Big hair, eyeliner and PVC return to Nottingham for throwback Punters night

A special reunion celebrating Nottingham’s alternative music scene in the early 1980s will be taking place this weekend. Before heading to Rock City, Numanoids and post-punk fans started their nights at a legendary venue that defined the city’s underground scene.

Revellers today will know it as The Walrus, but four decades ago the basement bar down the steps in King Street was Hardy’s, and then in 1984 it was renamed Punters. It was the era of big hair, eyeliner, PVC, leather and the unmistakable Numanoid style inspired by Gary Numan, Japan, Siouxsie Sioux and The Cure.

And no one had bigger hair at the time than DJ Lee Nicholson, who will be back at the bar for the first time in 40 years playing songs from the era at a nostalgic revival – for one afternoon only. On Saturday, March 22, the fans will be returning to the venue to relive the music of their youth.

Lee, who played at Hardy’s Wine Bar back in 1982, will be spinning the same post-punk, new wave, and alternative anthems that made it the go-to spot before clubbers moved on to Rock City.

Lee, who is now 60 and living near Bingham, said: “I’m 6ft and I used to wear two-inch Cuban heels and my hair was huge, I couldn’t get through the doorway. My mates made me stand against the wall and measure me one day and I was 7ft 2in.”

Recalling how he came to get involved with the underground bar, he said: “I was 18 years old and in a band called No Tears. The owner of the bar lived on my close where I was brought up and he came up to me one day to see if I could book any bands for him in his bar. He said bring some records down and play them afterwards and I did.

“I started putting bands on, on a Tuesday, and got the weekend gig, Friday and Saturday nights in the thick of the alternative scene. It became a great alternative bar. It was a fantastic. Everyone looked a bit weird and different and big hair and extravagant and we’d play to them all.

“We had a great little scene in there. It was an amazing time. We were so young and it had just come out of the 1970s with punk and two tone dying off. It was a whole new era which made it amazing.”

Lee’s playlist is likely to have songs by Duran Duran, Japan, Human League, Spandau Ballet and Depeche Mode and the sounds of Fad Gadget, B-Movie, Vision and Cabaret Voltaire.

“Everyone loved them. As we moved on we started playing Simple Minds, U2, Killing Joke, New Model Army. Then came rockabilly and psychobilly stuff so everyone had big quiffs and massive hair. Blokes had make-up on. It was an amazing scene at that time.”

The reunion came about after bar-goers made contact over social media during the pandemic, sharing photos and remembering the good times.

Lee said: “We did a ‘then and now’ on Rock City in the 80s Facebook page over Covid so we are going to encourage people to bring a photo like that with them because some people I haven’t for 40 years.

“The original venue makes it all click into place. Those stairs are iconic to go down into Hardy’s, Punters and The Walrus. They’ve changed it around a bit in 40 years but I think it will mean a lot to people to go back in and listen to the same music that we used to play then with the same DJ in the same venue. We’re pretty excited about that.

“There will be a lot of memories. I think people will get quite emotional, listening to the feedback of people who have bought tickets,” said Lee, who continued to DJ and still plays at Ocean’s student nights.

Tickets have been selling fast with the last few, priced £10, remaining for the event, which runs from 3pm to 7pm. They can be found at fatsoma.com.