A PAIR of friends have drawn up a plan to help revive Southend’s golden age as the place to be for night-time entertainment.

Jake Caddy and best friend Luke Bristow have fond memories of partying in Southend clubs that have fallen into ruin.

In recent years the city has lost Bakers Bar, Mansion, Sunrooms and Annie’s Attic.

The friends hope their new company, Sanctum Events, will be able to bring back the clubbing spirit of the city.

Sanctum hosts raves and DJ nights every month in Southend, acting as a nostalgic throwback to the “golden age” of house music which Jake and Luke remember loving when they grew up in the city a decade ago.

The company has been trying to promote DJs who wouldn’t usually be given a shot as they hold events from Hero’s Sports Bar in Southchurch Road and Twelve Brunch and Cocktails, now in Alexandra Street.

Jake said: “Running these events is so nostalgic for me, once there used to be thousands of people in Southend high street on a weekend to go to events but it has been great holding events and seeing 18 and 20-year-olds out enjoying themselves.

“I am extremely passionate about it and we are committed to trying to bring out a music scene in Southend again.

“When an event is good you feel a rush of energy, people are enjoying themselves and it is great.

“Clubs can be a more relaxed environment than pubs can be, and we have been trying to throw a big party every four weeks.

“We tend to maximise the capacity at our parties now but the venues we have left after all the closures are quite a bit smaller now.”

Jake added that house music and rave was huge in Southend once but following the decline of the scene and the death blow dealt by Covid, to many clubs things have taken a downturn.

He said: “All the old clubs have been lost; we are just dealing with what we have now.

“It won’t be the same straight away but we are pushing to get back to the old days, when 700 people were coming to events just to let their hair down.”