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A Goth Asylum special edition

1987 2026

A free 54-page digital magazine, made by Goth Asylum as a gift to the club and its people.

Download the magazine

PDF, 54 pages, 8.4 MB, free

Follow Goth Asylum on Instagram @goth.asylum

The cover of Slimelight 1987 / 2026: a goth with long black dreadlocks and a black leather corset, under the red Slimelight logo, beside the lines The night, Three rooms, The warehouse, Mak and From Saturday, with the Goth Asylum seal at the bottom.

A gift for the night

Slimelight is a goth and industrial club night at Electrowerkz, 7 Torrens Street, Islington, behind Angel station. In 1987 Mak and Dette turned the derelict warehouse, a building that once stabled London’s tram horses, into Slimelight. Members signed in their guests. Forms were handed in at 3am. A goth floor opened upstairs in 1991, and from then on you could change your night by climbing the stairs.

This magazine gathers what came after: the people behind the decks, the fire-escape portraits, Mak remembered in music and cake, the Twitch streams that kept Saturday going when the building fell silent, and the dancers of 2025 and 2026. It is a gift to the club and its people.

Signature: Mario Goth Asylum

The crowd

Nights of 2025 and 2026. Photography: @no.one.studio.london; further photographs supplied by Slimelight

  • A dancer in a sheer black top poses beside the lit Slimelight sign.
  • A guest in a black feathered jacket and a sculpted hat under red light.
  • A guest with big black hair and a fishnet top against a red curtain.
  • A guest in a black PVC dress and lace sleeves poses on a carved gothic chair.
  • A DJ in a black leather shirt at the decks, a red neon logo on the wall behind.
  • Close-up of a face with sharp black eyeliner, a fringe and small drawn stars on one cheek.
  • A guest in a studded headband and a feathered collar, with dramatic black eye make-up.
  • A tattooed guest in a black corset and a crown of crystals, in front of carved wooden panels.
  • A guest with a white-painted face, dark red lips and black lace.
  • A guest with painted horns on a shaved head and a long white beard.
  • A guest in a black corset and a sheer skirt on the club stairs.
  • A guest in a crystal crown and a black corset in front of a lit Christmas tree.

Inside

  1. Slimelight Until Morning
  2. Kit Kat, Church, Warehouse
  3. Horses, Metal, Music
  4. Three Pounds, No Toilets
  5. Two Signatures, One Night
  6. Goth Upstairs, Industrial Below
  7. Exits, Licences, Broken Decks
  8. Voices
  9. Bands Before Breakfast
  10. Who Makes The Rooms?
  11. Mak
  12. Smoke In Steve’s Kitchen
  13. Three Rooms, New Arrivals
  14. After Midnight

Slimelight in brief

When did Slimelight open?

In 1987. Before Torrens Street there was the Kit Kat, Mak and Dette, and a gathering in a church. Then Mak and Dette turned a derelict warehouse into a venue. The name was a joke at the Limelight’s expense, and it stuck.

Where is Slimelight?

At Electrowerkz, 7 Torrens Street, Islington, London EC1V 1NQ, behind Angel station. The building once stabled London’s tram horses.

What music does Slimelight play?

Goth and industrial. At first one dance floor played goth; by 1990 it was moving towards industrial, and in 1991 a goth floor opened upstairs. Futurepop, EBM, aggrotech and noise came later, across three rooms.

Do you need to be a member?

No. Members once signed in their guests and forms needed countersignatures, but in 2014 the club stated plainly that membership was not compulsory.

Who runs Slimelight now?

Ricardo Castro leads the night, with Francesca Mendola and Steve Weeks running neighbouring rooms. The weekly Saturday stopped in 2020; Slimelight returned in 2021 and now runs less often.

Is the magazine free?

Yes. Slimelight 1987 / 2026 is a free 54-page PDF, made by Goth Asylum as a gift to the club and its people. Anyone can download it and keep it.

The next night is yours

Electrowerkz, 7 Torrens Street, London EC1V 1NQ

Download the magazine

Follow Goth Asylum on Instagram @goth.asylum

Thanks to Ricardo Castro and everyone at Slimelight (@slimelightofficial) and Electrowerkz. Made by Goth Asylum.