Tim Hughes heads underground to find out more about the family-run Cellar club
As family businesses go, they don’t get much stranger — or more crazy — than that run by father and son Adrian and Tim Hopkins.
For more than 30 years the pair have run a venue, widely regarded as the wildest in town — The Cellar.
Over the course of that time Adrian, later joined by Tim, have taken a popular but run-down rock pub and turned it into a music venue which has acted as a springboard for bands like Mumford and Sons, Blood Red Shoes and Friendly Fires, as well as local heroes like Foals, Fixers, Stornoway, The Young Knives and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, who played his first ever live show there.
Tucked away down an alleyway, with the misleadingly grand title of Frewen Court, The Cellar has long been at the heart of Oxford’s alternative music scene. Starting life as a rockers’ pub called The Corn Dolly, it has remained fiercely independent.
The club is now extolling its quirky character by hosting a Celebration for Independent Venues week, curated by one of Oxford’s biggest bands: Stornoway.
All kicking off: Gig at The Cellar. Picture: Ben Spear
The night, on January 30, will see Stornoway frontman Brian Briggs playing a solo gig, with DJ sets from bandmates Jon Ouin and Oli Steadman.
The night will be headlined by acclaimed local act Pixel Fix, and will also feature sets by Tremor Heart and Esther Joy Lane.
For Tim, it’s a great opportunity to beat the drum for small venues.
“We are the only truly independent dedicated music venue in Oxford,” he says. “All the rest are rooms above, or behind, pubs. We are the only real family-owned venue I know.”
Adrian Hopkins, now 71, was working as an apprentice toolmaker at the Cowley plant when he made his mark as a music promoter, putting on local bands in his spare time, and booking acts for college balls. Even as a schoolboy he had a knack for the industry, organising bus tours to Beatles shows.
Leaving the plant, he went to work for Chrysalis Records. He went on to manage folk-rockers Steeleye Span, and promote acts as varied as James Last, Thin Lizzy and Johnny Cash on all of his UK shows.
He then moved into merchandise, working with everyone from Jethro Tull to Cliff Richard — whom he still represents.
After running Oxford’s Bogart’s nightclub (later Clementine’s) on the Plane, he bought ‘The Dolly’, bringing in manager Harry Brittain, who still runs the venue.
Tim, 34, joined his dad at the Dolly in 1998, beginning, to the horror of the hard-rocking clientele, with a club night of techno and drum & bass, called Armageddon. The night morphed into a regular Thursday night hip-hop and drum & bass night called Recreational Hazard, featuring his friends Toby Kidd, Jack Richens, Clive Watkins & Scott Parker.
The night proved so popular Adr-ian decided to turn the pub into a new venue, and in November 1999, The Cellar opened its doors — with a series of nights appealing to hip-hop and dance fans.
They also returned to putting on live bands, re-installing a stage and investing in a powerful new sound system.
The list of names to grace its DJ booth reads like a Who’s Who of dance, with Adam Freeland, Groove Armada, The Freestylers and Scratch Perverts all taking to the decks. The stage meanwhile played host to the cream of new music, as well as established acts (such as Afrika Bambaataa, Dawn Pen, Pulled Apart By Horses, Noah And The Whale, Metronome, Rolo Tomassi and Oxford’s Winnebago Deal) under the watchful eye, and ear, of legendary house sound engineer Jimmy Hetherington - acknowledged as being among the very best in the game.
“The Cellar has always championed local bands,” says Tim. “And, even with acts from out of town, we have always relished the opportunity to invite a local band to take a great support slot.”
Family firm: Club owner Tim Hopkins gearing up for a gig to celebrate national Independent Venue Week. Picture: Julian Rus
Asked about the venue’s appeal, he laughed: “It’s not a polished cocktail bar. It’s shabby chic without the chic.”
“If you’ve been, you’ll know. If you haven’t yet, come along. I’d encourage you to do so.
“There’s always something for everyone — it just depends what night you come.
“If you like live music it’s always worth a shout as you never know what you’re going to see. You rarely see the same show twice. It’s always a unique experience.”
He paid tribute to all independent venues, saying: “The Cellar is a fam-ily business, which has been serving the Oxford music scene for decades, and hopefully for years to come.
“This is the perfect place to celebrate Independent Venue Week. You can’t walk into a venue anywhere else in the world like The Cellar. It makes you feel alive. Chain places all look the same, but that dampens down people’s brains. You need alternative music and alternative places. The world would be a blander place without us.”
He added: “We are really proud to have Stornoway as our chosen flag flyer for The Cellar for Independent Venue Week. Fresh from selling out two nights at the Sheldonian Theatre and building up to their third album release, they have been an incredible success story for the independent venue circuit.”
Independent Venue Week show
* Friday, January 30
* Tickets: £7 in advance, £8 on the door from wegottickets.com
Local heroes: Stornoway
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