “We opened AKA which was running before we could even crawl and that added to the stress for me. I needed someone I could trust and someone who had the ability to be honest with me, and Zoe had been the manager of a restaurant before.” Phenomenally the club has retained the majority of its employees throughout its 13-year reign, including its loyal security team from Hill Security, headed by Victor Brown. Zoe says of the team: “All of us in our different ways contribute to what The End is, but I can’t really picture The End without the core people that manage it. They really define the place, the environment, the ethos, the mood of working here, which then infiltrates into the whole culture and the creativity of what we do.” The team is so integral to the club itself, that for Zoe and the others, handing the The End over to a new group of operators just wasn’t an option. “I just couldn’t picture replacing any of us – not in an arrogant way, but I couldn’t see how you’d bring other people in and it still be The End as we know it,” explains Zoe.

Although chance saw The End become a family-run business, the Paskins feel privileged to have become so close because of it. I ask Layo how his father reacted to the seedier side of underground clubbing, he replies: “My Dad is very much a product of the ‘60s, so he was involved with all the craziness at the end of the decade. He has quite an open mind and he’s an architect, which is an artistic profession, so he was always quite bohemian and I never felt pressure from him in that way.” His relationship with his sister too never really suffered from the strains of working in such a high pressured environment. “My sister and I had very few arguments over the years, considering we worked next door to each other. I think it’s been good for us and we’re very close, I mean we were anyway, but it’s brought us together,” he says.

Even from outside the family nucleus, the rest of the team are of the opinion that the passion and enthusiasm of the Paskins has formed the well-oiled machine that drives the success of The End and AKA. Liam comments: “I have very much enjoyed working with Layo, Zoe and Douglas all for very different reasons. They’re all very, very bright and passionate, which has certainly helped me drive our team forward because when that energy and passion is worn on the sleeve it’s very infectious and even during the tough times we’ve always been able to grit it by with each other.” And The End has not been without its fair share of tough times. The club shared teething problems regarding the smoking ban and the Licensing Act 2003 along with the rest of the UK, but the club managed to muddle along to accommodate these regulations. The change in opening hours actually benefited the originality of AKA’s, and The End’s, offering. Being granted unrestricted trading meant the two rooms could capitalise on its cosmopolitan and international crowd by serving drinks throughout the night. The End gained an extra six-eight trading hours with around 1,000 people in the venue, giving rise to AKA’s revered Sunday after-hours party Jaded.

But the catalyst for the most damaging period in The End’s history, filled with many a sleepless night for all, was the dual opening of Fabric and Home in the same week in October 1999. Liam explains: “We very much felt the squeeze because at the time we were using promoters heavily and these promoters left us. We were also doing Ibiza, festivals, the record label and the DJ agency, so we were spread thin. All of a sudden we went from being the golden child in London to having very stiff competition, which forced us to really look at ourselves, re-focus and concentrate on our core business.” Although initially a “total and utter nightmare” in Layo’s eyes at the time, in hindsight he believes it was a positive influence. He says: “We were disorganised, we had opened AKA a year ago, and we were financially not strong. Fabric had a similar music policy to us so it created competition, which in the short term was a nightmare, but in the long run was brilliant for both venues because it meant that we both had to be really good and it opened up a bigger market in a cooler music area.” The End reacted to the blow by reducing its reliance on external promoters and taking 90% of its programming in house. This move led to the development of nights like Twice As Nice, which exploded the UK Garage scene across the country. It was at this time that Liam discovered Erol Alkan in basement bar, The Annex, in the West End. He recalls the moment: “I’d been there with the owner Eric Yu in 2000 and he said he was closing in August, so a couple of months before I went to see what bones I could pick. I found a little DJ called Erol playing there on a Monday night with a very cool crowd of young kids and we moved him to The End. He went on five years later to be playing on a Monday night to about 800 people.” And the rest is history. With a renewed focus on the in house promotions, up and coming talent, and the letting go of Ibiza and the record label, The End became a stronger, more formidable business.

Shortly before the closing parties, Layo, Liam and Ty have mixed feelings about the end of The End. Says Layo: “I’ve taken a lot of time off from DJing in December and January to be here as much as possible because my feeling is that it won’t happen for me in one night - the feeling of magic - it’ll happen when I’m not expecting it, and if I pin it all on the closing I’ll end up being disappointed.” In 2009, Layo plans to focus on recording for Layo and Bushwacka! and take some time out.

For Liam, the closing parties coincide with his thirteenth anniversary at The End. Filled with nostalgia, he remembers his favourite moments; seeing David Beckham DJing “very, very badly”, meeting Prince, and winning the BEDA Award for ‘UK Club’ the first year they opened – “there’s too many to mention”. He says: “It’s very exciting tinged with a bit of anxiety about what’s out there after January - we’re all pretty institutionalised here! We’ve been through so much adversity with each other, we nearly went to the wall during our third year when we were at our lowest and we really had to dig very deep. We thought more of each other from that adversity and we pulled ourselves up from mountainous debt when a lot of times it would have been easier just to go!” Liam will spend some time with his family this year, including his wife who he met at The End, while looking for a new executive role within the industry and dedicating some time to his role on the Noctis committee.

Ty reflects: “When it started I was working for the trendiest and newest club in London. I was 22 back then and anything could have happened, I could have buggered off and gone travelling for six months, but I didn’t, I chose to stay and it’s slowly changed into a career and a job that I thought was for life, but it’s not to be come January.” Ty is looking forward to a much-needed break from the scene and from the daily grind of working with inebriated people. After some potential travels, he plans to use the skills he’s acquired at The End and AKA to open his own bar or pub, or become a brand ambassador.

As for the future of The End, the management team are not looking much further than their aim to leave on a high. But a few one-off parties will no doubt keep the candle burning for its cross-generation fans. Layo reveals: “I think The End will continue to do some special one-off parties, but not every single weekend. We may come together to do these parties, but who knows, things change, a year is a long time.” For now the team is happy to dwell on the past, taking stock of the last 13 years and waiting to see if the barrage of hedonistic parties and hard graft catch up with them. As Layo said, the feeling probably won’t happen in one night, but over time, the curtain will slowly fall on the end of The End.

Words: Rachel Esson

From: January 2009

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