The city's top nightclubs of the 70s including The Fiesta - which almost hosted Elvis Presley

Punters, DJs, venue owners, go-go dancers, waiters, musicians, hostesses – I spent many happy hours interviewing scores of people over those months. I had no idea what the reaction would be to the ‘Dirty Stop Out’s Guide to 1970s Sheffield’. I suppose I just got carried away hearing the gushing memories.

It was an affluent time for the city and a great time to be going out. The Fiesta, which opened in the summer of 1970, was then the biggest nightclub in the whole of Europe. Just let that sink in. The biggest nightclub in the whole of Europe. That was an incredible accolade but it was also representative of the confidence in the city at the time.

The glitzy venue attracted the biggest stars in the world – it came closer than any other UK venue to landing a gig by Elvis. The venue was underpinned by a whole network of thriving Working Men’s Clubs and the aim of most of their hit acts was to get on the cabaret circuit. The Penny Farthing was a true place to be seen in the 1970s and the scene of a famous go-go dancing competition – you can still find footage online if you search hard enough.Down the Castle Market end of town you’d got the Penthouse. Originally opened by the Stringfellow brothers, it morphed into more of a rock club in the 1970s.

The sprawling Top Rank provided mass-market disco-style entertainment with its Steely’s nights. It also provided its Sunday night Improvision club which promoted up-and-coming rock and punk acts and more.Josephine’s truly upped the glitz when it opened in Barker’s Pool in 1976. In-house restaurant, champagne league and baby grand piano. It outlasted the ‘70s, ‘80s and was still doing good business right up to the mid-1990s.The Limit was the city’s only dedicated punk venue when it opened in 1978. The West Street cellar venue was a massive hit.

The amount of venues on offer in 1970s Sheffield truly dwarves the number today. Pubs, bars, Working Men’s Clubs, nightclubs, cabaret clubs, rock clubs, punk clubs, out-of-town clubs – it was a very different world.Other names of the ‘70s include Scamps, TurnUps, Hofbrauhaus, Crazy Daizy, Tiffany’s, Genevieve, Fanny’s, Shades and many, many more.

It was definitely a decade of two halves. Recession had set in by the end of the era. The Fiesta went bust in 1976 – it subsequently re-opened and then shut again, twice – and many venues struggled.

• Content supplied by Neil Anderson. A brand new and extended, hardback edition of the ‘Dirty Stop Out’s Guide to 1970s Sheffield’ is now available to pre-order and will be out in April. Each copy is personally signed and numbered and costs just £39.95 each. They are exclusively available from: www.dirtystopouts.com