Remembering the Bon Bonne: Herne Hill’s legendary nightclub and the revellers keeping its memory alive

The last time legendary Herne Hill club the Bon Bonne threw open its doors there was a roadblock as ‘thousands’ queued in the street for one final dance.

In 2004 the Rosendale Road venue shut down for good and the building was converted into – what else – flats.

For forty odd years the club welcomed stars and locals alike, creating a community of like-minded regulars who bonded over its unique quirks.

Now a former resident DJ shares his memories of the hottest ticket in town, from its revolving stage to the time Edwin Starr crashed his car into the side of the building, writes Emily Buckley Bunn…

The Bon Bonne, now flats, at the corner of Rosendale and Norwood Road

Situated in an unsuspecting suburban manor house on the corner of Rosendale Road and Norwood Road, the Bon Bonne goes down in South London history as one of its most beloved nightclubs.

It opened in the 1960s, and - so the story goes - its owners chose ‘Bon Bonne’ because it means ‘good good’ in French.

“It was literally a pick out of the dictionary because they had no idea what to call a nightclub. I don’t know what dictionary they were looking in,” Martin Cee tells us.

Martin, who you may know as a presenter on Channel 5’s Strongman , spent eleven years as a resident DJ and still runs regular tribute nights to the club.

He started playing at the Bon Bonne in 1993, when he was just 20 years old, along with fellow DJ Scottie Anderson.

Scottie and Martin on the club's last night. Credit Martin Cee.

Martin, who began DJing at the age of 12, was brought in to help out at the Bon Bonne partly because its resident DJ at the time, local legend Rick Holland - aka Mr Silver Suit - had just had his records stolen after 20 years at the club.

“Those were the days where you couldn’t download music or anything like that. If you lost your records, you lost your music, you could never get it back,” he says.

Enter Martin, who admits turning up to the club for the first time, after a friend sent in a demo to help him get the job. He remembers being disappointed by how the Bon Bonne appeared on the outside, only to walk in and realise it was something special.

It didn’t look like your typical '80s or '90s night club. There were no neon lights and no signs outside.

“In fact, locals didn’t really know it was there,” he explains. “What’s all this about? It just didn’t look like a nightclub. Get yourself in there and it was absolutely packed.”

Fun times at the South London club (c) Colleen Kirk

From then on, the rest was history.

“The atmosphere in the Bon Bonne was always fantastic," Martin tells us. "It was just a special place. It's very hard to describe unless you went there, but it had a very special, unique feel about it. People came from all over South London to be there. Anyone who's anyone used to frequent that club.”

Regulars included South London footballers Scott Minto and Rio Ferdinand and TV personalities Kate Lawler and Jade Goody.

“The ladies and the gents would dress up. It was very oldie-worldie - it was sort of posh, but it had very cheap drinks,” he remembers.

The 300-capacity club was iconic for its quirks, including a revolving stage on which the DJ would play.

‘If you played a rubbish tune, you had nowhere to hide,” Martin laughs.

Sharp dressing. Credit: Harry Mechael

The club's anthem, Martin says, was always Jocelyn Brown’s Somebody Else’s Guy . Other favourites were Livin’ Joy’s Dreamer , I Found Lovin by Fatback Band, Luther Vandross’s Never Too Much and Show Me Love by Robin S.

Over the years, the Bon Bonne also had performances from popular musicians including Edwin Starr, The Real Thing and Angie Brown.

“We had some really, really famous people there,” Martin says, recalling that when Edwin Starr played he was almost an hour late to his set after crashing his brand-new Lexus Jeep in the club’s car park.

“He was sitting out there, and he was so embarrassed and upset he didn't get out of his car for nearly an hour.”

The club in its heyday. Credit: Harry Mechael

Another highlight of Martin’s was a memorable Christmas Eve where they had a particularly extravagant raffle.

“They would load the stage up with presents, stop the music and do a raffle,” Martin explained. “People would win like a stereo system or a mountain bike, and then they had to walk home with it. It was like Bully’s star prize.”

Happy memories. Credit Zoe Carroll

To this day, there are Bon Bonne rules that he still doesn’t understand.

“There were two rooms in the club in the '80s and '90s. One room was a bit like a VIP room and there was a rule that you couldn’t take a pint glass into this room. There was a man there and he was employed to stand there, take your pint glass and pour your drink into two halves.

“It was bizarre and there was absolutely no reason - even the owners never knew why. All these little quirky things made it unique.”

Many ex-Bon Bonne-goers still have their distinctive membership cards. Punters would have to queue up, each year, to get a new one with a distinct design.

Bon Bonne Membership Cards. Credit Kevin Collins.

There aren’t many photos from inside the Bon Bonne, as Martin says people didn’t walk around with cameras in those days. Maybe they were just having too much of a good time.

In 2004, after four decades at the heart of south London’s clubbing scene, Martin says that they were given four weeks’ notice that the club was going to close.

He believes the club’s recent refurbishment was a significant factor, as was licensing trouble.

“The refurb went down like a lead balloon,” he says. “People didn’t like the change - it got a bit plastic. We moved from the revolving stage to this purpose built one. It just didn’t feel like the Bon Bonne anymore and numbers dropped slightly.”

There were also continuing issues over extending the licence past 1am.

“It could never get the later licence because the residents, some very well to do residents around there as you'd expect, were very reluctant to let the club go later.

“They kept getting turned down for a later licence and I think in the end they just gave up, which was a massive shame.”

The last night before the club’s closure is somewhat legendary in the Bon Bonne community. There are over 1,000 comments reminiscing over the final night on one Facebook post.

The queue on the last ever night, with thanks to Martin Cee.

“We pulled up in a cab, me and my partner Scottie Anderson, to do this last night, not expecting what we turned up to," Martin tells us.

“Thousands of people turned up, we couldn’t get through... We actually had to have our record boxes carried in for us over the crowd.

“People passed us along, were helping us through, they got us to the door. It was like a scene out of a film, to get us in and get the club started.”

A membership card, with thanks to Martin Cee.

In true Bon Bonne style, they partied hard and drank the club dry.

One of the last songs Martin played at the emotional farewell was End of the Road by Boyz to Men.

“I played at a lot of clubs, but the Bon Bonne was the one I always wanted to play at,” he explains. “It was really emotional and at the end I didn't want to stop the songs playing because I knew it was part of my life.”

But while the physical club no longer exists, the spirit of the Bon Bonne is still very much alive.

Martin has an agreement with the original owners to use the Bon Bonne name and since 2012 has run Bon Bonne reunion nights at other South London venues, alongside fellow DJ Scottie Anderson.

“We try and keep the same feel, the same family atmosphere if you like, all the integrity of the original club,” Martin says.

Even the original DJ Rick Holland aka Mr Silver Suit, turns up in style to the reunions.

Martin Cee, 'Silver Suit' Rick Holland and Scottie Anderson

Martin says that most of their events sell out and have had up to 1,000 former club-goers attending.

“I put on the music that they were dancing to when they were young, and they want to dance to when they're old. Well, who better to play it than the person that played it when they were young? They just want to come for the nostalgia, reminisce, to see some old faces, dance to the music.”

With London night life increasingly under threat, Martin realises how special the Bon Bonne days were.

“The days of having a regular nightclub are dead and gone," he says. "Everything's events now, people buy tickets for events. Nightlife's important for people to go out to communicate, to let their hair down, for interaction.

“The Bon Bonne was a proper community. If you had problems, you sort them out before they got to anything serious. It's just a bit of a family really. I feel like we were very, very lucky with what we had.”

Martin says that they have big plans for the Bon Bonne and the future is bright as new generations join the party: “Now mums and the dads bring their daughters who are old enough obviously to come in. It's sort of history repeats itself.

“Adults are getting their life back, their children have grown up, they’re going out again. We all want to relive our youth and everything. We all want to feel young again and reminisce.

"The people still want a good time. We just want to provide them with a good honest night.”

The next Bon Bonne reunion event is on Saturday 25th of May at the Bridgebar in Beckenham. You can get tickets here and stay up to date with the latest Bon Bonne news on the Bon Bonne Facebook page .