When Borderlines opened its first club in March 1995 at the Bedford Hotel, Balham, little did we know how popular line dancing would become and how Borderlines would develop.
But Borderlines, Peter and Nick, had been involved in line dancing before then. The Cactus Club at the Bell, Kings Cross was created after a chance visit to the Cactus Club, New York that I made in May 1993.
Line dance exclusive clubs were unknown in this country before then. The Cactus Club took a new approach and attracted a lot of people who have since become “household names” in the line dance world. I was the first teacher at the club and it was only after the brewery closed the Bell, that the Cactus Club ceased.
In 1995, Nick and I decided to try and find a base in South London, the only other club of any note being in the North. All other clubs in the south were “old style” country & western shoot out clubs with dancing, where line dancing was a small part, if any, of the evening. The Balham club opened with a good attendance of people (We opened using the name Lone Star, but that was changed later to South of the Border), initially once a week, and later going twice weekly.
At around the same time Nick founded Lines & Bears at Duke’s in Vauxhall, where he was followed by many of the old Bell regulars.
When we started at the Rivoli Ballroom in February 1996 we used the name Borderlines for the first time, and the 'B' was now establish as the common letter....Balham and Brockley. Beckenham opened in June 1996 at the Regal Ballroom and finally, in March 1997, Bexley, at the Marlowe Rooms in Sidcup, was taken over from another organisation.
The four Borderlines clubs and Lines & Bears were now established and the customers of all the clubs turned up for the six nights that Borderlines offered teaching and dancing. Also the Redneck Rodeo at the Rivoli Ballroom on the second Saturday of every month provided a great social opportunity for all our customers to meet and dance.
After five years in Balham, Borderlines left the Bedford and passed the club over to Rob Rundle’s ‘Silver Dollar’, (which closed on 13/12/2010). Bexley was passed to Karen and Michelle who run Texas Rose clubs. Beckenham’s Regal venue closed in 2001 but the Sunday nights moved to Dulwich with David and Michael. With problems at the Rivoli both Wednesdays and the Monthly Rodeo had to close, but St Cyprian’s maintained our presence in Brockley.
Few line dance clubs have survived as well as Borderlines and some clubs still exist in different names.
We tried to offer a good value for money evening and attracted good numbers at all the venues.
See A-Z dance list for some of the 400 plus dances that have been taught at our various venues over the years (now includes line dances being taught at the cactus club). The way we taught covered dances both old and new makes us the first choice for our customers and the large number of teachers who attended our clubs........Peter Flockhart (AUKA /AIDTA)
If it's a B, it must be Borderlines
Mondays - Balham
Tuesdays - Bexley
Wednesdays - Brockley
Thurdays - Balham
Sundays - Beckenham
made up the Borderlines club nights March 1995 - December 2001
