People connected to a nightclub that in its heyday hosted La Toya Jackson and Steve Wright have thrown a reunion party 33 years after the venue closed.

Top of The Town in Northampton opened as a gentlemen’s club in 1978, then transformed into a nightclub in the early 1980s and closed in 1991.

In 1988 the venue was purchased by the Cohen family and it was managed by Pete Cohen, father of rugby player Ben Cohen and brother of footballer George Cohen.

Steve McNeill, who was a DJ at the club, said the venue was “at the forefront of dance music” in the city.

Mr McNeill, along with others who played at the club, will be part of the reunion of the “Tops” on November 30 at Barretts Club in Northampton.

THE Top of city buildingon Great Russell Street, Northampton, has since been demolished.

Mr McNeill said: “It looked like Bertie Bassett and as (the building) was plastic it was very hot in there, it was shocking.

“But inside, it was nice. It was a real nightclub.”

He said it featured spaces such as a cocktail lounge with a pianist.

The DJ added: “You could go to a pool hall, get some food, you could dance.

“Long gone are the days of going for a cocktail and then going dancing.”

Justin Cohen was another DJ at the club. He said his family became owners of the club in 1988 when it was at its “heyday”.

“My father joined there as a doorman in 1984 and then we had the opportunity to buy it,” he said.

Mr Cohen said the first big night of the week was on a Thursday, which would “kick into the weekend”.

He added that the club had been visited by La Toyah Jackson, when she accompanied her brother Michael Jackson to the UK in 1988 when he played at Wembley Stadium, and the late Radio 1 DJ Steve Wright.

He also said the club had several “Grange Hill stars on a Monday”, when the venue hosted an under-18s night.

Speaking about the upcoming reunion, he said: “You fill a dance floor, you listen to great music and it brings back so many memories.”