The dance scene was hugely popular in the north west during the 1970s
11:54, 16 May 2026Updated 12:07, 16 May 2026
The Northern Soul night at Cheshire Lines Sports & Social Club(Image: Iain Watts/Liverpool Echo)
In the 1960s small towns and cities in the north of England became the epicentre for what would go on to become one of the UK’s biggest subcultures. Now decades after the high water mark of Northern Soul, one man is trying to bring it back to Liverpool.
Emerging in the late 1960s, before really taking off in the 1970s, Northern Soul became one of the UK’s biggest dance scenes and has developed a legacy that still endures to this day.
Northern Soul centred around a fascination with little-known high-energy American soul records from the 1960s usually from Detroit, Chicago and Philadelphia.
While it found a home in working-class towns like Wigan, Warrington and Widnes among others, there was never a notable Northern Soul scene in Liverpool.
Many Northern Soul enthusiasts Colin Smith’s age can date their interest in the scene back to its heyday in the 1970s, but Colin, 70, who lives in Childwall, says his interest came about much more recently.
While he has been a dance teacher for years, his interest in Northern Soul only kicked in after reading a book about the history of the dance culture, he gradually became hooked and eventually went to his first Northern Soul event jus a few years ago.
Colin Smith (far left) and group at The Northern Soul night at Cheshire Lines Sports & Social Club(Image: Iain Watts/Liverpool Echo)
After being left unimpressed by a Northern Soul event he’d been to in Liverpool city centre, it was a trip to Warrington with his friends, Glynis McCready and Steve Dyer that saw him fall in love with the subculture. He told the ECHO: “We walked in there and the atmosphere just hits you. There was about 300 people in that room and the dance floor is so big that there was ample room to dance.
“The thing with Alford Hall in Warrington, is when you actually enter there’s two staircases to climb to get up to where the big ballroom is. I can remember climbing up those stairs thinking, ‘Am I doing the right thing here?’
“But sort of the nearer and nearer that I got I could hear the music pounding out of the doors. I was thinking ‘Well the music sounds pretty good anyway so let’s get in and see what it’s like.’ I’ve never turned my back on it since.”
The Northern Soul night at Cheshire Lines Sports & Social Club tonight(Image: Iain Watts/Liverpool Echo)
While there had been slight trepidation when he first went to a Northern Soul night, the scene has since become a huge part of his life and helps him to forget “everything else”.
Colin said: “When I get on the floor, everything is forgotten, I’m just focusing on enjoying myself using various different moves. I wouldn’t say it puts you into another world because you’re still in the current world, but having said that, the feeling behind getting on the floor and moving in various different shapes and patterns, I would say it’s just sheer enjoyment of the music itself.
“When I walked in that particular night [in Alford Hall in Warrington], I can remember sitting at the edge of the dance floor and watching all the people on the floor, some spinning round like ballet dancers do, some dropping down belly flops, backdrops, you name it.
The Northern Soul night at Cheshire Lines Sports & Social Club tonight(Image: Iain Watts/Liverpool Echo)
“Some take it to extremes, others are just enjoying the music, because that basically is what Northern Soul is about. It’s not just about dancing.
“I mean people can go to Northern Soul nights and can sit down all night, putting the world to rights, have a drink, and tap their foot to the music. Other people get on the floor and express their joy of dancing.”
Colin said that, together with Steve and Glynis, he realised Liverpool was falling behind other towns in providing a venue for Northern Soul and decided to change that. Their first event took place last Friday at the Cheshire Lines Recreation Club in Garston.
Colin had been promised by one friend that she would be bringing a minibus full of Northern Soul fans from Warrington, while another said that they would be travelling from Stamford in Lincolnshire.
The Northern Soul night at Cheshire Lines Sports & Social Club tonight(Image: Iain Watts/Liverpool Echo)
“On the actual night, the trepidation was still there and the nervousness was still there. I just stuck my head through the door, and there was a minibus parking up right in the car park and loads of people were coming out.
“I just stood there and one chap came towards me saying, ‘Are we right for the Northern Soul?’ I said, ‘Come this way, it’s good to see you,’ “
While some of the younger people to come along to the event had been in their 40s, Colin said that the majority tend to be in their 70s, the age group which started the scene in the 1960s and 70s.
The Northern Soul night at Cheshire Lines Sports & Social Club tonight(Image: Iain Watts/Liverpool Echo)
He said: “It’s a way of coming out the house, getting there and enjoying themselves even if it’s only for a few hours.”
North West Soul Club’s next event will take place at Haig House in Garston on Friday, June 5.