been trying to work out why there appears to be no active rave culture in Ipswich – bar a few commercial nightclubs which are listed on WikiTravel as “best kept out of unless you want to end up in hospital”…. or which feature prominently on chavscum…

I’m a bit worried by my findings s well (this site is really good for finding out “rave history” and there’s always google)

apart from the more recent Suffolk clampdown on free parties (probably because they seem to have more cops compared to Norfolk or Cambridgeshire), it appears that Suffolks authorities always were wary of the rave culture and have a policy of not even letting legal events happen.

there were some in the 90s but they were “closed down” or “folded” (i.e someone (cops?) leaned on the venues not to host these things!)

Looking at the timing it appears this may have been triggered by paranoia over raves creating a wider drugs culture and encouraging gangsters as it had done in neighbouring Essex (one of the “Essex Boys” apparently had links with companies on the Ipswich docksides); the clampdown got worse in the mid 90s and may have been linked to one of the main club promoters of Ipswich being beaten (and permanently disabled) after a dispute at a club in a neighbouring county – the cops have a habit of thinking “club promoters live by crime/gangsterism and this proves that they attract violence” – even when they are the victims!

But what really worries me is that it looks (at least on the outset) that by clamping down on raves and the licensed club/pub culture (they look quite strict on ID’s, having trained door staff and banning troublemakers) that it has made Suffolk a bit safer for everyone; there seems to be far less petty crime, hopeless addicts begging and wandering the street and little of mindless violence caused by the “new lad” types who cane drugs as well as booze and then fight each other whenever they can – at pubs, at clubs, at raves.

Sadluy some of these idiots are a fallout from the darkside of the rave scene, a girl I know described than as “burnt out husks of ravers” and the saddest thing is many are way younger than me and already so negative..

in some areas, the ravers legacy is not a good one. The early 90s rave boom did leave a lasting effect on British youth culture of making drug taking socially acceptable; in a country where we already have a habit of overdoing things – about 90% of my old skool rave friends have fucked up at least part of their lives through drugs and then given up raving, theres literraly only about 5 of us left on the scene after all these years!

In my former home city of Reading, the “party drugs” culture the raves introduced in 1991 soon became a gnarlier “class A” drugs culture; there were no crackhouses and hookers on the streets in 1991 in Reading but it started in the mid 90s as people wanted more of a buzz and instant gratification of pleasures

but maybe Ipswich/Suffolk always was a bit more friendly and good natured so there never was a crime problem in the first place or people knew how to regulate themselves and there is a scene here but it goes unnoticed….