Teesside’s defining dancefloor comes home. With original residents back behind the decks, the Arena returns to celebrate a venue that shaped a generation of club culture.
When you walked into The Arena, you felt it before you heard it. The weight of the sound system, the shape of the room, the sense that something serious was about to happen. For Middlesbrough, a town often overlooked on the national club map, The Arena was proof that a local scene could stand shoulder to shoulder with anywhere else in the country.
The Arena as most people remember it was strongly associated with local promoter Brian Andrews, who had previously run Club Havana and later opened other Middlesbrough venues such as the Cornerhouse. Andrews and his team helped push house music, and later drum and bass, deep into the North East. What followed was a run of nights built on trust in residents, long sets and a crowd that came to listen as much as dance.
“It was the natural progression,” recalls Simon Gibb, one of the club’s most influential residents. “The Havana was just too small and the scene was blowing up, so a bigger venue was a must.”
The move from Havana to The Arena was not glamorous. It was graft.
“It was all hands on deck. We were painting, sanding floors and doing whatever needed doing to get the doors open.”
What emerged was a venue with two distinct identities. Upstairs might lean darker and rougher, but downstairs, where much of the house music energy lived, was clean, colourful and open. Residents were given room to build journeys rather than chase peaks. That approach helped form a fiercely loyal crowd and a generation of DJs who learned how to read a room properly.
“I was lucky,” says Gibb. “I got my love of music from my father, listening to Etta James and Fats Domino when I was young. Working at the Havana then put me right in the middle of everything. I was hearing DJs before it all blew up.”
One of the defining moments in the Arena’s history came in September 1994, when BBC Radio 1’s Essential Mix was broadcast live from Middlesbrough. Hosted by Pete Tong, the night featured Simon Gibb alongside Tino Lugano and Collin Patterson, placing the Arena firmly on the national stage.
“It was recorded live and felt real, with a few fuck-ups thrown in,” Gibb laughs. “There were no computers or sync buttons, so for me it was a very proud moment.”
That moment did not happen by accident. It reflected years of groundwork laid by residents, promoters and dancers who had built something authentic. For many in attendance, hearing their local club on national radio was validation that Middlesbrough’s scene mattered.
Away from the booth, Gibb was also helping push the sound forward through Tumblin’ Records, the label he co-ran with Chris Scott. Launched in 1994, Tumblin’ became an outlet for deep and tribal house, pairing Scott with local talent and using Nu Groove’s distribution network to get records out across the UK and beyond.
“Those records were made in a little basement in Bishop Auckland,” says Gibb. “When you see the prices they fetch on Discogs now, it shows we definitely did something right.”
The Arena years were also defined by community. While big names passed through, the residents were the backbone.
“The best nights were always about the residents,” Gibb explains. “You built something with the crowd over time. I absolutely loved playing alongside the local talent. There was so much quality coming out of Middlesbrough.”
That spirit is exactly what the Arena Reunion aims to recapture.
Taking place at Bloom, Middlesbrough, on Monday 29 December, the event brings together original Arena DJs for a one-off celebration. The line-up reads like a roll call of the club’s history.
Room One
Collin Patterson
Andrew Baxter
Simon Gibb
Tino Lugano
Graeme Clark
Room Two
Gary Beckett
Derek Curtis
“This will be a one-off, 100 percent,” Gibb is clear. “We wanted to breathe something special back into it. It was a massive part of my life and I just wanted to celebrate the music from that era with the DJs who played there.”
Choosing Bloom was a deliberate decision.
“Downstairs at the Arena was bright, clean and colourful,” says Gibb. “After DJing at Bloom and hearing the system, it felt right. The way it’s run confirmed we made the right choice.”
With extra sound and visuals planned, the reunion is not about nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake. It is about reconnecting the dots between space, sound and people.
For those who danced there first time around, it is a chance to step back into a room that helped define their musical identity. For newer generations, it is an opportunity to experience the ethos of a club built on trust, residents and long-form DJing.
“It’s about celebrating the music and the people who made The Arena what it was,” Gibb says. “That’s it.”
Read the full interview below:
KOTT: Hi Simon, thanks for taking some time out to speak to us. Whereabouts in the world are you right now?
