Rosie Green weighs in: Am I too old for clubs aged 50? | HELLO! (2025)

In news that will give all midlifers a hit of smug satisfaction, a survey has revealed our coming-of-age decades are the ones today's youth wish they could have experienced. The research reveals 66% of 18–24-year-olds wish they could have gone on a 90s or 00s night out.

The statistics come from Tesco, who revealed them as part of a PR stunt to celebrate the 30-year anniversary of their Club Card, launched back in 1995.

You can just imagine a bunch of cool Gen Z in Soho brainstorming over Matcha lattes and coming up with the idea of a celebratory retro club experience in central London, complete with drinks at a 'Little Tesco' bar, a Pick 'n' Mix stand and a performance by popstars Blue. (If you are member, you can apply for tickets here)

I suspect that 16–24-year-olds have so much attachment to that era because their parents (you and me) are filled with nostalgia for it.

My clubbing years

I was a big clubber from the ages of 16 to about 22, hitting the dance floor hard in the early 90s. I only caught the tail end of the rave scene, which meant I didn't have the smiley face T-shirt or go to the illegal raves in abandoned warehouses. Instead, we spent every Saturday in Wobble in Birmingham, where the crowd was young and fashion crazy.

By the time we could travel, we went to Vague in Leeds, Venus in Nottingham, Cream in Liverpool and Golden in Stoke.

I was simultaneously a fully signed-up indie kid and loved shuffling around the dance floor in much grungier establishments to the Manchester tunes of Happy Mondays, Stone Roses, Inspiral Carpets and Charlatans.

Then followed the Acid Jazz era with Jamiroquai and The Brand New Heavies.And after that, drum n bass, but, full disclosure, I couldn't ever dance to it.

Club attire

And the clubbing fashion! Let's get nostalgic here. I loved that we needed to be inventive because we didn't want to wear the high street offerings of Dorothy Perkins or BHS (the only clothing shops that seemed available to us). So, we cut and customised our own denim, sewed appliqués onto tops, went to old-fashioned lingerie stores and bought Madonna-inspired girdles.

As ravers, we wore hot pants, Wonderbras under mesh tops and catsuits from Pineapple - all accessorised with a whistle and a bucket hat.

The bucket hatwas then repurposed for the Madchester period and paired with baggy jeans, Inspiral Carpets hoodies, cut-off denim shorts with laddered tights and Doc Martens.

Say HELLO! to your Second Act

HELLO!'s Second Act is a newsletter for women in midlife and beyond. It's completely free to sign up and is a one-stop-shop for advice and inspiration on the issues our Second Act community have told us matter most:health, relationships, travel, menopause, divorce, careers, finance and more.

SIGN UP

Then, as we edged into the 00s, clubbing style became more girly and glamorous. Shrunken T-shirts (mine was from the Disney store), handkerchief tops paired with low-slung slung combats or jeans and sky-high heels.

By then, I was in London and was all about the Primrose Hill set (Kate Moss, Sadie Frost, Meg Matthews et al) and they/we weren't clubbing per se, but hanging out at scene-y places like The Met Bar on Park Lane.

I'm nostalgic for it all - the paper flyers, the chats in the queue, the camaraderie in the ladies, even the hideous drinks on offer – think snakebites, K Cider and Hooch.

But do I ever want to return? Some of my friends are all about daytime clubbing (enthusing about Day Fever - a Gen X party concept created by Vicky McClure). For me? No thanks. My days of sticky carpets and K cider are (thankfully) over. I'm happy to pass the glow sticks on to my daughter's generation.