The Mardi Gras was Dundee’s biggest nightclub and the hottest place for young revellers to go on Friday and Saturday nights.
Pat Mulligan was the club’s first ever DJ on its opening night in March 1995.
He spent a decade in the Mardi Gras in total and still remembers everything – from the smell of the smoke-stained carpets, to the long queues that would snake around the building till four in the morning, to how it eventually became the best-dressed club in the city where some of the biggest pop acts would earn their pocket money.
Even better – Pat remembers how it all came about, and sat down with us to share his memories of one of Dundee’s favourite clubs.
Pat Mulligan has been DJing in nightclubs since he was 15 years old.
He said: “I started out in Newcastle.
“Just by sheer fortune, I managed to get into some of the bigger nightclubs.
“From there I went to London, and worked in the West End for a couple years.
“In 1994 I went to Majorca where I met the girlfriend I had at the time.
“She was from Cupar – so eventually we moved back to Fife.
“Bizarrely, the job at the Mardi came up while we were staying at her mum and dad’s house.
“The architects had just designed the Mardi out of all the old fixtures from the recently-closed Venue nightclub in Lochee.
“Most of the bars, sound and lighting system, and not to mention the toilets all came from the Venue.
“My DJ booth was made out of the Venue’s old fire doors.
“The Mardi were looking for a DJ for their upcoming opening night, and so I sent my CV over to Gus – the manager.
“Then in October 1994, Gus made me the Mardi’s Head DJ and Marketing Manager.
“I was only 22.”
Mardi Gras opening night
Pat worked with a second DJ called Pete Harvey on the opening night of the Mardi Gras.
They were joined by a small team of young management, all in their 20s and 30s.
Pat said: “We felt like a family.
“We’d have barbecues together and were honestly living the dream.
“Being that young with that kind of job – I don’t feel like I ever worked a day in my life.
“The Mardi felt like home.”
While the club would soon become one of Dundee’s favourites, Pat remembers that the first six months were quiet.
He said: “It wasn’t that busy back then.
“We’d only be open on a Friday and a Saturday.
“It wasn’t until we added the student night on a Wednesday that it erupted.
“Soon we were filled to capacity – and had queues running right around the building.”
The original Mardi Gras club held over 900 people.
As its popularity increased, the club management took over the bar next door, Bar Chevrolet, and knocked through the joining wall to create a single, larger premises.
The new club could hold around 1,500 people – but that didn’t stop the queues.
Pat added: “It was astonishingly busy.
“On a Saturday night, you’d hit capacity by 11.15pm.
“From that point on, we had to operate on a one in-one out policy!
“We later added a mezzanine, a VIP lounge, and a restaurant.
“We had a cocktail bar too!
“Every dog has its day, but we certainly had a decade right at the top of Dundee’s nightlife.”
But what was it that made the Mardi Gras the place to be, compared to other clubs in the city?
According to Pat there was still a significant entry fee, but that didn’t put people off.
He said: “Back then clubbing was all about one room.
“One room, one energy, bringing people together no matter their gender, race, or socio-economic differences.
“We provided folks with a really good, quality night out.
“And there weren’t VIPs every night – but we did have them.”
VIP guests
Tony Cochrane, who now owns Club Tropicana, was the Mardi Gras’ club promoter at the time and secured a number of big names for the club.
Pat adds: “We used to get them for practically nothing.
“When Steps first came out in 1995, we managed to book them for 15 quid.
“Then we got the Spice Girls to play, but Blue was a real highlight.
“We were able to book them literally the day before they went off to break Asia.
“We did a deal for cash.
“They could come and play the Mardi and end up with a bit of pocket money to go on their tour.
“But I think more than anything else, people loved us ’cause we were consistent.
“We were open seven nights a week in the end.
“People knew that if they wanted to go out in Dundee, they could come to us.”
The Mardi Gras even opened on Christmas Day.
Pat added: “Well why wouldn’t we?
“We were open every other day of the year!”
While the dress code of the Mardi was initially a casual affair, Pat remembers how that changed – and how their smarter dress code went on to change the face of clubbing forever.
He said: “We had a doorman named Charlie McDade.
“And at one of our team marketing meetings, Charlie suggested we start implementing a dress code.
“It changed us fundamentally as a club.
“We started turning people away who weren’t dressed smart enough.
“People really started to make an effort.
“We’d never seen anything like it before.
“People clubbing in that era just didn’t dress up, it didn’t happen.
“But eventually, it did at the Mardi, and it wasn’t long before we saw it elsewhere too.”
Liquid nightclub
The Mardi Gras was later bought over by leisure company Northern Leisure.
Northern Leisure later merged with another company and became Luminar Leisure.
The new company rebranded the Mardi Gras as a different nightclub – Liquid.
Pat said: “I don’t think Liquid ever enjoyed the success that it did as the Mardi Gras.
“I think one of the fundamental things that changed was that it went from one room to two.
“There were two different DJs playing two different types of music.
“You might think that gives you more choice but actually, from a practical standpoint, the DJs couldn’t take any risks at all without people leaving their room.
“And then you get judged because people left your room.
“It created a new drama that it didn’t need to have.
Legendary Dundee nightclub Mardi Gras set for reunion, over a decade after it closed https://t.co/p4lvXfOgU3 pic.twitter.com/zuXudz2f8r
— Evening Telegraph (@Evening_Tele) January 13, 2016
“If the music was bad, people would try the other room and see if that room was any better and then maybe come back again.
“And the same would happen in reverse.
“You’d end up with people moving all night long.
“And I think in Dundee, people just weren’t used to that.”
Liquid closed in March 2018.
At the time, Milton Keynes based company Deltic, who ran the club, said that the continuing decline of Dundee’s nightlife had been behind their decision.
Despite its closure, the spirit of the Mardi Gras lives on through the reunions that Pat has organised throughout the years.
Now aged 50, Pat is still a DJ.
He said: “I host weddings these days.
“I travel the country, and work abroad two or three times a year.
“I’m 51 in November – and I feel like I’ve never worked a day in my life.
“I’m not looking forward to the day when I have to!”
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