Inside Scottish abandoned nightclub that hosted Kylie Minogue and is now ‘at risk’

You might be surprised to learn that a now-deserted nightclub in a small Scottish town once hosted music icons such as Kylie Minogue and Gloria Gaynor. Scots who came of age in the 1980s and 1990s will undoubtedly have heard of Flicks in Brechin. Once considered one of the country’s hottest tickets, it is now entirely vacant and deemed at risk. If you journey back all those years, you may have been fortunate enough to witness performances by the likes of Bananarama, the Village People, Rick Astley, Sinitta, Gloria Gaynor, Bucks Fizz, and Samantha Fox. Kylie is arguably the biggest name to have performed there, when she took the stage with her on-screen lover Jason Donovan. Despite Brechin having a population of only around 7,000 and being approximately two hours away from both Edinburgh and Glasgow, Flicks would regularly see busloads of party-goers eager for an unforgettable night of music. As reported by the Scottish Daily Express, Flicks maintained an air of exclusivity by enforcing a strict ‘no-trainers and no-denims’ rule. Its reputation eventually led to the nightclub hosting television dance music programme The Hitman and Her on several occasions. Hosted by Pete Waterman and Michaela Strachan, the series toured clubs across the UK and broadcast the music and dancing there. Flicks, as the name suggests, began its life as a cinema. The art deco building initially opened its doors as the King’s Cinema and managed to serve the local community as both a movie theatre and bingo hall until 1985. That was the year it was transformed into the legendary nightclub many remember fondly. The heyday of Flicks, while memorable, was unfortunately short-lived. With the dawn of the 1990s, clubbers increasingly opted for raves over nightclubs, leading to challenging times for many establishments like Flicks. It eventually rebranded as Arena but shuttered permanently in 2005 and has stood empty ever since. Reflecting on the peak of Flicks, one of its founders, Stuart Aikenhead, reminisced to STV: “It humbles me greatly when I think of it, because without the staff, without the commitment of everybody that played their part, whether it was the glass collectors up at stupid o’clock, 3am in the morning, going and sticking promotional posters on trees from Brechin to Peterhead. “You know, the advertising was a major part and the doormen, the close camaraderie of the bar staff, everything to do with the team that was built, humbles me to think that they did it week-in, week-out and then the other side was the same faces that showed up week-in, week-out, sometimes four nights a week. “It’s very humbling to think that a population of 6,500 achieved something that, well, 35 years on or 36 years on, still creates a bit of a stir on Facebook.” Don’t miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond – sign up to the Scotland Now newsletter here.