Unsung Heroes - The people behind the scenes

We reveal the unsung heroes from behind the scenes who make The End & AKA tick.

What people don’t know after leaving The End & AKA at 7am after a great night out is that it’s actually run with military precision behind the scenes. Nothing is left to chance - from the quality of the sound to the visuals, the way the queue runs to the carefully thought out programming and oh so subtle marketing. Many of the people who work at The End & AKA have been here for years, some since the doors first opened. Everyone who works (or has worked for) The End & AKA have something in common however; a love, belief and pride in what they do for the club.

Some of the heroes below will be recognisable faces, blurry double vision notwithstanding; some are so behind the scenes you may have never heard of them. We like to think that they all left a little sprinkling of The End magic dust and passion; so when you are standing in your favourite spot on the dancefloor, the vibe is just right, and the music lifts and moves you, we hope you pause to think of them, and a raise a glass to the many unsung heroes of The End.

Liam O’Hare - Director of Operations – 1995 - present
Liam has been here since day one and has literally seen it all. He’ll never tell though…..

Who would play Liam in The End: The Movie – Ron Jeremy

What's your earliest memory of The End?
Opening night, giving away, free of charge, what would today amount to a £50K bar. The utter devastation to the venue in the aftermath and the realisation of what they had got themselves into on Douglas and Layo’s face will live in my memory for ever…

An outstanding night and why!
Trash - It created a new musical genre, a new superstar DJ and the fact I brought Erol into the venue and made Trash at The End so successful gave me deep satisfaction.

And worst memory?
Loads but what goes on in the venue stays in the venue…

What has The End meant to you?
The End has been the best thing professionally I have done in my life so far. I met my wife, I have made friends that will be friends for life. I have had a job that I would have done for free and will remain youthful in outlook forever as a result!

Ty Vigrass – AKA General Manager – 1995 - present
Ty (pictured right) has also been at the club since inception, moving up the ranks to assistant manager of The End before taking over as GM of AKA.

Who would play Ty in The End: The Movie – that bloke who plays Jimmy Macnulty in The Wire

What's your earliest memory of The End?
Liam interviewed me for the position of bartender and I got the grand tour of a building site that was supposedly a super club. It was manic, you could still see where the horses bedded down and AKA was a carpark!

An outstanding night and why!
The End's 10th birthday. I went to dinner with Liam that night to celebrate and came to the club just to party and was still at the after party in AKA with Laurent Garnier playing at 11am. The atmosphere was amazing. AKA was like DC10 without the sunshine and tops off. Stevie Hyper D memorial night as every drum n bass head was there representing.

And worst memory?
Toilets bursting out onto the dancefloor at Lazy Dogs NY eve party. Midinight seeing in the new year and I'm shovelling shit!

Tell us a secret about The End...
You can hear the Underground trains passing under the dancefloor when I'm counting the bar floats in. Either that or it's the ghost of ye old post office ponies

What's 'your' night, the one you always looked forward to...
The players of course!

What has The End meant to you?
In one word - Family. It really has been a joy to work here. And although you can see the worst of people in this place you also see the best and it's the friendships that i'll be taking away from here as much as the hedonistic memories.

Ajay Jayaram & Ryan Ashmore – Promotions team 2000 – present
Responsible for the clubs forward thinking rosta of artist line ups and club nights. (We asked Ryan but couldn’t understand his thick Yorkshire accent so the answers below are Ajay’s).

Who would play Ajay and Ryan in The End: The Movie - Amitabh Bachan / Sean Bean

What's your earliest memory of The End?
Queuing up (when there was no AKA and the queue went the other way round the building) for Big Beat Boutique in '97...

An outstanding night and why!
A little trite perhaps, but there really is no way of rating nights above others. There have been many incredible events but all because of various different reasons relating to specific moods and certain times, both personally and as part of the venue's lifespan.

And worst memory?
Every Sunday morning / afternoon following a Birthday.

