Epping Forest Country Club
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Epping Forest Country Club was a group of three night clubs on the Essex/London boundary, just outside Chigwell. The clubs were world famous and attracted many big name acts as well as many famous people as visitors. The venues closed in early 2002 after a number of high profile violent incidents as well as many complaints from the local residents about noise. It is believed that the owner decided to close the venues himself as he did not want to continue to operate them with the level of violence that was occurring. An example of this was in August 2001 when a door man was shot after trying to break up a fight. Earlier in the year another person was stabbed on the dance floor.
The three venues were called 'Atlantis', 'The Casino Club', and 'The Country Club'. All but one of the buildings have now been demolished and a health club built on the site. The only remaining building is the one previously used for 'The Country Club' as this was a listed building and is known as 'Wolston Hall' and was prior to its use as a night club used as a house.
It has been rumoured in the spring of 2007 that a group of ex-night club operators from London was attempting to re-open 'The Country Club' again. No public evidence of this is know to exist however many people have opposing views on these plans, with many people wanting it to re-open, while many of the local residents are understandably concerned about this as they would not want the previous problems returning to their area. Either way many people were awaiting to see what the outcome of this would be.
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[edit] Atlantis
This was the biggest of the three clubs with a capacity of over 1000, and on many nights this was easily reached. The venue underwent a refurbishment towards the end of the 1990s converting it from a jungle theme to a more upmarket night club; however, this refurbishment also included a new sound system which was much more powerful that the original one, which was unfortunately part of the venues downfall as the roof was thin and most of the sound generated escaped into the surrounding area, much to the annoyance of the local residents, some living over a mile away. The landscape of the Roding Valley in which the club was situated funnelled the sound towards the village of Abridge, and across the valley towards Debden and Loughton.
The original 'Jungle' room not only was themed on a jungle, but also played OldSchool Jungle. May said that this night was one of the birth places of Old School Jungle (or Jungle) as it was know at the time. It was one of the biggest nights playing this style of music, but unfortunately as Jungle went out of fashion towards the end of the 1990's and the Drum And Bass, and House Music scenes became more fashionable its days were numbered, and the sound system had to be replaced as even greater demands were being called for by the new era of bass heavy music, which needed a sound system with the ability to project clear and undistorted mids and highs over this much more weighty bass.
The sound system post refurb consisted of eight sub cabinets per side each with 2 Fane Acoustics Limited Crescendo 15' drivers in each. The high and mids were handled by 16 (8 per side) cabinets containing a Fane Crescendo 12' mid driver and a Fane 1' Compression driver. The high mid cabs were suspended form the ceiling in rows. The crossovers were handled by a passive crossover in each mid high cabinet, and a BSS Audio mini drive (The 2 in 6 out version) was used to control the sub/high-mid crossover points as well as delay the system. There were also 4 12' Fane Crescendo drivers suspended from the ceiling in reflex ported cabinets which were used as bass cabinets when a shows or other events were being run which did not need the large floor cabinets. There were also a number of Electro Voice SX-300 cabinets that were used in the entrance way and bar areas.
The lighting rig was made or a number of different manufactures, and was controlled by a Pulsar Masterpiece 108. Snow machines were hired in from time to time (especially in the winter months) and were manufactured by Antari.
The venue was open to over 18's and as well as having its regular events it also had many externally promoted events and under 18's nights.
The swimming pool behind the venue was also used for outdoor 'Splash!' parties which was usually for members only as it was so popular. The pool still remains and is now part of the health and fitness centre.
There were also two large airport style metal detector arches on the front entrance through which all visitors had to pass, as no metal objects (except clothing) was allowed in the venue. There was also a complete ban on glass inside the venue.
Atlantis hosted may big name DJ's as well as its residents. Some of the residents still do many gigs a year, and part of the rumoured plans to re-open the venue involved some of these residents returning to the Country Club venue once again.
[edit] Casino Club
This was a the over 21's venue and was considered to be a much more up market venue, and was much smaller than Atlantis. Part of it still remains and is now being used as a chrech for the health club.
[edit] The Country Club
This was advertised as an over 25's venue; however many case reports suggest people younger that this were regularly allowed in. The venue is a listed building and remains however in a poor state of repair, but many of its internal fixtures still remain.
This was the first of the venues to open many years ago, and was considered by many to be the best as well. - obviously depending on your music tastes.
This is the building that has been rumoured to be the target for the re-opening plans. There is no official word on any of these plans, and many people await to see if they become true or not, however a website reporting to be from an organisation with detailed plans to re-open the club has appeared. See below.
[edit] The Years After Closure
After the trio of clubs closed, things moved quite rapidly. The Atlantis building was first demolished, along with part of the Casino Club, and the redevelopment work began on the site. The driving range was built along with the new health club building on the other side of the car park. The car park was renovated and the entire site tidied up. The remaining parts of the casino club was turned into a drinks bar for the members of the health club.
As time passed Virgin_Group purchased Holmes Place who originally operated the gym, and the Co-Operative group who originally owned the site sold it off to another holdings company.
Through all of this the original Wolston Hall remained. It suffered a lot of neglect, and the building needs a lot of TLC to bring it back to its original state. From the out side, not much has changed. The neon signs above the two entrances (to the restaurant upstairs, and the night club downstairs remain (but have come partly detached), and the licences names still exist above the door. Looking inside the main bar still exists and can be easily seen through the windows, along with the DJ booth, and main dance floor. Many of the windows have been damaged, and a pigeon nests in the restaurant now.
In the period from closure in 2001 until 2007 at least 3 groups have tried to use the building. Two of these plans attempted to turn it into a restaurant, however these fell though due to the large cost involved in stripping out the multi level night club layout and developing a high class restaurant. Holmes Place also tried to turn it into a conferencing/banqueting facility, but the planning permission for this plan was rejected.
The building remains on the listed building register, and as such any alteration or major works will be very difficult to get passed.
[edit] The Legend Lives On
Since closure in 2002, the country club's legendary status as a not to be missed music venue has remained. Countless other night clubs have held 'reunion' or 'themed' nights based on the country club, and numerous DJs still list it as a place where they have played (many rate it at or near or at the top of their list.)
