Golden Hill Fort in Freshwater had a very chequered reputation for raves in the 90s – both legal and illegal.
The fort was originally built between 1863 and 1868 to provide accommodation for soldiers serving in local West Wight batteries, housing 128 soldiers and 8 officers. The army left Golden Hill in 1962, selling the fort 2 years later. It was then used as a base for light industries.
In 1984, restoration of the fort began, opening the following year as a tourist attraction, including a cafe and a museum. However, Golden Hill did not attract tourists for very long. The tourist attraction failed, leaving the site in a state of dereliction.
This is when the ‘infamous’ raves began…
The most momentous rave party was Treasure Island on 17th August 1991. It was organised by Golden Hill Promotions in conjunction with Empire and Scoop. The event featured “sound servers”, including Grooverider, Rhythm Doctor, Kid Bachelor and Evil Eddie Richards.
Treasure Island was a 24-hour event, featuring lasers, cutting edge (for 1991) computer-aided visuals and fireworks. Some 700 revellers were anticipated, many from the mainland.
However, there were serious objections before the event started, with a local Councillor stating:
“People living near the fort think it is completely the wrong place to hold an event of this nature. they are concerned about the noise, the threat of hooligans and that fields between the fort and their homes could become a fire hazard.”
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The following year, a further all-night rave was planned at Golden Hill for August – organised by Steve Howard of Pressure Promotions – leading to fierce opposition from local Councillors. One Councillor claimed that the previous year’s rave had led to him receiving 200 complaints and that he believed the Police had had a similar number.
The rave – on 12th and 13th September 1992 – was somewhat surprisingly given permission by South Wight Borough Council. Tickets were only available to those attending Pandemonium parties at Zanies in Sandown.
Local residents were up in arms over the decision to give the rave the go ahead. One married couple stated they would be staying in bed and breakfast on the other side of the Island on the night of the event, such was their concern about noise pollution.
By the end of 1992, the organisers of the raves were finding themselves up before the courts. John Perkins of Hayling Island was fined £1,050 and ordered to pay £850 costs for breaching the entertainments licence by disturbing neighbours.
A planning application to change an industrial unit at Golden Hill to a nightclub was refused. However, the owners of the industrial unit circumvented licencing regulations by organising ‘live recording sessions’ from 23:00 on Saturdays until 09:00 the following morning, attended by up to 300 people.
In 1996, the manager of Golden Hill Fort, Phillip John Hellyer of East Cowes, was charged with allowing the supply of cocaine and the smoking of cannabis on the premises, organising entertainment without a licence and firearms offences.
Further controversy followed when Hellyer was involved in an altercation in which an axe and a flick-knife were used, resulting in a charge of attempted murder.
The Perkins family then sold Golden Hill Fort to Heron Leisure, who hoped to revamp the attraction into an entertainment complex based on the giant 1970 Isle of Wight pop festival.
Director Michael Heron claimed the attraction would attempt to shake off the fort’s reputation as a rave venue by placing an emphasis on family entertainment.
In the summer of 1997, Sirius Discotheque opened its doors in the fort. One of its first DJs was former middleweight champion Nigel Benn, who was part of a double act known as The Untouchables together with partner DJ Ride, playing a set of speed garage.
Golden Hill Fort was transformed with an investment of half-a-million pounds. It was hoped that the venue would hold as many as 5,000 people and establish itself as a venue for international artists and stage mini festivals.
Sadly, it wasn’t to be…
On New Year’s Eve 1998, 16-year-old Aidan Johnson – a former badminton champion – collapsed outside Golden Hill Fort after taking ecstasy tablets. He was taken to St Mary’s Hospital suffering from liver failure before being transferred by helicopter to King’s College Hospital in London.
Sirius nightclub was closed immediately by the then owners, European Leisure Events Limited, when they became aware of the drug-related collapse.
In 2002, Golden Hill Fort was put on the market for £800,000. It was sold in 2005 and converted into 18 individual apartments. The interior of the fort is now a closed gated community.
The whole article reads like how to get into as much trouble as possible, and piss people off and much as you can. No wonder the island still has a massive drug problem. Managers would of known of drug use in there, but of course they wouldn’t have done anything to stop it, turning a blind eye, so sadly someone had to die before it all got closed down.
Great story.
Raves on the Island were crazy back in the day,
at least the Numpty’s have finally grown out of them.
Finally acting their age, not their shoe size.
Lol
Funny that because most of the women you go for nowadays are the age of your shoe size scummy little predator int ya.
The only raves you attended was under 18s livingstones and waiting in a hedge outside don’t count as attending.
Oh dear