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It may be that absence has made the heart grow fonder, but there’s no denying we ALL have special places in our hearts for the nightclubs that made the weekends of our younger days something to remember (or, indeed, try to forget ...)

Recent data from The Night Time Industries Association (NTA) revealed that the Covid-19 pandemic and current economic pressures have taken a toll on the UK’s nightclubs.

And statistics from CGA, a data and research consultancy for the food and drinks market, recorded that there were 1,446 nightclubs in Britain in December 2019, down from 1,924 in December 2014.

We turned to the Echo’s readers to shout their favourite clubs from Wearside’s past – from closures in recent memory, to decades ago.

So whether you were an Annabel’s girl, worked behind the bar at Bentley’s or classed yourself as a die-hard customer of the Mecca; let’s all take to the dancefloor for another round of your clubbing tales.

Here are more of your Sunderland nightclub memories from the Sunderland Echo’s Facebook page:

Jonny Greenwell: “Annabel’s was class, 70s night with Carl, the bongos on a Wednesday night. Pzazz, Ku, Chambers were class too.”

Echo readers have been sharing their loved and lost nightclub memories. Look inside the Mecca Centre in 1996 ...

Tom Gardner: “The Rink and The Mecca, plus not really a nightclub, but I miss the Bay Hotel, saw many great bands there.”

Anthony Clive Jones: “Wetheralls. 1970s THE place to go for students! Happy days!”

George Bage: “The Mecca – heavy rock on Friday night and Tiff's on Saturday night.”

Lesley Harvey Dawson: “Finos and Annabel’s, still have my membership cards from 1983.”

Who remembers nights out at Bentleys or Pzazz, as it was later known? Going back to 1994 with this archive picture.

Allan Davis: “Genevieves. Met my future wife in there and we have been married 42 years.”

Andrew Tilly: “Bentley's and Chambers, where I met my wife-to-be.”

Nightclubs in Sunderland: Echo readers remember the most loved and much-missed n...

Gillian Burton: “Bentley’s. Drank there, worked there, loved it!”

Ku Klub may have closed in 2008, but we'll always have the memories ...

Tom Booth: “Back in the day Ku. Great music, great people.”

Ian Mcdonald: “Got to be Fusion for me, loved the place.”

Holly Smith: “Pzazz where I met my husband 28 years ago.”

Vicki Louise: “Annabel’s. Always an Annabel’s girl.”

Joan Creighton Greig: “The Rink, best times in the 60s.”

Gary Anderson: “The Double Crown, Fosters, Dixons, Wetheralls, La Strada, The Jacobean … were some of my 70s/80s haunts.”

Annabel's, Bentleys and The Mecca! Remembering Sunderland's loved and lost nightclubs