NORTHERN SOUL IN THE 70'S

The altered state of the club’s clientele also had a significant impact on dictating its sound, requiring a much faster beat. As black America moved into the 1970s led by James Brown and his funk disciples, the bpm dropped to a leisurely groove and so Northern DJs began searching for songs that had the required tempo – and feel – to feed their speedy dance floors. 

“It was a completely new form of music,” says DJ Ian Levine. “It combined a rock beat to dance to, jazz chords which elevated your mood to make you feel happy or wistful, and great sing-along choruses. That was the sound of Northern Soul.” By 1971 the Twisted Wheel’s reputation as a drug den became its undoing and it was closed down by the police for allegedly turning a blind eye to the drug dealing and drug-taking that was rife on the premises. 

THE GOLDEN TORCH, TUNSTALL, STOKE-ON-TRENT - 1972-1973:

Having been forced out of Manchester due to the city’s laws on after-hours partying, Northern Soul’s new home became the unlikely location of Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent, home of Chris Burton’s Golden Torch. Customers were loyal to The Torch and would hitchhike to get there. The torch had been a successful r'n'b club since 1965, began hosting soul allnighters in 1972 and was shut down in 1973.

WIGAN CASINO, WIGAN - 1973-1981:

This place was on a motorway and had a train station which was much easier to get to, it never looked back from here, the soul lifestyle just got bigger and bigger. This new place was different from the previous dark and dingy venues that people were used to going to, it had a huge dance floor with balconies and could hold 3,000-4,000 people. It first opened its doors at 2am on 23rd of September 1973. 

Wigan Casino had established itself as the country’s leading venue for Northern Soul’s faithful to make the pilgrimage there every Saturday. Hordes of like-minded clubbers with their 35” baggies, vests and bowling bags (which contained a change of clothes, records and talc, an essential component for dancing) descended on the town for the famed club night, forcing the doors to open two hours earlier, at midnight. The nightclub did not have an alcohol license meaning drugs were used even more around this time, especially speed. The drug scene is known to be over exaggerated in films. 

References:
1. https://mixmag.net/feature/the-clubs-of-northern-soul