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Legendary King’s Cross funhouse Bagley’s is being celebrated with a two-day outdoor party this weekend, thrown by elegant listening bar Spiritland. While the event – punnily called ‘Bagelys’ – won’t recreate the six-room squat-messiness of Bagley’s or the glory of staggering out into the sunrise on York Way, it will offer carbalicious treats alongside eight hours of quality underground house music. A sweet selection of DJs from different generations of UK clubbing – such as Mike Pickering, Dan Beaumont, Trevor Jackson and Jeremy Healy – will be playing one-hour sets alongside tables heaving with 20,000 salt beef and salmon bagels.
For those unfamiliar with the ’90s club, Bagley’s was a clubbing mecca. Pre-redevelopment King’s Cross was a warren of disused Victorian warehouses, and redundant railway arches: ideal for promoters and punters feeling the wrath of the 1994 Criminal Justice Act, which effectively shut down the illegal rave scene. Bagley’s (later renamed Canvas), The Cross and The Key made King’s Cross home – taking advantage of the area’s relaxed approach to sound levels, and ravers followed in their droves, packing whistles and horns for mud-wrestling antics, happy hardcore fun and jump-up jungle raves. These clubs had all closed by 2008 as the area was drastically remapped. Their former home – Coal Drops Yard – is now only months away from reopening as a boutique shopping centre.
So pull out your dusty whistles and pay tribute to a glorious moment in London’s nightlife history with a weekend of beats and bagels that, depending on your appetite, still leaves plenty of time to hit up some clubs.
Bagelys takes place at West Handyside Canopy, King’s Cross from Sat Jun 17-Sun Jun 18, noon-8pm.
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