The Cross in London had a formidable run, remaining open from 1993 to 2007. On Friday, September 9, the historic nightclub will celebrate its grand reopening at a different King’s Cross address.




Masterminding the reboot is Bill Reilly, the original club's founder, and his wife Gemma Reilly, the managing director. The six-floor venue will fill the space formerly occupied by Bill’s gastropub, The Driver. Dubbed, The Cross 2.0, it will include a lounge and restaurant in addition to a rooftop bar with recurring themes including velvet and exposed brick.




“When I suggested my idea of relaunching, at first Billy thought it was nuts,” Gemma told Camdenist. “But we discussed it over a couple of glasses of wine one weekend during lockdown, and by the Wednesday morning he said, ‘right, let’s do it.’”




The Cross has grown up," Gemma continued. "The new venue brings some of the heritage and nostalgia elements, in that it's still right here in King's Cross [and] the club was six arches and now its six floors, but we're also making sure that we're getting the best quality marble fittings and designer upholstery throughout.”




The first iteration of The Cross was known for booking progressive house DJs and for long-running promoter residencies. Renaissance, the event brand famous for launching the careers of Sasha & Digweed, took place at the club, and artists like Danny Rampling, Dave Seaman, Judge Jules, and Paul van Dyk performed there as well.




King’s Cross was also home to nightclubs like Bagley’s and The Key before developers gave the area a makeover. It is now occupied by offices for The Guardian, Google, and Central St. Martins, in addition to an arts center and conference hall called King’s Place.




Bookings at The Cross 2.0 will only be promoted in-house, according to Camdenist. No lineup has been announced for the grand reopening at the time of writing. More information is available on the nightclub’s official website.






Storied London Club The Cross to Reopen After 15 Years

Sasha once commanded such a strong presence in dance music that indulgent journalists suggested he might be the “son of god” on magazine covers. Nearly two decades later, his influence on the culture has earned him a relatively modest accolade: an honorary doctorate from Bangor University.




Sasha (real name Alexander Paul Coe) was born in the Welsh city of Bangor and first performed as a DJ and producer at the Bangor University Student Union. He did not need to complete any coursework to earn his doctorate in music from the university on Tuesday, July 5th. The progressive house mainstay was instead awarded the honor for his influence on electronic music culture over the years.




“It gives me great pleasure to present Bangor-born Sasha for this honor,” said Bangor University Vice-Chancellor Andrew Edwards. “Sasha has made an outstanding contribution to culture, language, music, and the arts through his creative work. An honorary doctor of music degree is well deserved.”




“I didn’t expect to go back to Bangor University to get a degree as it was where I did my first Student Union job and it has taken me around the world,” said Coe, who returned there for a performance in November 2021.




Coe cut his teeth playing acid house records after attending events at legendary Manchester venue The Haçienda in the late ’80s. By the mid-’90s, his and John Digweed’s names had grown virtually synonymous with the emerging progressive house sound for their back-to-back performances at Mansfield nightclub Renaissance. Sasha and Digweed achieved great success with compilation albums like Renaissance: The Mix Collection and Northern Exposure.




The two artists stopped performing together in 2002 — although they never formally announced that they had parting ways. They played back to back once again at Ultra Music Festival in 2010, and following a surprise set together in 2016 at Ministry of Sound, their paths have crossed far more often, including a return to Ultra Music Festival this year.




April saw Coe celebrate the tenth anniversary of his label Last Night On Earth with the release of ten new collaborations. Later in July, his travels will take him to Sunrise Festival in Kolobrzeg, Poland, and RADIUS in Chicago, US, for a back-to-back set with Digweed.



John Digweed

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John Cameron

John Cameron