The New Monkey is back: Promoter plans Bank Holiday dance night reunion for Sunderland clubbers

Those of the words of the promoters who are putting together an event which will see a line up of DJs and MCs help dance fans take a rave down memory lane.

Billed as a Bank Holiday Special, Mad For It Promotions has told its 13,000-plus followers through the New Monkey page on Facebook that it is planning an event to be staged at Illusions in Holmeside in Sunderland city centre.

The bill is yet to be confirmed, but the announcement has delighted fans of the former dance club, with more than 1,400 already commenting on the post about the plans.

Ticket details for the night, on Saturday, May 23, are also still to be revealed.

The New Monkey page, which gives its address as Pallion Road and is linked to the Bass Bounce site, has previously issued a series of CDs and put on nights across the region under the old club’s flag.

It champions the genres of Makina, Scouse and Bounce and Old Skool, taking in Afterdark.

The New Monkey, in Pallion Road, hosted dance nights from 1999 until it was closed down by police in 2006 following a series of raids.

It followed on from the Blue Monkey, in Bedford Street in the city centre, which is where the Empire Cinema now stands, which had been set up in the early 90s had burned down in a blaze.

Last year, the clubs were the focus of a documentary, Two Monkeys, which was made by a Sunderland-based filmmaking team Tyne and Weird.