Simon: Hi Andy, I’m all good and back in sunny Middlesbrough now for the Christmas holidays. I’m preparing for my daughter to arrive from Peru at the weekend and really looking forward to playing a couple of gigs while I’m back.
KOTT: Take us back to the beginning of young Gibbo’s love for music. When did you first start DJing and why?
Simon: I got my love of music from my father, who constantly listened to blues and jazz radio stations and had a decent record collection of his own. I have many fond memories of listening to Etta James, Fats Domino and others with him when I was very young.
Around the age of 16 I started buying house albums and 12-inches. That was down to a neighbour called Mark Laws, who was an indie DJ and used to give me promos he didn’t want. I remember getting a promo copy of the FFRR House Sound of Chicago album and also a 12-inch promo of a remix of Do You Wanna Funk by Sylvester. I was hooked.
Every Saturday, with £28 from my YTS job, I would go to Alan Fearnley’s and buy imported 12-inches.
My first DJ gig came about by accident. I was working as a glass collector at Club Havana at 17 and got asked to play a Saturday afternoon kids’ party because the DJ didn’t turn up. I just put the tunes on, played them to the end and then put another one on.
I was then taught how to beatmatch by DJ Huey, who was resident at the Havana at the time and a massive influence in my early DJing days.
KOTT: Who were your early influences, DJ or band-wise?
Simon: DJ Huey, DJ Appo, Andy Baxter, Edzy and Unique 3. Basically anyone who came and played at the Havana where I worked.
Then Collin arrived with his friend Simon Doward and completely flipped the script with all these Balearic sounds and DJs they brought up from London, like Phil Perry, Craig Walsh and Darren Laws. They were part of the Junior Boys Own scene that was taking over London and Ibiza at the time.
I once jumped into the car with Darren Laws after he played at the Havana and got invited to a Full Circle party in Slough, run by Phil Perry and his wife Fiona. I got to hear Andrew Weatherall play at that famous Sunday afternoon party.
I was so lucky to hear these DJs early on in their careers, before it all blew up.
KOTT: Where and when was your first paid DJ gig?
Simon: My first paid DJ gig was at the Havana. I think I got £30, lol.
KOTT: Did you ever think back then that this would be something you’d still be doing decades later?
Simon: Honestly, yes. It was all I could think about.
When I was young and became resident at the Havana, playing warm-up on a Saturday night before Collin took over, I was 18 and absolutely in awe of Collin, Huey and the guest DJs appearing. I also did all the flyer and poster deliveries for the club and the parties the club put on.
KOTT: The Arena and Simon Gibb. How did that come about?
Simon: The Arena was the natural progression. The Havana was just too small and the scene was blowing up, so a bigger venue was a must.
The same owners of the Havana invested everything they had into a run-down club near Newport roundabout, which then became The Arena. It was all hands on deck. We were painting, sanding floors and doing whatever needed doing to get the doors open as soon as possible.
KOTT: You must have played alongside some of the biggest names in electronic music. Carl Cox, Pete Tong, Mike Pickering, Todd Terry. Which gig stands out as the most memorable?
Simon: Yes, I played alongside all of those, but the most memorable times were the Flying Records parties hosted by Charlie Chester.
If I had to pick one, it would be Lil Louis from Chicago, of French Kiss fame. He didn’t really mix tunes as such, but blended them using reel-to-reel for atmospheric effects. He dropped disco and funk alongside acid house and techno, and finished with this mad ragtime jazz track. It was amazing.
If I’m being honest, I also absolutely loved playing alongside the local talent when Edzy took over ownership. Derek Curtis, Gary Beckett, Ste Guthrie, Peter May and others were all incredible.
KOTT: The live Radio 1 broadcast back in September 1994. How was that? A huge moment in your career?
Simon: Yeah, we actually recorded it in a studio in Stockton and then it was played on Essential Selection the following Friday.
It was recorded live and felt real, with a few fuck-ups thrown in, lol. It wasn’t done on a computer with sync buttons, so for that reason it was definitely a very proud moment.
KOTT: You started Tumblin’ Records in 1994 while working with Nu Groove Records. How did that begin?
