A fellow soul sourcer has made this statement in a previous thread.

"Friday night oldies night was the beginning of the end for the Casino".

Does anyone else agree with this statement and, if so, why?

No talking during the exam and make sure you put your name and form number on the top right hand corner.

In some respects that is true, but they were great in terms of the atmosphere and also were a learning curve for people such as myself who hadn't` at that point been into the music very long.

No, not really. The Friday Oldies Allnighters complimented the Saturday session. With two Allnighters at the weekend, punters could take their pick. As Saturday's tended to veer towards commercial sounds and 'newies', following the Mecca instead of steaming ahead, regulars headed for the Friday sessions. Friday's Motown sessions also complimented the Saturday with people attending both in many cases. Wigan Casino didn't end until it finally closed, but sure, the sounds varied along the way: Levine at Blackpool was responsible for the scene changing direction whilst Russ at the Casino opted for a few too many contemporary records when there were plenty of oldies awaiting discovery. The Friday sessions were possibly the forerunner of all the Oldies events in decades to come, so we should be thankful for their introduction.

I, for one, loved the Oldies all nighter. I always thought the end of the Casino was the march of the bulldozers. I wonder what would have happened if they hadn't come? Would someone have bought it and refurbished it? It could have ended up as a Premier Inn or a Fitness First gym. Although it's demise was sad, at least it went down fighting in dramatic style, with a roar of bricks and clouds of dust. Hard to imagine someone checking into Mr M's for a mid-week break in a Hypnos bed.

Saturday nights towards the end were down to 350. It was coming to an end before the bulldozers. Whether it would have ever picked up again on a weekly basis, no one can say. Didn't everyone leave the scene and go off and get married or something? That is what I read somewhere.  

It was the beginning of looking back rather than forward but no big deal

Allways enjoyed the main room newies  with searling, rushbrooke, & the guests djs ! Never A fan of mr Ms ! The oldies niter were for the hanger on's ! , the Motown nites were A flop with only A 100 die hards in the building, now the newies get the little room while the main event is the oldies !

Edited November 26, 20168 yr by hornet

55 minutes ago, modernsoulsucks said:

It was the beginning of looking back rather than forward but no big deal

Speak for yourself , never went to Wigan when I was starting out on 'the scene' as I was advised by all and sundry that it was a toilet and on the downward spiral in '80/81 ... so the likes of Leicester - Stafford - Norwich - Blackburn - 100 Club were my stomping grounds ... none of which were for looking backwards ... 

It was the beginning of the end. It's still ending. 

Steve

3 minutes ago, Winsford Soul said:

It was the beginning of the end. It's still ending. 

Steve

Hahahah!! Nice one!!!

well said ste 

I only ever went to a handful of the Friday night oldies nighters, they wernt really for me TBH,&  it was 8 hours to WC for me, so getting there on a Friday was a nightmare, however on the odd occasion I went, it was more as a pre cursor to the main event on Saturday Night.  Saturdays after the Oldies Nighters were much quieter towards the end, in my opinion, they should have just tweaked Saturdays, instead of introducing the Friday oldies Nighters.  I had no history prior to WC, my oldies education came from Mr M's, in between the newies sets in the main room, IMHO it should have stayed that way.  It spread out the available punters, thought they were just a way of cashing in really......sound familiar ?.

Russ