25 years of Fabric: how the iconic nightclub continues to defy expectations
Share:
When Fabric nightclub opened on 29 October 1999, it did so with one unexpected visitor. Banksy. “He came in on the opening night as an unknown street artist and tagged the club,” one of its founders, Cameron Leslie, recalls. “And, you know, got caught by security doing it.”.
Leslie got called out to the back to deal with the interloper, whom he describes as “this guy with a bag full of spray cans and tags on the wall. I just wanted to rip his head off, because I was so angry that somebody would do that to your pride and joy.”.
Banksy was arrested, but Leslie didn’t press charges. “I think he quite liked that,” Leslie says now, with a twinkle in his eye. He must have done: on the club’s second anniversary, he came and donated a new artwork, Girl Hugging A Bomb. That’s now on display outside the toilets, behind a protective screen – and while the tags themselves were painted over shortly after opening night, the story of Banksy has been woven into the mythology of a club that has been integral to London’s nightlife for 25 years.
Hard to imagine now, but when Keith Reilly and Cameron Leslie set about founding Fabric, it wasn’t with any sort of plan except to make the best music possible, incorporating sounds from the UK’s underground music scene as well as established dancefloor names like Craig Richards and Terry Francis.
“I don't think we really had any sort of grand designs about the future,” Leslie says. “I don't think we really had the mental capacity to really think that. It wasn't really hatched with a long term vision and a three year strategy or anything like that. We just really were concentrating on the next weekend.”.
