Caesar's Nightclub
Caesar's Nightclub was located at 156-160 Streatham Hill, London, before it's closure. The venue's website has said building existed between 1929 and 2010, however certain sources provide contradicting information to these dates, with the real lifespan possibly being between 1928 and 2009. The building been called many different names over the years, all while remaining as a place to go and dance. Famous faces such as Charlie Chaplin, the Rolling Stones, and Brad Pitt all visited this building as part of their work, and from 1994 the location was owned by the demonologist Fred Batt. Fred was a member of the Most Haunted paranormal investigation team, and they visited the location to investigate the speculation around it possibly being haunted by Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain.
History
Caesar's Nightclub first opened in the 1920s as 'The Locarno Ballroom'. The official venue website says it opened in 1929, however another source has said it opened in 1928. It's possible that 1928 was the date the location was built, and that an official opening then occured in 1929. I've found that similar date mixups like this tend to be down to a confusion between build date and opening date, so I assume the same has occured here. The Locarno Ballroom was opened by the band leader Billy Cotton to a crowd of 1,500 people. It's also been said that The Locarno Ballroom was the first purpose built ballroom in England, however, this may be incorrect. It's been pointed out in one of my sources that the Blackpool Tower ballroom was built between 1897 and 1898, with it then opening in 1899. Plus, a previous incarnation of the Blackpool Tower ballroom opened in 1894. It is the Caesar Nighclub's official website which has called itself England's first purpose built ballroom, but I don't know what has given it this claim as earlier purpose built ballrooms did exist, such as the Blackpool one previously discussed. During the days the venue was known as The Locarno Ballroom, Glen Miller, Laurel and Hardy, plus Charlie Chaplin all appeared here.
During 1969, following a £100,000 refurbishment, the venue went through it's first rename as it became known as the 'Cat's Whiskers Club'. The refurbishment allowed for a new revolving stage to be added for bands. A number of bands played in the venue during the 1960s, such as the Rolling Stones, the Small Faces, and Rod Stewart. The venue's official website also claims that Miss World started in this building, as did 'Come Dancing', which is now known as the TV programme 'Strictly Come Dancing'. During the venue's time as the 'Cat's Whiskers Club', it gained a notoriety as a regular visit for people involved in the London underworld such as the Kray twins.
The official website discusses a sister club which was located next to Caesar's Nightclub, which was called 'The Forum'. However, the description of this sister club, alongside no found photos, lead me to wonder if this was located within the Ceasar's Nightclub building. The ground floor was a champagne bar dating back to 1929, the first floor was an Italian style restaurant and had a roman style main club area with vaulted ceilings dating back to 1929, and the top floor had a 1930's ocean liner styled area. This all sounds very similar to the images which can be found of Ceasar's Nightclub.
During 1984, the Cat's Whiskers Club was renamed to 'The Studio'. This iteration didn't last long though as the venue was aquired by Rank and opened as 'The Ritzy' in 1990 following a one million pound investment. This incarnation lasted for even less time as it's predecessor, and so it became owned by Fred Batt in 1994 and opened as 'Caesar's Nightclub' in 1995. Under his ownership, Fred held the first pro-female boxing at Caesar's and introduced cage fighting to the venue. The venue's website says 'The Forum', which was either a joint venue or unknown previous incarnation of Caesar's, contained the first male lap-dancing club for ladies only, which was known as 'Lap-Attack'. It was also under Fred's ownership that Brad Pitt's fight scenes in the 2000s crime comedy 'Snatch' were filmed at the venue. An episode of Most Haunted was also filmed here in 2003 while Fred was still a member of the team.
The nightclub closed a few years later, with the official website saying this was in 2010, but with another source citing that the building was listed to be demolished in the March of 2009 with a special event occuring on the 13th of February 2009. This event was for paranormal researchers, psychic mediums, and the media, as one belief is that the activity of a haunted location will increase if it's set to be demolished. The event cost £49 to attend and ran from 8pm until 4am.
The building was sold to the commercial property developers 'London Square' alongside the Megabowl beside it. This led to everything but the historic Megabowl facade being demolished as part of a multimillion pound highstreet regeneration scheme with plans to build flats, shops, a theatre, a community hall, a garden, a courtyard, and a children's play area. The chariot and horses which were displayed above the entrance were auctioned off, along with items from within the building.
