Sugar Clubbing is a free exhibition opening at Peterborough Museum & Art Gallery, from 12 February to 4 April, exploring the story and cultural legacy of The Sugar Club. Inspired by the book Sugar Gravy Pleasure: An Indie Odyssey in Peterborough by Pete Elderkin, co-founder of the Sugar Club. It coincides with the release of a documentary of the same name directed by Martin Rowe (former Sugar Club DJ) and co-written with Pete, chronicling the unlikely rise of one of UK's longest-running alternative music venues.
The film and exhibition tell the story of The Sugar Club, an alternative music club night that operated from 1991-2002 in Peterborough against a backdrop of grunge, Britpop and nu-metal - the club became a cultural haven for misfits. The exhibition also explores the wider decline of music venues since Covid-19 and the lasting impact this is having on city-centre nightlife and the music industry.
Peterborough Museum & Art Gallery said,
“This exhibition is a real passion project for me. The Sugar Club shaped so much of who I was growing up, and I know that other people feel the same way. When you look back, the 90’s felt like such a positive time, the age before smartphones and widespread access to the internet. It was absolutely the end of an era.”
Martin Rowe, Director Sugar, Gravy, Pleasure
“Pete's story needed to be told and told visually. This is about what happens when working-class youth refuse to accept that culture happens elsewhere, in just the big cities.”