Firetop

Bagleys nightclub in Kings Cross has transformed itself into a Roller Disco, and not a cheesy one either. On Thursday night £10 gets you entry and skate hire, taking you into the first room to swap your shoes and skate to some funky disco music. The last (and only) time I went Roller Skating was in Welwyn Garden City on a date with Helen Brown… aged 13 - and I had to take my yonger sister along (weird). That place was a bit cheesy, Bagleys Roller Disco however is basically nightclubbing on wheels. The bouncers search you on the way in but ‘checking for food or water’ apparently, I did ask if people taking drugs and skating was a major problem but was told by ‘the big guy’ that ‘it’s just food that is’.

There were quite clearly some real ‘professionals’ at Bagleys, guys and gals in all the right skating gear taking it very seriously, hopping around, back flipping and swinging each other around on their hips “look no hands”. Very intimidating if you’re 6ft 5″ and have trouble even standing up straight on wheels, even worse when the large group of work colleagues you’ve attended with can all rollerskate perfectly. I say ‘perfectly’ but there were one or two embarassing pile ups…

At least they were skating though, I was pretty much sitting on the Bagleys sofas or drinking Jack Daniels at the bar whilst listening to the DJ’s tunes in the ‘house and garage’ room. Whilst sitting down I spotted what looked like Bob Carolgees (right) but no sign of ‘Spit the dog’ of course as Bob auctioned him off in 2004. Looking like Bob or Roller Girl is encouraged so I suppose it could have been anybody. My biggest challenge was always skating into the gents and managing to stay upright whilst pointing Percy at the porcelain.

Bagleys have made some improvements to their fittings to accommodate the roller skating (the last time I went clubbing there in 2002 it was just a basic warehouse with music), plenty of things to grab hold of and stewards manage the flow of traffic, helping amateur idiots like me up and down ramps between rooms. The ‘no liability’ disclaimers were a bit worrying but I suppose there can be no accounting for the next Ecstacy Fuelled Frank Spencer launching himself into a light fitting.

Bookmark to: