Top of the Stairs at Denton West End
Sunday afternoon northern soul session. All vinyl, £5 in.
Top of the Stairs is five hours of northern soul, Motown, sixties soul and R&B at Denton West End Working Men’s Club, all of it on vinyl. The first Sunday of the month, £5 in, from 3pm until 8. December’s session is the 6th, with residents Brian Walker, Pete Wright and Dennis Black on the decks. The bar stops serving around 7.45pm, so the last records play out as the room winds down rather than into a late night.
An afternoon soul session is its own culture. People dress for it, the dance floor has its styles, and the DJs are there to play rare and familiar 45s for dancers who know the difference. Grosvenor Street, Denton. Five pounds is the right price for five hours if the music is the reason you came. Get there in the daytime so you can hear the residents build the room, and bring cash for the door. The December date has Christmas around it and the same brief as every other month. All vinyl. No laptop glowing in the corner. A Sunday that starts after lunch and finishes in time for the last of the weekend.