There’s little in terms of quality electronic music that Fabric London hasn’t championed in the last 20 years – from long-standing drum ’n’ bass club nights courtesy of Goldie and DJ Hype to marathon techno sets from Ricardo Villalobos. And throughout, residents Craig Richards and Terry Francis have helped the club maintain an immense reputation, which continues today. The venue – formally a cold store for meat from nearby Smithfield Market – has hosted countless incredible parties over that time, as these amazing archive photos show.
While you're looking through these formative pictures of Fabric taking shape over the years, keep your eyes peeled for drum ’n’ bass icon Goldie, musical polymath Matthew Herbert, Bestival main man Rob da Bank, producer of some seriously chunky techno Fake Blood (aka Theo Keating) and a long-departed coffee franchise that'll make caffeine addicts of a certain age go all misty eyed.
Numerous attempts have been made to shut down this treasured superclub over the years (we nearly lost it for good in 2016) but Londoners have always rallied around to save it. The queue might snake as far as Farringdon station some Saturday nights, but if you haven’t been to Fabric, you haven’t experienced London nightlife. End of story.
Fabric are currently celebrating their big birthday with a series of parties with artists who are meant to represent the club’s past, present and future. Find out more here.
All photographs courtesy of Fabric.
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And read about five Fabric super-fans celebrating the club they love.
