Joe Strummer from The Clash invested £5,000 in the new club. In 1984, as a result of increased popularity, the club moved to its final location: a converted 1913 cinema (The Palladium Picture House) formerly a roller-disco called the ACE on the Town Hall Parade. Although all the nights at The Fridge welcomed anyone, the Friday nights were aimed primarily at the straight community in contrast to Love Muscle which was promoted as a gay night. The Fridge was at the heart of the early 80s New Romantic movement, and booked such acts as Eurythmics and the Pet Shop Boys before they were well known and drew famous faces such as Boy George, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Magenta Devine, as well as Marc Almond and Grace Jones, who also performed there.
It claims to have been the first British club to have such innovations as video screens and a chill out lounge. Early guest DJs included Keith Barker-Main, later a lifestyle journalist and social commentator.
The Fridge started in 1981, in a small club at 390 Brixton Rd, and later, in 1982, above Iceland in Brixton Road with a radical decor that included beat-up ice boxes and artificial dead cats hanging from its ceiling.
