Photograph exhibition to mark anniversary of club that started out in former bus depot and became leading dance brand
When the Ministry of Sound opened its doors for the first time in September 1991 – a breezeblock warehouse in one of south London's less salubrious areas – it looked like it would struggle to withstand the winter, let alone the decade.
But this year Ministry celebrates its 20th birthday, having evolved from an underground New York-style club in a former bus depot to the world's most recognised clubbing brand, with offshoots around the globe and a successful record label.
To mark the occasion, the club will this week open an exhibition of photographs from its early years, alongside artwork, documentary footage and vintage flyers at its Elephant and Castle home. The club will also host a three-day party celebrating the birthday in September and a 20-date international tour, welcoming back old school big-name DJs such as Roger Sanchez – one of the original Ministry regulars – who will play in Miami on 23 March.
The club opened on 21 September 1991 as an alcohol-free indoor rave in a derelict former bus depot at 103 Gaunt Street. "My first impression was of this poxy south London warehouse, with breezeblock walls. It didn't look like anything special and it was like trying to get into prison to get in there, but it did have this great sound system, which no one had at the time. It was the first New York style nightclub in London," said David Swindells, formerly nightlife editor at Time Out listings magazine, who photographed the club and its ravers in the early days.
The exhibition is sure to illustrate one thing – the questionable sartorial choices of the early-90s raver. "There were a lot of white jeans, baggy tops – that kind of post-rave look," Swindells said.
The Ministry provided the first indoor venue for a generation of dance music lovers brought up on illegal raves held in fields and warehouses, said Iain Hagger, joint managing director at the Ministry of Sound. "The Ministry of Sound heralded the rave scene moving indoors for the first time, and moving into a more regulated world," he said. "It brought over all the big-name DJs from the States as well as having local talent."
Brainchild of DJ Justin Berkman, the Ministry was set up with one goal in mind – to make great noise, said Hagger. "The first consideration was the sound system, second came the lighting and then came the design. The main room is still one of the best places to listen to dance music in the world."
It now has four bars, five rooms, three DJ booths and three dancefloors, but the main attraction remains "the box", a hermetically-sealed room with a sprung floor to help clubbers dance all night long and a powerful sound system., as Eli Argiolas, a Italian hair stylist and a Ministry regular since she moved to London, can testify. "Most people go to Ministry for the box and the DJs," she said. "When you are in there you can feel the beat in your stomach, you come out a bit deaf but it's amazing."
But with one of the world's biggest independent record labels with 50m album sales behind it, a DJ equipment range and a string of bars across the globe, some argue the purity of Ministry's mission has been diluted.
"The danger is that you can lose sight of the reason why you were there originally," Hagger said. "But the Ministry is still essentially a warehouse with a big sound system – we really try and focus on the music and giving people the best possible experience."
While other clubs have fallen victims to the age of austerity and superclub fatigue – The End and Turnmills have closed in London in recent years – the Ministry still attracts thousands of clubbers every weekend.
That is because the club, and company, has exploited every opportunity, according to Swindells. "They have done amazingly well to survive," he said. "To see an underground club in a bus depot go on to be the world's leading dance brand really is quite a story."
Other clubs that changed the music world
The Paradise Garage
The New York club, which was open from 1977 until 1987, was the base for dance music pioneer DJ Larry Levan. Named after its origins as an actual car parking garage, the club, which some refer to as the prototype of the modern dance club, brought together gay and straight nightclub cultures and inspired many imitators who hoped to emulate what became known as "the garage sound".
Warehouse
The Chicago club, where DJ Frankie Knuckles – a friend of Levan – spun from 1977 to 1982, was the only place to be for an up-for-it gay crowd. Often credited as giving house music its name, the claim that it "invented" house was denied by Knuckles.
Pacha
The oldest club on the white island, itself the spiritual home of clubbing, Pacha has been serving balearic beats to the masses since 1973. Now a worldwide clubbing brand, with a clothing range and franchise venues around the world, the finca houses bang name DJs from David Guetta to the Swedish House Mafia.
The Hacienda
Manchester's most famous nightclub opened on the first wave of house in 1982 and was the physical embodiment of the "Madchester" years in the late 80s and early 90s. Owned by Factory Records and New Order, over the years it featured performances by the Stones Roses, Happy Mondays, Madonna and Blur among others. After long-term financial and violence problems it closed in 1997 and was demolished in 2002 to make way for a new apartment block.
Cream
Liverpool's best-known nightclub ran at Nation as a weekly night for 10 years, from October 1992 to June 2002. Paul Oakenfold was a resident and the club hosted other DJs from Paul Van Dyk to Sasha. It still holds about four events a year and hosts a dance music festival, Creamfields, each year in Daresbury, Cheshire.