What's 'your' night, the one you always looked forward to...
Is it a complete cop out if I refer you to my answer for question 2?

What has The End meant to you?
Working at The End has allowed me to indulge my deep love of music, professionally. I'm a lucky man.

Don Mac – Webmaster – 1998 – present
Once office junior over 10 years ago and now webmaster and head of IT, also resident DJ for The End & AKA

Who would play Don in The End: The Movie – Harrison Ford

What's your earliest memory of The End?
My first memory of The End is going to the Cyclone party for my 21st Birthday night out in January 1996. I was quite drunk when I turned up all I remember is dancing to Alex Reece in the lounge. He had just released Pulp Fiction and I remember the place going mental when he dropped it.

An outstanding night and why!
There has been too many to count. I have been lucky enough to DJ down here over the last 10 years, so what stands out in terms of playing is NYE 2002 when I played about 8am in the morning. Going on after Jeff Mills and warming up for Laurent and Sven was very special as well. As a clubber the best night for me was the Subterrain Special with Laurent, Mr C and Sven in the main room, Layo & Bushwacka! in the lounge and Danny Tenaglia playing in AKA which was blacked out and had extra speakers put in. You can't get much better than that.

And worst memory?
I remember being particulary skint when I first joined due to my hefty student debts and for extra money on a Saturday I removed bobbles form the blue material that covers the main lobby and stairwell with a remmington fuzz away. If you saw how much material and how bobbly it was then it was a nasty job. I felt like Danny in Karate Kid when he had to wax the cars and paint the fence.

Tell us a secret about The End...
Our store and staff area is called 'Andrew Noble's' as about 7/8 years ago a guy called Andrew Noble had a design company in this area. The name has stuck and everyone still calls it Andrew Nobles despite the guy not having a business here for nearly 7 years. Andrew Noble is an End and AKA legend and he doesn't even know it.

What has The End meant to you?
The End has been a massive and important part of my life. I will miss the people I work with dearly; the enthusiasm, warmth and creativity that pours out of everyone here is something that I feel will leave a massive gap in my life. The end of the venue is an end of an era as I don't think any nightclub opened since then has created a space that has totally the clubber and DJ in mind.

Rich ‘Have you tried turning it off and on again?’ Kelly – Web & IT / In House Designer 2004 - 2008
Rich is also resident DJ for Anteprima and The Players

Who would play Rich Kelly in The End: The Movie – Michael J Fox dubbed by Danny Dyer

What's your earliest memory of The End?
When I first came to the club, at the end of 2001 / beginning 2002. I opened the big doors and got my first blast of hot sweaty smokey air. The main room was like something out of Dante's Inferno; a dark, smoke filled pit, with a fiery red glow with thundering ear shattering sound. Having not experienced anything quite like it in London I turned to my mate and shouted "WE'RE FUCKING DEAD!" It wasn't a particularly outstanding night musically, and there wasn't one of those crazy "you should have been there" type moments, there have been countless better parties that I have experienced since. It was the fact that I'd been regularly clubbing in London for a good number of years and been to all the big names, but for some reason never to The End, and this was my baptism of fire so to speak. It literally changed my opinion of what a night club should be about over night, everything fell into place. As they say, I'd definitely saved the best until last.

And worst memory?
Leaving the club at 7am on a Sunday and realising that I had to be at work at 10.30am (numerous times) or almost getting thrown out after a DJ gave me a record and a bouncer thought I'd nicked it.... all before I worked here I'll have you know. No bad memories when I worked here that I can recall.

What's 'your' night, the one you always looked forward to...
When Laurent Garnier is on one of his all night solo sessions, oh man.... always a special night. Just ask any of my former colleagues about how much I would bang on about it...

What has The End meant to you?
Friendship. A lot of love. A lot of music. Blood, sweat and / or tears. Many lost weekends. An amazing four years.

