Robert Elms - Blitz: the club that created the 80's
The Stage Theatre at The Whitstable School, Whitstable, CT5 1PX
Wednesday 2nd December 2026 7:00PM
WhitLit welcomes acclaimed writer and broadcaster Robert Elms for a fascinating journey back to the legendary Blitz club – the Covent Garden nightspot that became the birthplace of the New Romantics and helped transform British music, fashion, art and popular culture.
At the dawn of the 1980s, a group of ambitious, wildly creative young outsiders gathered at the Blitz every Tuesday night. Among those who passed through its doors were Boy George, Spandau Ballet, Sade, Steve Strange, David Bowie and Grayson Perry. What began as a tiny club night became the centre of an extraordinary creative movement whose influence would be felt around the world.
Robert wasn't looking back at this world from the outside – he was part of it. A Blitz regular who went on to write for The Face and NME and become one of London's best-known broadcasters, he brings together personal memories, colourful characters and the wider story of a Britain undergoing dramatic social and cultural change.
Join us for a lively conversation about the Blitz Kids, New Romanticism, music and fashion, youth culture, class, creativity and ambition – and how a small group of young people with big ideas helped turn the monochrome end of the Seventies into the colourful, exuberant Eighties.
Robert Elms is a writer, journalist and broadcaster who has chronicled British music, fashion and popular culture for more than four decades. He began his career writing for The Face and NME and, since 1994, has presented his much-loved Robert Elms Show on BBC Radio London, exploring the people, places, music, history and culture of the capital.
At the dawn of the 1980s, a group of ambitious, wildly creative young outsiders gathered at the Blitz every Tuesday night. Among those who passed through its doors were Boy George, Spandau Ballet, Sade, Steve Strange, David Bowie and Grayson Perry. What began as a tiny club night became the centre of an extraordinary creative movement whose influence would be felt around the world.
Robert wasn't looking back at this world from the outside – he was part of it. A Blitz regular who went on to write for The Face and NME and become one of London's best-known broadcasters, he brings together personal memories, colourful characters and the wider story of a Britain undergoing dramatic social and cultural change.
Join us for a lively conversation about the Blitz Kids, New Romanticism, music and fashion, youth culture, class, creativity and ambition – and how a small group of young people with big ideas helped turn the monochrome end of the Seventies into the colourful, exuberant Eighties.
Robert Elms is a writer, journalist and broadcaster who has chronicled British music, fashion and popular culture for more than four decades. He began his career writing for The Face and NME and, since 1994, has presented his much-loved Robert Elms Show on BBC Radio London, exploring the people, places, music, history and culture of the capital.
Event Details
Doors Open at 6:30PM
From 7:00PM to 8:00PM
