A NEW nightclub opened in Hereford's Commercial Road in January 1992, promising up to 35 jobs.

Marilyn's opened in the former Lovejoy's premises in the street, after it was bought by Gary Benjamin, precious licensee of the Market Tavern in Hereford and owner of Marilyn's nightclub in Evesham.

The former home of Hereford's cinema and the nightclub. Picture:Google Maps

Staff at Lovejoy's, which had been run by administrators for 12 months before its closure earlier that month, had been laid off when it shut its doors.

The new club hit the headlines a couple of times through the early 1990s, on one occasion for turning away a group with learning difficulties in 1994.

A row erupted in October that year when the group claimed they were told they could not enter due to a private party, which they alleged was a lie.

The club's manager at the time said the group had been turned away because they had upset and annoyed other customers by messing around.

In 1995, it was in the headlines again, this time for failing in a bid to stay open into the early hours of Christmas Day.

Magistrates rejected the club's application, telling it that it must close at 11.45pm in line with Herefordshire Bench's policy regarding Christmas Day as sacred.

The interior of Club Eros. Picture: Hereford Times

By 1998, big changes were on the way, with the nightclub overhauled and decked out with psychedelic relics as it was rebranded as Club Eros.

Manager Billy Reynolds said in June that year that the former Marilyn's had become too tired and dated for the city's clubbers, with owners Northern Leisure coming up with a new theme inspired by ancient Rome.

The £250,000 renovation saw the club bedecked with fantasy art and statues, while surreal wall paintings showed Roman buildings being sucked into a vortex, while the toilets were lined with Italian marble and mahogany panelling.

The result, Northern Leisure said, was a "demented version of the Classical world", dominated by a central dance floor with state-of-the-art lighting and sound-to-light effects, and a 13,000 watt sound system.

Pete from Hereford competes in a Full Monty competition at Club Eros in Hereford in 1998. Picture: Hereford Times

The club would later become Dusk and Time, before its final rebrand as Fusion.

It closed for good in January 2015, with Steve Harrison, who owned the Fusion business as well as a number of other pubs in Hereford, saying a cultural change was behind the closure.

He added: “We’ve been there 13 months and we did all sorts of things. We’ve had events like Naughty but Nice, dance nights featuring Lisa Lashes, boxing and live music. We also had DJ Juicy M who pulls in 25,000 plus in Brazil but couldn’t get 400 in Hereford.

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