This piece was submitted to the Daily Record/Courier but this is the full version :
Bathgate has long held its reputation as the music capital of West Lothian, and that is due in no small part to the Scottish music institution that is DreadnoughtRock.
For literally generations music fans across Scotland flocked to Bathgate to see what all the fuss was about.
The club has a legacy to uphold – some of the same DJs have performed in DreadnoughtRock for 40+ years, with the newest DJ having a tenure of JUST four years, along with certain bar staff who have worked for us for decades too.
The team behind Dreadnought don’t remember exactly when the venue first opened to the day, but after looking through accounts and listening to the oral histories of long-time customers and friends, they narrowed down the time of opening to around April / May in 1972 - give or take a month or so.
Regardless, Douglas Croft took over the rock disco from Studio 4 around 47 years ago who started the ball rolling in 1972 are now set to celebrate their golden anniversary in 2022 with Douglas still at the helm.
Alan Russell, the operations manager of DreadnoughtRock spoke about being open in Bathgate for 50 years, he said:
“It’s fairly unique for any company to be open 50 years, never mind in our line of work.
“I’ve been involved with Dreadnought for the last 25 plus…. years, and I’ve seen the scene change massively in West Lothian.
“Back then there were at least eight nightclubs in Bathgate and around 15-20 in West Lothian - now I think West Lothian only has three altogether.
“That just shows how phenomenal it is to be open this long - and I think what makes us have that staying power is that we simply gradually evolved with all who came along for a great night out dressed to the nines or arse hanging out their jeans. All that mattered was everyone enjoyed themselves .”
Ten years ago the club's 40th anniversary night invited a total of 100 people on a Sunday night, which quickly escalated into a chaotic party with many more looking for invites as word spread.
Following on from their 40th anniversary celebrations in 2012, the management are keen to expand things this time so not to miss anyone out as keeping track of all who have been part of the history would be impossible - so have decided to host four nights of celebration now scheduled on their website events page.
The four nights will allow for all the ex-staff and customers of Dreadnought to come back and relive their glory days from the club's half a century's worth of history.
The club got its name from the Old Dreadnought Hotel, the original venue that sadly closed around 2006 when Swallow Hotels, the owner of the hotel at the time went into administration.
Despite the loss of their spiritual home Dreadnoughtrock carried on, eventually settling at its new venue on King Street in Bathgate where it’s been for nearly 15 years.
Alan concludes:
“While nothing changed dramatically over the years in regards to the rock ethos, we’ve evolved the types of rock music and introduced more live bands from local to international standings that still provide a safe and enjoyable place to be.
Granted many things have came and went over the decades but so much of the spirit of the years gone by remain that made the club special. That very much is down to those who came and made it special that we hopefully will see passing down to the next generation. We hope that continues in the future.
“We’ve been rocking through some torturous times lately, of course Covid has hit us hard, and a multitude of other factors throughout the decades but we are still here and still rocking every weekend.
This is not purely just down to the teams behind the scenes hard work over the years but to all who have came and been part of our history.
We thank you all and look forward to the years and decades to come.
The four nights are now set in stone for people to be invited along to and laid out on the 50th Anniversary page of the website.
Please nip over to our website home page or CLICK HERE
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