Simon: I met Chris Scott and was asked by a mutual friend to record a few tracks with him to be released on his label, Circuit Records.
Marcus Gordon, Chris and I formed Head Nodding Society and released the Headstart EP. Head On was the main track for me and it got licensed by Work Records in Amsterdam.
With the money from that release, plus some help from my family, I approached Nu Groove Records, came up with the name Tumblin’, and used Chris Scott as the main creator of the tracks. We paired him with local talent to produce records and used Nu Groove’s connections to distribute them around the UK and beyond.
The prices those limited pressings now fetch on Discogs, considering they were made in a little basement in Bishop Auckland, shows we did something right. Seeing Chris, Scott Bradford and others take it to another level with Forensic and continue to do so makes me incredibly happy for Chris.
KOTT: You’re known for being a bit of a party enthusiast. What’s one of the maddest things you’ve done while out clubbing?
Simon: Oh my god, there are loads. Probably jumping into a car and getting driven to London to attend the Full Circle party. That was a heavy session and a horrendous comedown travelling back to Boro.
More recently at Hardwick Festival this year, I took a few drags off what I thought was a vape and turned into a wasp for ten minutes. Obviously, it wasn’t a vape.
KOTT: Let’s talk about what brings us here. The Arena Reunion on Monday 29 December at Bloom, Middlesbrough. It’s billed as a one-off. Why now?
Simon: It’s something I’d been chatting about with Pete Livo, promoter of the Boogaloo parties, fellow DJ and long-time friend, for a while.
He knows how special The Arena was to me and the people of Middlesbrough, but we both agreed it had to be a one-off and something truly special.
Then this year at Hardwick, while partying with Collin and Andy, we thought, fuck it, let’s do it. It was a massive part of my life and I just wanted to celebrate the music from that era with the DJs who played there over its ten-year run.
It will be a one-off, 100 percent. We’re pulling out all the stops with extra sound and visuals.
KOTT: That line-up is a proper northern powerhouse. Anyone else you wish you could have squeezed on?
Simon: I really wanted Ste Guthrie involved. He’s a good mate and an incredible DJ, but unfortunately he couldn’t join us.
I know I should probably be saying some big name, but the scene now, with overpaid DJs and crowds filming everything on their phones, isn’t really for me. Best to stick to the former residents of the club.
KOTT: Bloom is better known for brunches and disco-themed nights. Why was it right for an underground Arena-style party?
Simon: We looked at other venues and they were very dark and dingy. Yes, the Arena upstairs was like that, but downstairs, where I played, was bright, upmarket, clean and colourful.
After attending a party there by the Peverell brothers, I realised it was the place. DJing there recently at Meltdown and seeing how well it’s run, plus how good the sound system is, confirmed we made the right choice.
KOTT: How are ticket sales looking?
Simon: Tickets are going well. It looks like it will sell out with ten days to go. There may be a limited number available on the door.
KOTT: Three tracks that never leave your bag or USB?
Simon:
Solution – Feels So Right
New Order – Blue Monday
Sylvester – Feel Real (Kon edit)
KOTT: Vinyl or digital on the night?
Simon: Both. Vinyl and digital.
KOTT: Hardwick Festival has been paused. What are your thoughts on that decision?
Simon: I was really saddened by it because Hardwick was the highlight of my year, but I totally understand John and the organisers needing a break.
I can’t imagine the stress and financial pressure involved in running something like that. Fingers and toes crossed it returns. It’s such an important event for the area.
KOTT: Maybe a To The Manor Born weekender could happen?
Simon: That’s a great idea. Something smaller, showcasing local talent over a couple of days at Hardwick Hall.
KOTT: Gibbo, always a pleasure. Hopefully we’ll have a beer at the Arena Reunion. When’s the autobiography coming?
Simon: You’re more than welcome, Andy, and we’ll definitely have that beer at the reunion.
To Hell and Back by Gibbo Baggins will be out summer 2027. Lol.
The Arena Reunion is on Monday 29 December at Bloom, Middlesbrough, 4pm to 12 midnight
Tickets £10 (buy them here)
nice to hear some history of the club. only went a couple of times, as it was a dressed up crowd and i was a dressed down clown
surely darren price? and not darren laws though?
Brilliant interview