Cheeky Monkey, one of the most popular club nights in Wolverhampton, is to go monthly, writes Dan Wainwright.

Whether it was the hen party girls in the wedding veils with the L-plates or the Halloween bar crawlers with their flashing devil horns, if they were in Wolverhampton on a Friday, there was one place they’d end up.

No, it wasn’t unconscious in a skip, it was the Civic Hall.

Nowhere else that I’ve been before or since provided that genuine inter-generational mix.Its blend of chart tunes with 60s and 70s cheese attracts everybody from students through to young grannies.

On several occasions I’d hear someone squeal either in delight or abject horror that their own mum was in there.

It’s a real shame that the number of people going there on a Friday has fallen from a peak of around 3,000 to 600.

But it’s understandable.

The changes in the licensing laws means the more mature crowd are staying in the pubs all night rather than venturing to the Civic Hall after last orders.

The smoking ban means many will stay at home with friends rather than stand in North Street shivering under a canopy.Add to that the fact that people just don’t have as much money anymore and it’s no wonder that the event has to go monthly.

On and off I’ve been going to Cheeky Monkey since my late teens.

There’s a line in the Will Ferrell comedy Anchorman that applies here: “We’ve been going to the same party for 12 years and in no way is that depressing.”

It’s been reassuringly the same in all that time. I for one will miss knowing that if it’s Friday night and I’m at a loose end, Cheeky’s will be open.Cheeky Monkey had always seemed timeless.

The entry price for Cheeky’s and Blast Off stayed at £5 for years.

If you were ever young in Wolverhampton then the chances are you have a Cheeky Monkey tale to tell.

I met my fiancee Kate there and no doubt there is a generation of children who probably owe their existence to similar chance meetings on the dance floor.But we mustn’t get too misty eyed.

Cheeky Monkey is not going away.

If anything this could be a good thing.

There’s nothing worse on a night out than getting in to your favourite club and finding that, aside from one loner who has had a few too many, you’re the only people on the dance floor.

If this means that people have to make a date to go to Cheeky Monkey, then maybe we will all appreciate it even more.