The Fridge

Created/changed by: System

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Electric Brixton, Brixton, London SW2, UK

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N51° 27' 36.72" W0° 7' 0.84"   (51.4602, -0.1169) Start navigation »

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The Fridge was a nightclub in the Brixton area of South London, founded by Andrew Czezowski and Susan Carrington, who had run the Roxy during punk music's heyday in 1977. It was originally started in 1981, in a small club at 390 Brixton Rd, and in 1982 above Iceland in Brixton Road with a radical decor that included beat-up ice boxes and artificial dead cats hanging from its ceiling. Early guest DJs included Keith Barker-Main, later a lifestyle journalist and social commentator. It claims to have been the first British club to have such innovations as video screens and a chill out lounge. The Fridge was at the heart of the early 80s New Romantic movement, and booked such acts as Eurythmics and the Pet Shop Boys before they were well known and drew famous faces such as Boy George, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Magenta Devine, as well as Marc Almond and Grace Jones, who also performed there.
In 1984, as a result of increased popularity, the club moved to its final location: a converted 1913 cinema (The Palladium Picture House) formerly a roller-disco called the ACE on the Town Hall Parade. Joe Strummer from The Clash invested £5,000 in the new club. Andrew explains during an interview for 3:AM magazine, "what the club achieved since then -- its visuals laid the template for the rave scene, it's a look that's being copied across the world. There's been no recognition of course -- if a record is influential it's on vinyl for all to hear throughout history, but you can't really encapsulate a visual in the same way, people just take it for granted. Basically the look of modern-day clubs was started here in 1986."
In July 1985, Andrew and Susan launched their own Record Company, Latex Records. located at the Fridge. Yvette the Conqueror was the first artist signed to the label. The labels first release was a single by Yvette the Conqueror titled, "The Boys Were There," produced by Iain Williams (from the bands You, You, You and Big Bang (British band). Andrew and Susan also promoted many bands at the Fridge, one of which was the cult club-band, You, You, You, featuring club promoter Laurence Malice, Karen O'Connor and Iain Williams. The band performed a sell-out concert at the Fridge on 27 March 1987, at which Andrew had a huge white staircase built on the stage for the band to perform on. The show was filmed for Japanese television.
The Fridge also became famous for its Africa Centre nights, playing hip hop and funk hosted by UK group Soul II Soul. Since then it has hosted a variety of club nights most notably Daisy Chain (1987-1990) mostly dance music, trance and more recently mainly hard dance.
The Fridge closed on 17 March 2010 and has no link with Electric Brixton which now occupies the building. Electric Brixton opened in September 2011.

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