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After nearly 40 years of mosh pits, break-dancing, crowd surfing (naughty) and move busting, Rock City's iconic sticky floor is being replaced.

Embossed with the imprints of a million high heels, Doc Martens and dropped phones, the Talbot Street venue's original main room wooden floorboards have been ripped up to make way for its shiny new successor.

Starting on Monday (January, 7) labourers have been working "all day and all night" in a "race against time" to ensure the new dance-floor is laid and finished by Thursday (January 10), in time for the club night and then alt-rock band Enter Shikari taking to the stage the following night.

"It'll be getting a good work out on Friday," says Rock City's AJ Stevenson.

"Having a brand new shiny floor is going to be crazy, but Enter Shikari is on first thing, so I'm not sure how long it will stay shiny and new," he adds.

(Image: Picture: Ian Hodgkinson / Picture It)

Indeed traditionalists really need not despair as it seems the so-called 'stickiness' or 'Disco Juice' is somewhat inseparable from Rock City and its floor. Yes, despite speculation to the contrary, staff insist that the floor is industrially cleaned after every gig and club night and yet a tacky coating remains underfoot.

"We full on steam it, we get industrial cleaners in," says AJ, "We get all the works in, chemical processing, super heating, you name it but the thing just doesn't want to let go.

"The stickiness is soaked into it basically."

For the first few revellers on Thursday, however, the new floor, once a basketball court, will be squeaky clean as long as it gets done in time, that is.

"[Labourers] are in all day, all night, pretty much. There's four days worth of work. We're so busy now, this is our only period where it would be quiet enough to do it but even then we're in a race against time to get it done for Enter Shikari on Friday," says AJ.

So why the change now after nearly 40 years in service?

"I think it's partially 'New Year, New Me' and all that stuff," says AJ. "and as well we sourced an old basketball court to replace the floor with so we were thinking that's pretty handy because we need a floor that can cope with a lot of jumping."

(Image: Picture: Ian Hodgkinson / Picture It)

Opening in December 1980, the live music venue and club has hosted thousands of gigs over the past 39 years.

From the New Romantics and indie bands of the 80s, including the likes of Duran Duran and The Smiths, to the grunge and rock bands of the 1990s (Nirvana, Chilli Peppers, Rage Against The Machine, Foo Fighters) Rock City has welcomed a who's-who of chart stars over the years along with their fans.

But remembering your first or favourite gig is only the start of the nostalgia attached to the venue and its infamously sticky floor - with many Nottingham students and natives meeting future partners and friends on that very dance-floor. Which is why there has already been more than 3,000 people registering their interest in purchasing a piece of the old flooring.

Adam Wood, senior promotions manager at Rock City, says: "Currently we have the new floor going in as the old one that holds so much history is being taken away to be lovingly restored and embossed with a Rock City logo.

"We know how many great memories were made on the old floor so that’s why we have decided to offer a limited amount back to the public as a fantastic piece of Rock City memorabilia. People met their future partners on that floor and witnessed some of the biggest acts in the world.

(Image: Ian Hodgkinson / Picture It)

"We've had loads of people sharing some great memories with us so far and it’s been amazing reading through them all!"

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