These remarkable images reveal the true horror of the devastating blaze which gutted Dundee’s old Palais in 1980.
The photos – some of which have never been seen before – were discovered in DC Thomson’s East Kingsway archives.
Only a handful were used in the newspaper following the fire and the shots paint a startling picture of the challenge firefighters faced.
The cherished city venue in South Tay Street opened in 1928 and hosted acts over the decades such as Louis Armstrong, David Bowie and the Bee Gees.
The blaze on February 20 1980 was the day the music died and has never been forgotten by Andi Lothian, whose family were part of the fabric of the institution since the 1930s.
The discovery of these remarkable images has given Andi the chance to take a bittersweet look back at a fateful night that has never left him.
Fire broke out at the Palais shortly before 11pm but attempts to save the building were in vain.
Sparks and glowing cinders soared into the sky as it was reduced to ash and rubble.
Fire crews from all Dundee stations, Broughty Ferry, Monifieth and Carnoustie attended the blaze, which took with it an institution at the heart of Dundee’s nightlife.
Andi said: “I was at a business meeting with colleagues when I received a phone call from my wife, Sheila.
“Sheila and I, at the time, ran Lothian Insurance Brokers from 31 South Tay Street.”
“This address was both the mutual entrance to our offices and Palais ballroom.
“Sheila had noticed smoke coming from some of the ventilators in the ballroom and phoned the fire brigade.
“When I arrived at the building, flames were already breaking through the roof of the ballroom.
“From the first floor of the offices, we could see the entire ballroom and noticed the fire rapidly spreading.
“By the time the fire service arrived, the roof of the ballroom was collapsing – and was itself a lost cause.”
“The passage to the ballroom and Regal Rooms was separated from our offices by a fire door.
“Despite the fire door, I could hear an intense crackling and feel the heat of the fire on the other side.
“The firefighters were extremely anxious that there was no one in the offices and I confirmed that Sheila was out and the building was otherwise unoccupied.
“The firefighter pulled opened the fire door and huge flames burst through.
“At exactly this point, water exploded from the huge fire hose pointed toward the fire door and I realised the fire wouldn’t be allowed to spread into the offices.
“I suddenly realised that it wasn’t appropriate for me to be there any longer and, after a fairly hairy couple of minutes, I left the building.”
Having made it out safely, the next step for Andi was to tell his father what had happened.
He added: “I hadn’t notified him during the actual fire to save him the pain of seeing the destruction.
“He and my mother arrived the next morning.
“It was only then that the enormity of the loss dawned on our family.”
Andi’s father, of course, was the legendary Andy Lothian who first came to the Palais on in 1938 with his touring band.
Originally only planning to spend six months fronting the nightclub’s renowned band, Andy fell in love with Dundee and stayed for the next three decades.
The Palais was also the setting for the famous Dundee Monkey Parade, which was a Sunday night highlight for teenagers in the 1950s.
Dancing itself was banned on the Sabbath night and instead the youth of the time went along to listen to the resident band and singers invited from the audience.
For the entire night the patrons walked round and round the hall in a snaking chain that became known as the Monkey Parade.
Top Ten Club
Andi started the Sunday Night Cafe at the Palais, which was the beginning of the venue as a home for all the top music stars.
Some of the popular entertainers who performed there included crooner Tony Vincent, piano rockstar Stan Urban and Dundee’s own Cliff Richard, Jonny Hudson.
In the early 1960s Andi started the Top Ten Club, which ran once a week from the Palais and replaced the Sunday night café.
David Bowie was just one of the stars who played on the Palais stage at the Top Ten Club, which ran once a week until the 1970s.
The ownership of the premises changed hands when Murdoch Wallace, owner of the nearby Barracuda nightclub, took it over and changed its name.
It ceased to be the Palais in October 1976 when Mr Wallace carried out extensive, £50,000 renovations and reopened it as Samantha’s disco.
He finally sold out in October 1979 to a Glasgow group, with Alex Brown, owner of McGonagall’s bar in Perth Road, playing a leading role in the new ownership.
Mr Brown, a former manager of the Chevalier Casino, Seagate, successfully applied to convert the building into a casino.
On January 9 1980 the licensing committee granted a licence to provide discos, dancing and musical entertainment in the building.
A month later it was up in smoke.
Andi continued: “The Palais was such a part of the history and fabric of Dundee, and many, many amazing artists played there.
“It was gone forever.”
After the Palais was destroyed, Andy Lothian went on to teach violin at the High School of Dundee for a number of years.
He wrote a weekly column for The Courier, critiquing new music.
In 1997 Andi and Sheila re-erected the ballroom’s iconic sign in honour of his father.
The sign had been mothballed during the fire but was restored by ‘Images of Ladybank’.
At the time, Andi said: “I am sure it will bring Dundee’s retired generation great pleasure to see the Palais sign lit brightly again as they pass down Tay Street.”
It remains there to this day.
That iconic entrance is now all that’s left of the old Palais, acting as a portal through time to decades of happy memories in Dundee.
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