Alice Greaves – Head of Marketing 2006 – present
Alice was responsible for our amazing website, endclub.com

Who would play Alice in The End: The Movie – Winona Ryder

What's your earliest memory of The End?
My earliest memory is coming over from Birmingham to see Ashley Beedle in 1997, but the night that I really fell in love with the club was Bugged Out in January 2003. We got the train down from Leeds - Phil Kieran and The Glimmer Twins were playing, and there was a mini riot in the lounge when Erol Alkan came on. The train home was at 8am, so we stayed until the very end - when the lights came up I was dancing next to Justin Robertson, and I loved the fact that all of the DJs had stuck around and were enjoying the party as much as the crowd.

And worst memory?
Getting stuck in a toilet cubicle - the lock broke as I tried to open the door. It was about 2am and packed - I had to pull my chin up over the door, and shout until someone fetched help. Noone could open the door, so in the end, Tomasz from the bar passed a box over the door for me to stand on, and I had to scramble through the small gap at the top. Everyone in the toilets was laughing, pointing and taking photos.

Tell us a secret about The End...
It's organised with military precision behind the scenes.

What's 'your' night, the one you always looked forward to...
Bugged Out! for the party fun - dancing in the lounge, bits of fancy dress, lots of friendly faces all meeting up. Simple Records for the best music - Spirit Catcher live, Ewan Pearson, Will Saul, Motorcitysoul, Chateau Flight.

What has The End meant to you?
An amazing working environment - our 'Yellow Room' office has been an absolute riot of music, laughs and "so, who would play you in The End the movie?". Working with people like the club's press gurus Roz and Gin who have such passion and talent, it's impossible not to be inspired by them. And having a home where there's always a friendly face at the end of the bar.

Marco Torres – AKA duty manager 1999 – present
Marco (pictured right) created the delicious cocktail menu and is partly responsible for the popularity of the club with Italians!

Who would play Marco in The End: The Movie – Fabio Capello

What's your earliest memory of The End?
Sunday night at DTPM; my first time at The End

An outstanding night and why!
So many good night but really liked Whistlebump; MN2S; Sancho Panza… mainly because I really like the music there

Tell us a secret about The End...
The dis.... can’t say it, sorry

What has The End meant to you?
Half of my life

Barbara Wilson – Head of Marketing 2002 – 2006
Barbara was responsible for, amongst everything else, overseeing The End’s 10th birthday festival and the fanzine produced.

Who would play Barbara in The End: The Movie – Kirsten Dunst

What's your earliest memory of The End?
I went to one of the very first launch parties in the opening week of the club back in 1995, so it would have to be that. The whole place made such an incredible impact on me as it was totally fresh and exciting. And worst memory?I think that’s yet to come and it will be on the weekend of January 24th - when the legendary Thunder Ridge soundsystem will be turned off for the last time and there will be no more mad nights on The End’s dancefloor.

Tell us a secret about The End...
There’s a certain room in the building - referred by those in the know as ‘the yellow room’ – which has been the scene of a carry-on shindig or two. If that room could speak it could give you some really juicy secrets!

What's 'your' night, the one you always looked forward to...
There have been SO MANY favourites over the years, again it’s almost impossible to choose. But if pushed, I would have to choose classic Sunday parties such as DTPM, Twice As Nice, Clandestino and Superfreq – since the Sunday club vibe has always had that certain je ne sais quoi…

What has The End meant to you?
Mind-blowing music, like-minded people and ultra-good times – right in the heart of everything!

Tina Roberts – Reception
Tina (centre) worked behind The End bar before shunning the bright lights for a day job manning reception.

Who would play Tina in The End: The Movie – Christina Ricci

What's your earliest memory of The End?
My very first experience of The End was my first shift behind the bar. It was Chew The Fat's birthday, was mad busy and I had broken my foot the day before, but refused to miss it. It was brilliant! Everyone was so friendly, particularly Paul Arnold and Ladykilla, the soundsystem was amazing and I had never seen queues like it anywhere before. I was exhausted by the end of the night but was really excited to be working at such a legendary venue and with a team that made me feel welcome from the get go.

