Growing up in Crewe I've always been fascinated by one particular place. On the corner of hightown and St Mary's street stands once a thrilling nightclub that has bit the abandoned bug. The limelight is yet another abandoned place within Crewe that has gained quite a bad reputation due to acts of vandalism and several unfortunate tragedies. Stuck in time, the limelight closed in December in 2009 and ever since has left a permanent mark on crewe.
History:
Built in 1869, Crewe limelight didn't start off as a local club, but as a church. The church was built next to several a-joining houses and a small, triangular school room. The church hasn't been well documented but there are some very old pictures on the place back in the early 1900's. In the 1960's the church was closed so that a brand new church would open on St Mary's street (just down the road). Until the late 1970's or early 1980's the church building was bought and converted into a snooker club. For some reason, the snooker club closed in 1991 and until 3 years later the limelight was born.
In April of 1994, Ray Bispham bought the once snooker club and converted into a 3 floor nightclub. The limelight houses a main floor, second floor and a basement. The main floor was the known as the "pub" mainly due to having a large oak wood bar, and contained snooker tables, games machines and red setae's. Back in the day the walls were painted orange with wooden skirting boards but later would painted pink with purple skirting boards. Leading up into the second floor, visitors were greeted with an enormous room. the second floor was known at the time as "rafters" which was coined by Ray. This was because of the large steel rafts that held up the ceiling. rafters held a dance floor, more snooker tables, two toilets and additional seating. Rafters was iconic for the limelight due to having the four enormous windows that could be seen from the front of the building. And finally , the basement contained the stage in which would allow tribute bands to perform, a DJ booth and a large dance floor. All this made up the limelight. In 2007, the BBC filmed a documentary for BBC arena called into the limelight which showed tribute bands ABCD, stairway to zeppelin, are you experienced ? And limehouse Lizzy. even ray made an appearance.
In 2007 as well, shortly after filming Ray sold the limelight after wanting to get away from work as well as a lot of stress that loomed over him as he ran the joint. a buyer was selected and the limelight was re-opened. The limelight was given a brand new look with pink and purple walls and a electric black sign. The club did even better than before and even brought new visitors to crewe to see the tribute bands. However, this came to a sudden holt as the club fell into financial difficulties and closed in December of 2009.
Today (2018)
now we are in 2018, and its been 9 years since the iconic club has closed. Since its closure the limelight has been destroyed by local kids and scrappers who managed to destroy many windows and entrances. Today, there is only one entrance that I have personally seen but I cannot tell where it is. ( personally I hate it when kids break in and destroy such amazing places) in 2014 the main entrance was replaced with two wooden cabinet's that today is a wooden board. Sadly in 2015 a fire started in main floor, completely destroying the main bar and games room, as well that year a body of a man was discovered hanging in stage area of the nightclub. The police reveal this as a suicide. Today there is not much left of the poor place and its still stands vacant and abandoned.
History:
Built in 1869, Crewe limelight didn't start off as a local club, but as a church. The church was built next to several a-joining houses and a small, triangular school room. The church hasn't been well documented but there are some very old pictures on the place back in the early 1900's. In the 1960's the church was closed so that a brand new church would open on St Mary's street (just down the road). Until the late 1970's or early 1980's the church building was bought and converted into a snooker club. For some reason, the snooker club closed in 1991 and until 3 years later the limelight was born.
In April of 1994, Ray Bispham bought the once snooker club and converted into a 3 floor nightclub. The limelight houses a main floor, second floor and a basement. The main floor was the known as the "pub" mainly due to having a large oak wood bar, and contained snooker tables, games machines and red setae's. Back in the day the walls were painted orange with wooden skirting boards but later would painted pink with purple skirting boards. Leading up into the second floor, visitors were greeted with an enormous room. the second floor was known at the time as "rafters" which was coined by Ray. This was because of the large steel rafts that held up the ceiling. rafters held a dance floor, more snooker tables, two toilets and additional seating. Rafters was iconic for the limelight due to having the four enormous windows that could be seen from the front of the building. And finally , the basement contained the stage in which would allow tribute bands to perform, a DJ booth and a large dance floor. All this made up the limelight. In 2007, the BBC filmed a documentary for BBC arena called into the limelight which showed tribute bands ABCD, stairway to zeppelin, are you experienced ? And limehouse Lizzy. even ray made an appearance.
In 2007 as well, shortly after filming Ray sold the limelight after wanting to get away from work as well as a lot of stress that loomed over him as he ran the joint. a buyer was selected and the limelight was re-opened. The limelight was given a brand new look with pink and purple walls and a electric black sign. The club did even better than before and even brought new visitors to crewe to see the tribute bands. However, this came to a sudden holt as the club fell into financial difficulties and closed in December of 2009.
Today (2018)
now we are in 2018, and its been 9 years since the iconic club has closed. Since its closure the limelight has been destroyed by local kids and scrappers who managed to destroy many windows and entrances. Today, there is only one entrance that I have personally seen but I cannot tell where it is. ( personally I hate it when kids break in and destroy such amazing places) in 2014 the main entrance was replaced with two wooden cabinet's that today is a wooden board. Sadly in 2015 a fire started in main floor, completely destroying the main bar and games room, as well that year a body of a man was discovered hanging in stage area of the nightclub. The police reveal this as a suicide. Today there is not much left of the poor place and its still stands vacant and abandoned.
Last edited by a moderator:
