Fast forward to 2022 and the spin wizards are set to celebrate 45 years since the first exhilarating night with all their friends on the decks
Although from different sides of the Black music scene, Paul DJing contemporary soul at Primo’s from 1972, and Ian a top Northern Soul DJ playing at Wigan Casino and Cleethorpes, they became good friends.In 1977 disillusioned with the way club owners treated their customers and DJs, they went looking for venues in
where they could play the music they loved and eventually came across Central Dance School on Central Road in Leeds city centre.Ian recalls: “On Friday nights, it was THE hottest club in the North of England, quickly building a huge reputation for the music, atmosphere and crowd. Coach trips came from all over the UK. The Central was exciting: it was music, it was fashion, it was people.”
Paul added: “It was one of those places you went to purely for the music – not the décor or the air conditioning The atmosphere was intense and the music was incredible, a wonderful fusion of Jazz, Funk and Soul. It had a lasting impact on the people who came.”The Central was at the forefront of the music scene and the forerunner in many ways of the rave and house scenes in the ‘80s and ‘90s.
Bohemia was set up by Mike and Steve in September 2019, along with resident DJs Mark Warner, Mally and Shaun Cottle. It has been running at the Woods in Chapel Allerton, Leeds ever since, bringing a unique mix of Soul, Motown, Northern, Jazz and Latin together, and proving a massive hit with locals and non-locals alike.