Back in the Day: We Found Love in a Special Place

Alison found love at favourite nightspot, The Roxy.

It was at the end-of-year college disco, on a Wednesday night in April, 1992, when Alison Mobey met her husband-to-be on the dancefloor at The Roxy.

The Roxy was the place to go.

The beloved nightclub, formerly in Rochdale Road, was where you’d listen to all the latest dance tracks and have a great time with friends.

Alison, Trainee Counsellor at Bury Hospice, remembers paying 50p for her entrance ticket and buying drinks for £1.00

She said: “We had just done our A-Levels and we all met up at the Roxy.”

“When it came to saying goodbye to each other, we were all laughing. We were going on our different journey’s; some of us planning on going to university, others not.”

“And just as we were about to leave, that's when I met my husband, as it turns out.”

Jason Mobey had gone to the Roxy with a friend, when he got talking with Alison.

They had seen one another around Whitefield and both went to Stand College, but being on different courses, their paths never met until that fateful night at the Roxy.

Jason and Alison back in the day

Alison said: “I can remember there was an area upstairs where you could sit on stools and just look down at the DJ and watch people dancing – we just got sat together there and started chatting.”

“We had a similar taste in music, and the DJ was playing old school dance music that we loved… And we had our first kiss in the Roxy.”

With the sonic backdrop of Shades of Rhythm, Bizzare Inc, Corona, and all the club dancefloor classics on rotation, Alison and Jason stuck together from that night on.

“It was a time before mobile phones; I gave Jason my home number and he remembers rehearsing it in his head over and over and over again,” said Alison.

When the night was over, Alison headed home; while Jason rushed to the local kebab shop to write Alison’s number down on a napkin.

A few days later, Alison’s phone rang.

The pair arranged to meet up and they started seeing each other.

“We just stayed in touch,” said Alison, who would soon head off to St Martin’s college in Lancaster to do her degree, while Jason stayed behind in Bury.

They would visit each other regularly, and decided to get a house together once Alison returned, then getting married some years later.

Alison and Jason today

In 2013, the Roxy (at that point renamed, Sol Viva) was demolished to make way for a new shopping centre.

Alison and Jason, now older were no longer regulars at the venue, which was welcoming a new generation through its doors.

“I remember hearing that the Roxy was being demolished and thinking, ‘oh, it’s a pity’ because that place was iconic for us,” said Alison

“We move with the times, but it will always be somewhere that we'll remember because it was a special place.”

Join us for ‘Back in the Day’, an amazing day clubbing experience, with all your favourite dance anthems throughout the decades.

Saturday 20th September, The Den, Wellington Street, Bury, BL8 2AL, 2-8pm

Book your tickets here (£15 pp general admission): Back in the Day