Turnmills

Turnmills was a nightclub in Clerkenwell, central London, built inside a Victorian warehouse on the corner of Turnmill Street and Clerkenwell Road. The building dated back to 1886, when it was used as a warehouse and stables for the Great Northern Railway Company before later serving as storage for Booth's Dry Gin.

In 1985 John Newman took on the lease and opened a bar and restaurant on the site. The venture evolved into a nightclub around 1990, and that same year Turnmills became the first venue in the UK to be granted a 24-hour dance and alcohol licence, a move that helped push London clubbing towards all-night opening. The first club night to take off there was Xanadu, run by promoters Robert Pereno and Laurence Malice, who went on to found Trade at the venue once the all-night licence was secured.

Trade became one of the best-known names associated with the building, running as Britain's first legal after-hours gay club night and drawing dancers through to Sunday afternoon on a diet of hard house and techno. Alongside it, Friday nights belonged to The Gallery, a long-running progressive house and trance night that booked residents and guests including Tall Paul, Judge Jules, Sister Bliss and visiting names such as Paul van Dyk and Armin van Buuren over its near-thirteen-year run. Other nights held at various points included Twister, The Well, Essence and Beautiful Friends, reflecting a programme that moved across house, trance, hard dance and techno through the 1990s and 2000s.

For much of its life Turnmills had a reputation as a warren-like basement space near Farringdon station, a short walk from Fabric, known for its late hours as much as any single sound. It became a fixture of London's gay clubbing scene through Trade while also hosting mainstream dance nights, giving it a broad place in the city's club culture rather than a single defining genre.

The club closed on 24 March 2008 after its lease expired and the landlord pressed ahead with redevelopment plans, with closing weekend line-ups including Judge Jules, The Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim. The Victorian building was later demolished, and after planning objections failed to save it, a six-storey office block named Turnmill was built on the site, completed in the mid-2010s.