Hauntings
The most discussed haunting of this location is that of a woman believed to be Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain. Apparently she worked in the venue during 1948 while it was still known as The Locarno, however, it was not until the 13th of July 1955 that she was hanged after shooting and killing her lover David Blakely. It's unknown how long she worked at the venue for, so there may be little reason for her to haunt the location. Regardless, people have said she does, and Fred has said Ruth has followed him to his home which is known as 'The Clock House'. Apparently Ruth's ghost gave the staff of Caesar's cold shivers while they worked alone.
The Kray twins have also been said to haunt the location, and a team who invested the nightclub after Most Haunted, with members including David Patching and the psychic medium Dr Marty Cia, discovered a twenty-three year old barmaid by the name of Natalie Smith to haunt the venue. They also discovered that she was strangled to death within the club. As far as I can tell, this is purely what they gained from their investigation, not anything they gained from historical research. The venue was also investigated by the Cleveland Paranormal Investigators team.
Other pieces of reported phenomena include dark shapes, footsteps, doors opening on their own, and screams. According to James Clark, the author of 'Haunted Lambeth', there were reports of strange occurances in this venue prior to Most Haunted's visit in 2003; however I've found no detailed information regarding these prior strange occurances and if certain names such as Ruth Ellis or the Kray twins were being mentioned in connection to them.
Summary Of Hauntings
1. Ruth Ellis, gives staff cold shivers
2. The Kray twins
3. Natalie Smith, barmaid, 23 years old, strangled to death in club (?)
4. Dark shapes
5. Footsteps
6. Doors opening on their own
7. Screams
My Thoughts
If no other team had investigated this venue, such as with 'The Clock House', I would be saying that this venue has nearly nothing to it, that the hauntings were likely created for publicity reasons given the nightclub closed a few years after Most Haunted investigated it, and that the relatively frequent name changes indicate it had been a struggling business by the time of Fred's ownership. No concrete details on the rumoured hauntings prior to Most Haunted's visit, along with dates of when these thoughts of the location being haunted occured, lead me to think there is very little haunting this site.
Dark shapes, footsteps, doors opening, and screams are all incredibly vague pieces of reported activity. These could have happened, but they have very little substance. Ruth Ellis and the Kray twins I feel is a product of Most Haunted's investigation here. However, if Ruth did work here, and if the Kray twins did visit here, then by my own theories they could absolutely haunt this location for a time. If the time they spent here in life was brief, or they exerted little energy while here, then I personally do not think they could haunt here for long; which is why I made the point earlier in the article about Ruth only having one year mentioned for when she worked here which was a while off when she was hanged. I think the more likely scenario here is that a woman may haunt the location, but that they have been misidentified as being Ruth Ellis. As the Kray twins are only mentioned briefly to haunt this location, I wouldn't take this as a credible haunting.
Finding that other investigators have been here since Most Haunted was incredibly interesting to me, especially when finding that they gained information about the barmaid Natalie Smith. Personally, I'm incredibly skeptical of psychic mediums and ouija boards, so I wouldn't trust this information; however, I absolutely think it would be worth investigating this haunting further if access to what stands on the site today can be granted. It's worth holding in mind that Smith is an incredibly common, and generic, last name. It's also a strange coincidence that this female haunting is said to have been strangled in the bar, when the other female (Ruth) was hanged. These deaths are similar to me as they both involve strangulation, unless the neck breaks during a hanging. Perhaps Natalie is a legitimate haunting which was misidentified as Ruth, perhaps it's the other way around, or perhaps these investigators knew of the alledged Ruth haunting and decided to tweak it to something a bit less famous and so a bit more believable. As I said, it would be interesting for further investigations to occur on the site.
Thank You!
Thank you for reading to the end of this article! I know it was a bit of an odd one as this location has not only closed, but has been demolished. I feel it important to also cover these locations as the hauntings on the site may still exist, and it's a good documentation of exactly what has been said to haunt a location alongside it's history. Just because it's been demolished doesn't mean it can't be included in trends and compared to still-existing locations.
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Sources I Have Used
16. About SE 11
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