Billy and Gemma Reilly

THE new King’s Cross is polished but “soulless”, according to the couple behind a fabled constellation of nightclubs that once dotted the area.

Billy and Gemma Reilly ran several clubs in pre-regeneration King’s Cross, when clubbers spent their Friday and Saturday nights traipsing through the industrial landscape, drawn to the “raw and gritty” nightclubs housed in the disused railway arches.

This autumn, the Reillys are relaunching The Cross, a club that opened in 1993 in a King’s Cross builder’s yard close to the legendary former Bagley’s venue.

“I went from garage owner to club owner overnight – and then it just exploded, and became what it became,” Mr Reilly said.

But by 2007, the huge redevelopment scheme that would transform King’s Cross had been given the green light.

The Cross closed with a New Year’s Eve party lasting until noon the next day. Today the scrapyards and unused scrubland have given way to polished restaurants, swanky bars and neat piazzas.

“It’s amazing what they’ve done, but it’s a bit soulless,” Ms Reilly said of the new King’s Cross. “Now everything looks beautiful – especially in Granary Square and Coal Drops Yard, [but] the soul and the vibe of that site in particular has changed.”

The Cross in 1998

She believes “regeneration has to happen”, adding the old King’s Cross “used to be actually quite a scary place to go”, frequented by sex workers, dealers and pimps. But a part of her is still nostalgic for it.

“The energy on the site when you used to walk down on a Friday or a Saturday night – thousands of people traipsing down the yard. Now everything’s on a piazza, they’ve got their restaurants but there’s no real energy,” she said.

Perhaps this nostalgia is behind the relaunch of The Cross, which will soon open its doors in Wharfdale Road, a short walk from the venue’s original location.

The Cross, which was relatively glamorous compared to other venues, was known for its big-name resident DJs including Danny Rampling and Judge Jules.

The name might be the same but Ms Reilly said a lot has changed since the club’s 1990s heyday.

“It was very different back in the day. People used to go and actually have a good time,” she said. “Nowadays, when I’ve been out to clubs in the last five years, it just seems everyone’s on their phone, really conscious about what they look like and not having real fun.”

The new venture that will open its doors next month

She largely blames the advent of smartphones for this shift: “It’s almost like people are so worried about getting that instagrammable picture.”

For this reason, The Cross will have a strict no-photograph policy.

“You used to come to The Cross and just let yourself go… it was a place you could hear great electronic music and just be free.”

Today, people are also more health-conscious, Ms Reilly said. “Young people aren’t drinking as much, and the drug culture has changed.”

The Reillys are billing their new venture as a “grown-up” version of the old club. “Where we were 20 years ago, what we wanted to do was just party all night. We’ve grown up now, and The Cross is growing up with us,” Ms Reilly said.

Until recently, they were running the building as The Driver, a gastropub largely catering for corporate parties.

Following Covid and the rise of home working, they decided to relaunch The Cross, splashing “over a million” pounds on its design.

Spread over six storeys, there will be a club in the basement along with a restaurant, bar and above. According to Mr Reilly, the new space will be “reminiscent” of the old club but it would not be a “theme bar”.

But Ms Reilly hopes those revisiting the dance floor for the first time since the nineties will have “goosebumps”, adding: “We just keep thinking forward. I haven’t watched the news for three years. Everything you read is negative… I think people will always want to go out, even in recessions.”

The Cross will open in September.