An outstanding night and why!
AKA's 10th Birthday. Everything from the decor to the music, the vibe and of course the occasion. Definitely my number one night at The End.

And worst memory?
Telling Mr C he couldn't have a drink. It was my first week, in the days before 24 hour licensing, and I didn't recognize him. whoops

Tell us a secret about The End...
A man named Mr Labadidi walks the vaults of the main room handing out extremely weird gifts to unsuspecting revelers. If you've ever woken up the morning after the night before, wearing latex gloves or with a mannequin hand in your pocket you probably just had the night of your life....

What has The End meant to you?
It sounds like a cliché and I'm sure everybody will say it, but the relationships amongst staff across the board can't be rivaled...we're mainly just one big happy family... honest!

Laurent Chaumet – Head of Marketing for AKA 1998 – 2002
Laurent also ran seminal gay night Discotec

Who would play Laurent in The End: The Movie – Brad Pitt (He made us put that)

What's your earliest memory of The End?
The opening party invites which where produce by a company called inflate, the staff jumpsuit uniforms & the free water fountain... very forward thinking!

An outstanding night and why!
Few in the last 13 years, but the birthdays were always great, and the staff parties (oops). As for a club night, the Derrick Carter Classic nights were always great, with a lot of industry people going awol on the dancefloor. As a close second, the Homelands / The End VIP areas were very good viewing (can't reveal more lol).

Tell us a secret about The End...
There's a stencil of a silver snow flake on one wall near the DJ booth on the main floor which has been there since the first Christmas.... and the sound engineer Cyclone is a Bowling Champ!

What's 'your' night, the one you always looked forward to...
When I wasn't working and I could stay home to watch TV... seriously: Missdemeanors in AKA - we love you Caroline!

What has The End meant to you?
A lot of fun, hard work, dance with a lot of very great, sweaty and smily people on the dancefloor. All in all, very happy memories....

Phil Huckle - AKA Bar manager 1999 – 2007
Phil was responsible for introducing many rare and imported rums, tequilas and bourbons into AKA’s back bar

Who would play Phil in The End: The Movie – Stephen Fry

What's your earliest memory of The End?
Earliest memory is probably going to Subterrain with the whole AKA staff after work in May 2000 (when I started) and having an amazing time!

An outstanding night and why!
Outstanding night - Miguel Migs who was my favourite DJ playing in the main room and Lisa Shaw (his wife) singing the best live P.A I have ever heard. Really magical for me. Also Sven Vath being very spangled also springs to mind!!

Tell us a secret about The End...
Secret - New Years Day 2002, after party. A staff member nearly burned the place down by letting off a Roman Candle in the office (he was fired!), the till system crashed, and the roof caved in and flooded AKA, all in the space of 2 hours. I luckily wasnt working at the time!!

What's 'your' night, the one you always looked forward to...
My night - I loved Simon Marlins night in AKA- Nocturnal. Really busy, great music and hot chicks!!

What has The End meant to you?
AKA has meant the world to me. It was 7 years of my life. Working with great people in a great atmosphere providing great quality service and being really proud of what you do. The bar changed the landscape of the London drinking scene and being the bar manager there for so long really helped me get the job I have now. The End of - course is a great club but lets remember that AKA in its own right was very very special and Im very proud to have played a part in its history!

Gaz ' Cyclon' Hughes - Sound - 1995 - present
Legendary sound engineer and the definition of rock n roll

Who would play Cyclon in The End: The Movie - Oliver Reed

What's your earliest memory of The End?
First time I came here, ended up getting a sound job for the weekend because they'd just sacked the last engineer, and I liked it so much I stayed for 13 years.

Tell us a secret about The End
There's... no. I don't kiss and tell.

What has The End meant to you?
Been a big chunk of my life for 13 years and it means a lot to me. I'm going to miss it a lot.

Published: 16/01/2009