As it celebrates 40 years in Mansfield, Your Chad spoke to the owner of Lexis Nightclub to find out how things have changed over the years.

Lexis Nightclub on Clumber Street, Mansfield, is owned by Cliff Philippou, 76, who came to Mansfield in 1985 looking to open a nightclub.

Cliff said: “I arrived in Mansfield in 1985 and I came into town looking for a venue to make into a nightclub and I found Valentino’s, which lasted for some years, and then we changed it to Illusions and then we called it Lexis.

“I felt there was a need here as there was nothing else.

placeholder image — Cliff Philippou (centre)

“It took about a year to develop it, it used to be Pye’s garage before we bought it.

“It was very busy to start with, especially on Tuesday night, we’d get a lot of people coming in from different towns.

“Then we developed Wednesday to be busy with the over 25 generation and that was very busy.

“Thursday was not bad, Friday was very busy and Saturday was very busy.

“I still love it. I still come down on a Saturday night and hide in the corner.

“I’ve been here 40 years and I’m in a position now to retire as I have my sons here as managers and they’re very good lads so I’m going to have to make a decision and pass it over to them and completely retire.

“Over the years most of the nightclubs have closed down now.

“We used to operate four nights a week and we had a nice restaurant which lasted for around 15 years. It was very busy one day and when the mine’s were in operation we were very busy. The day they announced the mine’s in Mansfield would close down, from that day, the restaurant went from 100 customers on a Saturday night to about ten.

“Now we just operate Friday and Saturday but we’re relying on Saturday night.”