Family remembers Palais history through the years

A Nottingham venue which is celebrating 100 years has been remembered by three generations of a family which has enjoyed nights out there.

During its century of business the venue in Lower Parliament Street has operated under various names including Oceana, Pryzm, Palais and Ritzy's.

Helen Hunt said she, her mother-in-law and her daughter had all been regulars during its various incarnations.

She added: "Gangs of us would all meet up after work and head to the Palais."

It closed in February 2024 when the owners went into administration but it reopened in September with decade-themed rooms and the promise of more live bands.

But when it opened in 1925, it hosted more formal evenings, and some of this approach persisted when the first of the Hunt family started to visit.

Mrs Hunt, 66, said: "My mother-in-law, June, would have been going there in the 50s when it was quite different because they would have had a big band on the stage.

"Bands came from all over the country to play at the Palais and it would have been more like ballroom dancing.

"The place was furnished, it had red velvet curtains and a balcony where you could sit and watch."

Mrs Hunt added that traditionally the men would be standing around the edges and the ladies would dance "until the last three slow dances, when they would move in".

As time moved on, new music, new names and new faces appeared.

"It was the Palais when I went in the 80s," said Mrs Hunt "That would have been disco, soul, then it was new romantics and synthesiser music.

"We, the girls, would get together, there would be gangs from work and we would all meet up after work and head to the Palais.

"We started work at 16 so by the time we could drink we had a bit of money to spend and the drinks were cheap.

"I think that has changed a bit with more students, and going out is so expensive now."

But the Hunt tradition continued.

"My daughter was there in the noughties, I think it was Ritzy by then, and they did under 18s for a while.

"We would drop them off with their mates and there would be queues outside.

"She carried on as a student and I'm not sure which was the more rowdy.

"People would come from all over the Midlands, there would be coachloads of stag dos and hen dos and while there were loads of nightclubs in Nottingham, the Palais has outlasted them all."

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