The art of clubbing
Secrets in Magherafelt was named Nightclub of the Year for a second time at the LCN gala awards in June. Russell Campbell has been to the busy mid-Antrim town to see what the fuss is all about…
Mid-Ulster dance venue, Secrets, has made history at the LCN Awards in 2016 by collecting the title of Nightclub of the Year for the second consecutive year.
The Club opened its doors in Magherafelt two years ago this month following a £1.5m investment by its owners Henry and Teresa McGlone. It replaced the phenomenally successful – but aging – Opera nightclub which had traded successfully as an adjunct to Dorman’s Bar at Queen Street in the town for more than 15 years.
As well as Secrets and Dorman’s, Henry and Teresa also own the recently refurbished Mary’s Bar on Market Street – last year’s LCN Bar of the Year.
In recent years, Magherafelt has developed a deserved reputation for a hospitality offering that goes well beyond what most observers would expect to find in a moderately-sized, mid-Ulster market town. And sitting at the heart of its varied assortment of entertainment venues and restaurants is Secrets.
LCN’s independent judges said of the Secrets this year:
“This is a venue that takes clubbing seriously. They’ve thought of literally everything, great layout, great music, a cocktail bar, a shot bar and so much more. I’m not sure what more you could for in a club. Loved this place!”
Secrets defeated stiff competition to take the title of Nightclub of the Year. The other finalists were El Divino, Sixty6, Boombox and Filthy McNasty’s, all in Belfast and Coach, in Banbridge.
Speaking as he accepted the award during the LCN gala evening in the Europa in June, Thomas Doherty from the club said that the victory had been “incredible”:
“It’s a huge achievement,” he added. “It’s difficult to keep a club at a high standard and a lot of work has been put in by staff and management who have worked their socks off seven-days-a-week,” he added.
Despite the venue’s undoubted appeal among clubbers, manager, Nathan Evans, says he was shocked when he learned that Secrets had been successful at the awards for a second year:
“We have a lot of big things going on between the venues here at the moment, but we just decided to go for it anyway. I was genuinely very surprised to hear that we had won,” he told LCN recently.
The inspiration for Secret’s distinctive interior is taken from the interior of Abercrombie and Fitch’s iconic 5th Avenue store in New York, which Henry and Teresa visited during a trip to the city a few years ago.
With capacity for around 1200 revellers on a busy night, Secrets is already on a par with Northern Ireland’s other leading dance venues.
Inside, a clean, contemporary vibe replaces the gothic, dark wood ambience of the old Opera. Guests can now choose from no fewer than six bars, including extensive facilities in Secrets’ elaborate beer garden and smoking area where comfortable leather seating is able to accommodate up to 300 people at a time inside an eye-catching series of wooden cabins.
There is one main dancefloor in front of the DJ box downstairs while a special VIP area and a series of booths offer clubbers the chance for privacy and dedicated waiter service.
“We pride ourselves on our customer service, on the breadth of our drinks selection and our entertainment,” adds Nathan (34), who arrived in Northern Ireland 12 years ago from his native Canada. “Secrets brings in world-class DJs and we source the people that our customers want to hear rather than the ones that are promoted to us. In the past, we have brought in the likes of Don Diablo, Ummet Ozcan and Teddy Crane.
“People are willing to travel to hear people like this and we are getting busses from Derry, Donegal and Belfast when we have these big DJs on.”
Nathan believes that when it comes to clubs, it can sometimes be difficult to tell them apart – venues offering the same drinks, the same DJs and the same aesthetics can lead to a homogenous experience for revellers, he says.
“What really separates us here is that we’re all about the performance. It’s all about the entertainment factor and our DJs are up bouncing along with everyone else. We use CO2 canons, confetti canons, lasers and so on. And the staff are not just behind the bar serving drinks, they are moving about the venue and talking to the customers.”
Nathan, who has worked in high-end restaurants, bars and nightclubs for 14 years, says that he feels the club business can be the most “unpredictable”:
“In restaurants and bars, you often know to a T what you are going to earn, but in nightclubs, your forecasts can be way off,” he adds. “That unpredictability is the biggest challenge we face. Ten years ago, when we had Dorman’s and The Opera in full swing, we were packed out here Thursday to Sunday. It was the only place like this in mid-Ulster and we were getting everybody. Ten years later and our competitors are now Belfast, Derry and Cookstown. People don’t mind travelling half-an-hour now to get to a venue in Belfast for the night.”
Dorman’s is set to open again this month after a major renovation and Nathan says that another of the current priorities is to get that element of the business back to the level it was at before it closed for the revamp.
The original Dorman’s licensed premises opened in Magherafelt in 1907, owned by the late Joe Dorman and later, by his son, Desmond Dorman. Dorman is Teresa’s maiden name and she and Henry took on the venue in 1987, subsequently instigating a series of refurbishments.
As for the future generally, Nathan says that a third phase of development is planned and work should begin in five to 10 months’ time – although he is staying tight-lipped as to what the new venue might entail:
“It will benefit the business and the town and give people more of what they are looking for,” he adds. “We’re not called Secrets for nothing!”
Our picture above shows general manager, Nate Evans, with his plaque for LCN Nightclub of the Year 2017.
