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Top 40 night out's a big hit
By Charlotte Melville, London Lite 14.12.07
Party season: DJ Barry's festive dancers
Pick of the pops: DJ Barry Peters entertains at Tape The Top 40
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Christmas brings out the nostalgia in even the coolest of clubbers, so when we heard it was time for monthly party Tape The Top 40's Christmas special, we immediately set about finding our flashing Santa hats.
Finding the pub was more tricky, however - wedged next to a Tesco Metro and a building site, you could easily miss The Westbury, at the bottom end of Kilburn High Road. It's so deceptively low-key from the outside that my friend Briony and I walked straight past it.
A couple of "Where is it again?" phone calls later and we were back on track, through the door at 9pm (£4.99 entry fee) and happily browsing the cocktail menu, admiring the enormous chandeliers, Victorian gilt wallpaper, a stunning mirrored back bar and even a leopard print chaise longue in the loos.
Tape The Top 40 is a celebration of the days before iTunes, when downloading meant a ghetto blaster, a cassette and pressing play and record at the same time. For this month's spectacular they'd dolled the place up - there was a huge Christmas tree, as well as a fuchsia shimmer curtain behind the decks, and a four-inch rotating/flashing disco ball perched proudly next to the DJ.
Having to yell above Kylie belting out I Should Be So Lucky, Briony ordered us two mojitos (half-price cocktails all night, £3.50) while we eyed up the good-looking crowd. A strong contingent of mainly late-twentysomethings was assembling, and the host DJ, complete with Christmas cake hat, was setting up.
Given the vibe of the flyer, I'd envisaged outrageous Eighties outfits all round (and had worried that I'd feel left out with just a flashing Santa hat) but dress was actually pretty regular - girls in trendy dresses, City boys in shirts and brogues, Eastenders in bafflingly tight jeans and quiffs and lots of fun, good-time weeknight party types.
The Westbury is more than your average local: since opening in March it has carved a name for itself as a laid-back venue to hear amazing DJs. Hot Chip played earlier this month, Ed from the Chemical Brothers has been seen DJ there several times, and Justin Robertson is sorting out the sounds at the Black Rabbit New Year's Day party.
As we wolfed down the first of many delicious cocktails, the room filled and the suspense mounted. The crowd obviously knew something Briony and I didn't - and it soon appeared in the form of Barry Peters (aka Mike Keat, who in another guise is half of comedy DJs The Cuban Brothers). A vision in shell suit, visor and plastic banana necklace, he stormed the stage and introduced us to a night of nostalgia, promising performances and classic tracks from the chosen year of 1988, with a refreshing "anti-cool attitude".
We didn't need any persuading. Soon, the whole crowd was bopping away in an array of Christmas headgear and shouting along to Eighties classics. Barry's Lycra outfits grew more revealing until nothing was left to the imagination; his hysterical northern banter was punctuated by saucy dancing from the twosome Double Penetration and all- girl dance troupe The Pleasurettes, without question the sexiest high-kicking girls in pyjamas I've ever seen.
Every tune, from Push It by Salt 'n' Pepa to Fairytale Of New York by The Pogues received a riotous reception, and the moves on display were mind-boggling.
The crowd even made a decent fist of moving to Cliff Richard's Mistletoe And Wine, not known for its dancefloor-filling ability. After the Top 40 had been counted down, the music policy became more relaxed, taking in all sorts of classics. We were having the Wednesday night of our lives; handsome, funny boys were chatting us up and buying us drinks and we made a lot of new friends, with whom we did a stylised version of Take That's Never Forget dance as the lights were coming on at 1am.
All too soon, we were reluctantly pulling on our coats and walking past the gig listings on our way out. Among fun nights like Tape The Top 40 and Carboot Bingo, there were a few names that stopped us in our tracks. The mighty Plump DJs are playing tomorrow night (£5 entry, see you there) and the line-up for New Year's Eve includes DJ Vadim, Mr Thing and The Herbaliser, all for £15.
An unpretentious local treasure with a staggeringly cool regular repertoire of artists? It's a Christmas miracle.
• For details of the next Tape The Top 40 at The Westbury, 34 Kilburn High Road, Kilburn, see tapethe top40.co.uk. For all upcoming events see westburybar.com
