The Epping Forest Country Club was a group of three night clubs on the Essex/London border, just outside Chigwell, Essex. The various night clubs were well known throughout South East of England and attracted many big-name acts as well as many celebrity visitors. The venues closed in early 2002 after a number of high-profile incidents in addition to complaints from the local residents about noise.
Overview
The three venues were called 'Atlantis', 'The Casino Club', and Woolston Hall Known as 'The Country Club'. All but one of the buildings have now been demolished and a Holmes Place (now Nuffield Health) health club built on the site. The only original building that remains is that of 'The Casino Club' and its swimming pool complex, which used to host 'Splash' parties where over 5,000 people used to attend.
History
The original 'Woolston Hall' dated back to 1740, and was owned by the Scott family and sold in around 1930 to the Co-Op and was used as their sport and social club. In the late '70s Woolston Hall was converted into a high class private members club by Sean Connery and 1966 World Cup winning captain Bobby Moore. One night in the early 1980s a group of local businessmen and their wives attempted to get into a local club in Walthamstow, unfortunately for the owner of this club his doormen decided not to let them in because only two of the party were members. One of the group was a local builder and after being refused entry decided to purchase the lease of 'Woolston Hall', which by now was suffering from a lack of customers. The club was swiftly closed down and turned into a night club, with much less strict membership criteria, and soon attracted huge numbers of local customers, but was still restricted to over-25s. It soon became overwhelmed with its own success, the club facilities were extended to include, tennis, golf, venues for weddings, private functions, corporate events and a new fitness centre, then in the mid-'90s added 'The Jungle', which after a few years was refurbished as 'Atlantis'.
The clubs
Atlantis
This was the biggest of the three clubs with a capacity of over 1500, and on many nights this was easily reached. The venue underwent a refurbishment towards the end of the 1990s converting it from a jungle theme to a more upmarket night club; however, this refurbishment also included a new sound system which was much more powerful than the original one, which was unfortunately part of the venue's downfall as the roof was thin and most of the sound generated escaped into the surrounding area, much to the annoyance of the local residents, some living over a mile away. The landscape of the Roding Valley in which the club was situated funnelled the sound towards the village of Abridge, and across the valley towards Debden and Loughton.
The original 'Jungle' room not only was themed on a jungle. The original concept for the Jungle Room was by Oliver Wheeler, a London special events set builder, who also then built the set for the club was in fact inspired for the idea by a recent trip to South Africa where he had seen the Jungle Forest Cafe at the Sun City Casino.
The venue was open to over-18s and as well as having its regular events it also had many externally promoted events and under-18s nights.
There were also two large airport-style metal detector arches on the front entrance through which all visitors had to pass, as no metal objects (except clothing) were allowed in the venue. There was also a complete ban on glass inside the venue.
Casino Club
This was the over-21s venue and was considered to be a more up-market venue. This venue was much smaller than Atlantis. Part of it still remains and is now being used as a creche for the health club. Behind the Casino club was the outdoor swimming pool complex which hosted 'Splash' events where over 5,000 clubbers would attend.
Woolston Hall known as The NightClub
This was advertised as an over-25s venue; however, many reports suggest people younger than this were regularly allowed in. The venue was a listed building.