Have a technicolour scream

1/3

10 April 2012

It's Saturday night and I'm dancing to Don't Stop Me Now by Queen, clad in a pair of denim hotpants and vertiginous red wedges. My friend Clare is shimmying in an afro wig and glitter top, Melisa is rocking in a black all-in-one cat-suit and Tamara is whirling around in a pair of highwaisted flared jeans and her mother's denim hat.

To my right, there's a man of 60 with a beard and aviators who clearly loves this tune as much as I do.

You'd be forgiven for thinking this is a scene straight out of 1979 but it's actually Car Wash at the Aquarium, Old Street.

Car Wash is a London institution - it's been going for a phenomenal 18 years. Even so, I've never experienced it.

For the occasion I am joined by Tamara, Melisa and Clare, whose nickname is appropriately "Disco". All three have a penchant for dressing up, which isn't optional for Car Wash and that is why you'll always spot someone on the Tube on a Saturday night dressed in flares and "whacky" glasses.

I find a floral nylon tunic in Beyond Retro and team it with the hot pants and wedges. I am going to wear an orange wig until I spot a majorette cap of Tamara's.

I haven't been to the Aquarium since I was 18, when it was famed for having a swimming pool inside. Is it the same 12 years on?

As we approach we find ourselves amid hen and stag parties. Girls with fairy wings and devil horns jostle in the queue next to boys in sailor outfits with chest wigs - the atmosphere is excitable and friendly. Once inside, Car Wash is a crazy and colourful shock to the system.

We stop at the first bar (vodka tonics and rum and cokes, £5 each) and marvel.

At 11pm it's heaving with large groups dressed up in a dazzling array of outfits: Seventies pimps, flower-power hippies, rollerskate girls, cheerleaders, Village People, Britney-esque schoolgirls and even nu ravers (maybe they wandered into the wrong club).

Moving into the crowded main room, everybody is dressed to the nines and indulging in crazy dancing to the music, which is strictly up-for-it disco and funk.

Groove Is In The Heart by Deee-Lite is playing as we find a spot to dance. A girl grabs me and takes a photo of us together (I think she likes the hat too) and there's plenty of whooping and hollering as our photographer starts to snap the scene.

Fellow partygoers span teens to OAPs, there are plenty of "mothers-of-the-bride" with the hen parties and they too are dressed up to the nines; many of them in sequinned all-in-ones. Sometimes, in east London, it's a struggle to find places that aren't pretentious or that don't try too hard but Car Wash has its guard down. Here, any age, shape or size is welcome. We get chatted up every time we go to the bar. Unlike many London clubs, this would be a great place to pull. Everyone is friendly, there are loads of groups to infiltrate and refreshingly, there's no attitude.

After dancing by the stage and witnessing a woman with a glitter halo fall clean off it, we investigate the swimming pool. Tragically, it's padlocked and our Boogie Night fantasies are crushed. It's probably a health and safety issue we say and consider petitioning the council.

So we dance on to Heard It All Before by Sunshine Anderson in the second room, which is less busy, and marvel at more outfits. The club goes on until 3.30am but by 1am, we are partied out and my wedges are taking their toll.

We totter out to Old Street and attract more than a few stares. Car Wash is brilliant and not just because of the music and the outfits. It's a proper night out, where you can dance, drink, dress up and make new friends. Now, if only we can get the pool re-opened...

Car Wash, every Saturday night at The Aquarium, 256 Old Street, EC1 (carwash.co.uk). Tickets £12 pre-paid (0870 246 1966) or £15 on the door.

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