Scamps, Dance Factory, Bradshawgate

Scamps advert from 1983

The Lido Cinema was opened on Bradshawgate by John Buckley Theatres Ltd on 27 March 1937 with Jesse Matthews in Evergreen. However, the cinema was also able to accommodate live shows and George Formby, Laurel and Hardy, and Flanagan and Allen were among the acts to grace its stage. The cinema was bought by the Star Cinema chain in 1962 and was even used as a bingo hall and a casino for a short time. By 1963 it was the Studio Cinema and in 1970 the former cafe was converted into another screen known as Studio 2.

In 1973 Star Cinemas applied for planning permission to turn part of the premises into a discotheque to be known as Scamps. There would be a central dance floor with two bars, a DJ booth, and “cocoons” of tables and seating. With planning permission granted contractors W.R. Stott of Nelson completed the conversion in just 10 weeks at a cost of £130,000 – the equivalent of almost £1.5 million in 2026.

Scamps opened on 5 October 1973 promising some of the most technologically advanced lighting and sound systems in the country and a library of over 3000 records. The club would be open from 8pm to 2am every Monday to Saturday with admission prices ranging from 35p on Mondays to 80p at the weekends with surcharges after 10.30pm every Friday and Saturday nights. But a little more than 12 months after opening Scamps was hit by a fire that caused it to remain closed for over six weeks. The club had closed for the night in the early hours of 23 December 1974 and the fire was started by a Farnworth man who had been banned from the premises on three separate occasions and who had hidden himself on the premises. He was sent to jail for five years.

Ad from January 1977

Towards the end of 1976 the management of Scamps made the bold move of putting on strippers and topless go-go dancers at lunchtime. Admission was cut to 10p for the shows which lasted from 12.30 until 3 in the afternoon. Among the 'turns' appearing at that time were Pauline Smith and Her Amazing Dancing Bear and a Barbarella/2001: A Space Odyssey theme performed by 'Moon Girl'. But the strip shows didn't last and came to an end less than nine months later in September 1977. The 10p admission fee wasn't covering the cost of hiring one stripper and one topless dancer a day and a spokesman for the club hinted that perhaps the men of Bolton were suffering from stripper fatigue. The agency Scamps were using only had a limited supply of girls which meant the same ones were appearing again after a while. That meant the novelty value was wearing off.

One popular initiative at Scamps was the 'Roxy/Bowie' night that began in September 1979. By 1981 this was known as the 'Electric Night'. For older patron there were Beatles and Rolling Stone nights on a Tuesday.

In October 1981, the Greater Manchester real ale drinkers' magazine What's Doing noted with some surprise that Scamps was selling cask Greenall’s Bitter but at 70p a pint. That was when the average price of a pint in Bolton had yet to reach 50p. It was also unusual to find Greenall’s served through a handpump as it was in Scamps. Other real ale outlets in the town was selling Greenall's via electric meter dispense.

From around 1982 Scamps was appearing in the local press for all the wrong reasons with an increasing number of people appearing in court following fights at Scamps. In April of that year an unemployed youth from Little Hulton was fined following an altercation outside the club after his girlfriend's handbag had been kicked while she was dancing. In June a lone policeman faced up to 20 angry youths during an incident outside the club. One of the youths was sent to prison. In October a man was fined following an altercation with a bouncer. Police told the court that the night in question saw a number of fights in the vicinity of the club.

Gigs at Scamps around this time included local band Suma Suma, Howard The Duck, and jazz-funk outfits Men Of Brass and Animal Nightlife. The latter were promoted by Horwich fan Lorna McEveley. Animal Nightlife went on to have top 40 success with singles Mr Solitaire and Love Is Just The Great Pretender.

After almost ten years as Scamps it was time for a renovation and on 9 June 1983 the club re-opened as the Dance Factory. Over the coming months there were live appearances by Set The Tone and All About Eve. JoBoxers appeared in September 1983 after their single Boxerbeat had got to number 3 in the charts. But it was reported that some bands were having their sound checks cut short because the club's new sound system interfered with films being shown at the cinema next door.

Ad from May 1985

Dance Factory's electro-funk and soul nights were successful – good news for a Monday night, often the quietest night of the week. Disco dancing championships were also a success. There was controversy when the club booked topless girl boxers, known as Punch And Booby. The minister at Bank Street Chapel called the act “degrading and depraved”so the girls invited the minister to come and see the act. It isn't known if he went along. It was a little close to the bone for some, but perhaps not as much as the Miss Stockings And Suspenders competition held for the one and only time in 1986. The Bolton Evening News ran a report on the contest along with a photograph of the top three placed contestants. But there were red faces all round when someone pointed out that the girl who finished third was only 15 years old. Club manager Barry Mulrooney said she would have been asked to put her name, age and address on the form she had to fill in on entering, but the girl said that her age was never checked.

Despite the new identity the Dance Factory was still having the same problems with the police. After an incident in April 1985 where a policeman ended up in hospital after being hit by a breeze block trying to break up one of several fights outside the club, a senior officer said that trouble was happening “too often” at closing time. “We have been monitoring the situation for some time and intend to do everything in our power to stamp out this violence,” he added. The violence didn't end. In December 1985 there was a night of trouble involving a stag party from Lancaster, and the following March a couple leaving the cinema next door were attacked by people queuing to get into the club in what seems to have been an unprovoked attack.

Despite all that, the Dance Factory won the Top North West Disco award organised by trade newspaper Club Mirror. At that stage the club was presenting high-energy on Wednesdays, organised parties on Thursdays, and special events and promotions on Fridays. Saturdays saw the under-age disco Club 17 up to 10pm and mainstream pop and funk for an 18-25 audience thereafter. Entrance fees ranged from £1 to £2.50, beer was £1 a pint and shorts with a mixer around £1.15

By October 1987 the Dance Factory was up for sale. It closed down the following year and in 1992 the premises became Laser Quest. That lasted for 12 years until the whole building was demolished and apartments built in its place.

The former Lido/Studio 1,2 and 3/Cannon Cinema on Bradshawgate pictured in May 2012. Flats now occupy the site. A Bolton News article here on cinema in Bolton shows a shot from same angle in 1986 looking at the Dance Factory on the right side of the cinema building.