Faces

Although a relatively small club (900 capacity) in the capital’s eastern suburbs, the venue regularly attracts footballers, actors and soap stars, bringing with them hoards of paparazzi.

For operators Tony Bee and John Clark, Faces was their first baby, and the catalyst for forming Liddon Management Ltd, back in 1992. The partners’ careers epitomise a true East End lads’ rags to riches story; they both started off as DJs then managers, as they say proudly: “We started with nothing, made a brave decision, then put in a lot of hard graft.”

Now the duo have several venues under their belt, including another Faces in Hoddesdon, one in Nottingham (which they sold to Northern Leisure), Katz Gentlemen’s Club in Basildon, Karma Bar - also on Cranbrook Road in Gants Hill, and a very exclusive Karma Bar in Portals, Spain, which is co-owned by their old friend Steve McFadden (who plays Phil Mitchell in UK soap Eastenders).

Following increasing competition from the West End and The City at just a short train ride away, and an industry-wide development in standards, Clark and Bee decided it was time to reinvent the venue, in order to keep the white collar, city-working clientele from straying into central London. “There’s not a lot of competition locally,” explains Bee, “But if we include the 7-10 mile radius around us it’s a different story. Obviously The City is a much nicer place to socialise now and we don’t want to be left behind.”

Following a £2 million investment, Faces has renewed focus on the VIP market, both conceptually and design-wise, with a space-age VIP pod (or cage as Bee calls it), new table booking choices and a more sophisticated graded membership system, which already includes 6,000 members. “Booking tables and consuming certain high end products is what a lot of our members would enjoy in other clubs and we wanted to be part of that. Faces is a kind of departure from the West End into the suburbs.” With an average sale of between 60 and 80 bottles of Dom Perignon Rose each week, the West End would probably love the kind of clientele Faces has.

They decided to try to disorientate clubbers by completely changing the layout inside and then rekindle the basic design elements they liked from the 80s, whilst maintaining a West End feel. “The club used to be very light; it was cream, then red and cream, but we wanted to go back to the old fashioned days when we first started clubbing, which was black and white,” said Bee.

The result is a two roomed aesthetic feast of contemporary design; the smaller Funky Room offers a sci-fi environment where music lovers can dance to a particular genre. The shiny black and white futuristic den features architectural curves to its ceilings, bars and shelves to soften the angular tiles and bold ambience. The main room, which can be separated into two by the club’s flagship mechanical doors, offers music that’s “right on the night”.

Nine months ago Breley Designs, who have worked with Faces since its inception, began planning the design for Faces and made the decision to move the entrance and all the bars to new locations. Said Dwight Breley: “The design evolved by finding new ways to mix and pair materials, for example we used a shiny black glass bar front and sat it on a polished grey concrete floor next to a black suede effect wall covering. It makes the club very touchy feely rather than a boring and all-too-common laminated bar with painted walls. The use of Colour Kinetic LED Lighting panels gave the required colour to the front area.”

“Not being a fan of blank painted walls,” adds Breley, “we commissioned artist Antony Haylock to paint an abstract hibiscus design which circulates the main nightclub area.” This pattern gradually fades as it stretches around the sidewalls and over the bars. These bars are art forms in themselves. Explained Breley: “We took influences from vintage wallpapers to create patterns for the three rear bars, which were then routed out of white corian. When applied to the front of the bars and rear illuminated it creates a striking effect.

 “With all the use of textures and patterns I wanted a carpet that would not distract but complement these elements. So I engineered a plan to stitch two widths of different coloured carpets together to achieve an oversized design of bold stripes,” he said. These stripes are at an angle to the striped tiles of the dancefloor and reflect the white stripes and lights that run across the length of floor and ceiling in the Funky Room.

A host of new fixtures brings the club up to date, although Clark ensures his system of choice, Martin Audio, is continually updated. “Generally their products are very good and we’ve used it since Faces began in Hoddesdon six years ago. I’ve only replaced a couple of drivers on it and it still sounds as good today as it did then,” comments Clark. The partners have a strong relationship with Middlesex Sound & Light, who completed the install at the new club. “We’ve worked with Mike for a number of years and he knows the kind of sound that we like,” added Clark, “they gave us all the help we needed, especially in the early days when we were opening.”

The dividing doors the club has always been renowned for, which fold up into the ceiling to reveal the main nightclub when the bar gets busy, have been updated from their former ‘garage door’ look and replaced by two electronically operated glass screens with floor-to-ceiling rear projection that now display music videos or footage of the club. Another key talking point of the refit is the ultra-cool cocoon VIP section, which is raised above the dancefloor and is a futuristic white with colour changing acrylic tables. “It’s popular because you’ve got that exclusivity away from the crowd, you can be seen by everyone and you’re still part of the overall atmosphere,” says Bee.  

We’ll definitely see more from Liddon Management in the future. Bee said: “Faces in Hoddesdon will have a facelift in January. We’d like to diversify under the leisure umbrella and have our foot in the bar market as well. But we’re trying to catch our breath on this one first.”