It might cut a sad old sight now, empty, abandoned and unloved, but there was a time when people would travel from Birmingham, Gloucester and even the Welsh borders to mosh the night away at the night club in St John’s.

The place was packed, sweat ran down the walls in rivers, the drum and bass blew a hole in your stomach and the tight staircase to the room on the upper floor would probably never pass health and safety these days, but these were the mid-90s and Picasso’s in Worcester was the place to be on a Saturday night.

The building had started life as St John’s Cinema in 1914 and lasted until 1959 before lying empty for more than 20 years. It was then turned into Tanya’s nightclub before entering its halcyon era as Picasso’s and Zig Zag. Boy George disc jockeyed there and a club night called Wet Dream was all of that and more.

The main DJ was Andy King and all these years later he recalled: “I remember a regular, who is now living in Canada, telling me his leg was never right after breaking it moshing on the dance floor. People used to travel for miles to that venue. Once I was on the Welsh border in Knighton and asked a lad where a really good night out was. He told me to go to Picasso’s in Worcester.”

Andy now lives in Devon where he runs a DJ school, but he contacted us after we published an old photo of the cinema building, which is now awaiting its final demolition, and the memories came tumbling out.

He had arrived in Worcester in 1987 to work at The Pavilion (now known as Tramps) having won the UK DJ of the Year title, but soon moved to Images night club in The Butts to run nights under the Passion and Pain banner.

“We did two or three years at Images,” said Andy,”and then a opportunity arose to to Picasso’s on a Saturday night, so within a week moved across the bridge to St John’s.

“At this time in 95 the freehold was owned by a very smartly dressed, dapper Irish man called Jim Smythe and his family . They all worked there including his wife Alice. The doormen were also really strong, but fair. The decor was dated with a huge sunken dancefloor you could walk around and the DJ unit at the end of the room . The huge long bar was on the right as you came in. The music I played was mostly Stone Roses, Oasis, Blur, Pulp, Green Day, Offspring and classic rock by people like The Doors and Hendrix.

“Then came the dance music revolution and everything that came with it. Jim the owner didn’t like giving free water away and one night turned all the cold water off as a lot of people at the time stopped drinking alcohol.

The only good cold beer to buy in there was Red Stripe and Jim always used to insist I drink whiskey with him after I put my brother David King on to DJ after 1am. Oh dear, Sundays were never good!

“I remember Boy George DJ-ing there on a Friday and another club night call Wet Dream, which absolutely packed the upstairs out. There were two entrances, one down and one up the upstairs, which had a tight little staircase going up two stories to a big room with a huge window facing onto the road.

“This Club was known as Zig Zags and mostly only opened on a Saturday and was Hard House and what we we would call Dance Anthems now, but were also mixed with a lot of underground and drum and bass. So both rooms were really hot sweaty and sometimes overcrowded. But what a atmosphere.

“Towards the end Zig Zags had closed and the sound system and lighting was falling to bits. I looked at buying the place in 97 and glad I didn’t. The venue and Passion & Pain continued until the bitter end when Sainsburys brought the club. Passion & Pain had another glorious 10 years at Gonzo Evolution in Lowesmoor, Worcester, until 2008 when by that time I had built up a national training organization of DJ s called DJ Academy Org. which I now operate all over the UK from London, Plymouth, Cardiff, Birmingham, Edinburgh and more.

“As its own legacy Passion & Pain trained a young DJ called Dan, who used to help me promote. I gave him the business in Bristol when I was very busy. He changed the name to Propaganda and that club night is now in operation in all major cities in the UK, as well as Los Angles, Sidney and Sin outh America and has its own tent at Glastonbury. If only I’d have asked for 50p future admittance to Propaganda. But I am proud of Dan and the DJ Academy success, having trained four world champion and having DJ s playing all over the world.”

Sadly no longer at Picasso’s or Zig Zag in Worcester.