From 2009 to 2014, Ministry of Sound fought various public campaigns to save the club from the threat of closure. The most notable concerned the redevelopment of Eileen House, a tower block opposite the nightclub's entrance. Ministry of Sound's existence has been threatened on a number of occasions by nearby redevelopment in Elephant & Castle. On Tuesday the club hosts a student session called Milkshake, established in 2002.ĭolby Atmos in action at Ministry of Sound In 2016, these included Defected, Glitterbox, Rinse FM, Hospitality and Together. There are three weekly club nights: Fridays feature Lock n Load brand The Gallery which are primarily trance music, whilst Saturdays host a number of club nights which are primarily house music. The capacity of The Box (the main room) is 600 people, and there are other smaller rooms within the club. It has won the IDMA 'World's Best Sound System' award four years in a row - every year they ran the category. It now attracts around 300,000 clubbers per year and has hosted sets from popular DJs including: Adam Beyer, DJ Harvey, Dixon, Marshmello, Jozeff and Pete Tong. According to Berkmann, it managed to empty rival nightclub Tramp for its first six months by drawing its celebrity clientele, before "they stopped coming and it was more about the dance music community".
With opening sets from American house and garage DJs Larry Levan, David Morales, Roger Sanchez and Tony Humphries, as well as Paul Oakenfold, Ministry of Sound grew as a clubbing venue. Having considered "a load of daft names" for the club, including Get Off My Foot and The Ghost and Mrs Chicken, Berkmann came up with Ministry of Sound after walking past the Ministry of Defence Main Building. The club opened on 21 September 1991 and has remained in this location since. The site, a disused bus garage, is located in Elephant & Castle in Southwark, London. īerkmann was introduced to James Palumbo, who was working in property finance at the time, by Humphrey Waterhouse to realise the concept. In addition to drawing inspiration from the Paradise Garage, the club borrowed the idea of using changing set designs from another New York City club, Area, with the first being based around Blade Runner, Berkmann's favourite film. Berkmann stated: "My concept for Ministry was purely this: 100% sound system first, lights second, design third (in that order) the reverse of everyone else's idea." According to him, they spent £500,000 on the club's sound system, and the same amount again on soundproofing the club using magnesite: they wanted to be able to turn the sound system up as loud as possible without disturbing the neighbours, and tested it to a volume of 156 decibels without the sound leaking outside. It had lights, darkness, music, quiet – everything you wanted" As opposed to striking a balance between the typical hallmarks of a live music venue, Ministry of Sound was conceived as an arena purely dedicated to sound. Inspired by New York's Paradise Garage - which he described as "an amazing club. Ministry of Sound began as the idea of Justin Berkmann.