Blackburn town centre has a new nightclub. Switch is its name and it could be one of the final pieces in this jigsaw of improvements to our town centre’s pub and club scene.
I first went in an earlier incarnation of this club as a 16 year old. It was known as the Mecca and was the venue for my student freshman’s ball. Most 16 year olds looked older back in those 1970’s days. But not me, I looked like a street urchin out of Oliver Twist. Amazingly, I still managed to get served that night. Those three pints of bitter finished me off. Fortunately my sobriety had recovered enough by the time I got home, enabling me to sneak off to bed without disturbing my parents.
At the time, Blackburn’s Mecca, or to call it by its proper name, the Golden Palms, was one of a number of town centre nightclubs we had available when I first called in. This building was built in 1909 and started out as stables for the Old Bull pub. Its use changed to a skating rink a couple of years later. It then became the Olympia Theatre for ten years, before being converted to a cinema, though still keeping its Olympia name. This closed down in 1957. Mecca then bought it two years later to turn it into a dance hall and it became the Locarno Ballroom.
Many of us will have stories to tell about the Mecca under its various different guises. But now we have a brand new nightclub known as Switch. It has all of today’s latest technology on offer and should help fill a generation gap which has emerged in Blackburn town centre over these last few years. Daytime drinking seems to have become the norm down town, but there looks to be a demand out there from younger people who want to have a good time at night.
Security is a big issue with nightclubs and Switch is determined it won’t become a 3D nightclub. It has put measures in place to prevent Drugs, Drunkenness and Disorder taking place. Over the years this place, like our town centre, has had its ups and downs, but always seems to come back again. Hopefully this tenacity can bring it success and reflect the good work going on in Blackburn town centre and its continuing pub, club and nightlife rejuvenation.