The Planet used to be a huge nightclub, called Eclipse.  Quite famous for its past visitors, with people like Carl Cox, Boy George (he was a DJ before he decided to sing) and even the Prodigy having done one of their first few gigs there.  Of course it all came down to a halt with problems from the Surrounding area, Hillfields.  A lot of drugs, a lot of prostitution, a lot of problems.  Somebody apparently died of an overdose there.  It all closed down, and the Coventry student union bought it about three years ago, with grand plans of being the only student union with a full size nightclub.  little did they know of how things were going to to.  Initially things went absolutely excellent.  Students loved it.  Not much had changed since Eclipse days,  the interior had pretty much stayed the same.  it consisted of three floors.  Bottom floor was the bar, where karaoke, and stock market night were held.  The second floor was intended for live band to play on.  The third floor, the Main Arena, was the place most used.  It had two floors actually, one main, and then two staircases up to a balcony that surrounded the dance floor.  There was even a VIP lounge there for those who felt special!

Because the building used to be a factory before it ever became a night club, lots of hints of it's industrial past still exist.  For example, it still has the huge Cargo elevator, and office rooms that were relatively untouched since those days...

We applied for jobs at the new Student Union Nightclub: The planet, with the hopes of having a really neat job that one could brag about...well at least I did anyway.  of course, we all ended up doing glass-collecting, apart from Jamie, who decided to do Bar work.  At first it was an interesting job.  A bit gritty though.  It is not the most pleasant thing to pick up a pint of vomit.  Thankfully that happened rarely, with vomit being usually elsewhere, probably blocking up the toilet! 

We certainly met interesting people too.  Two of the staff were bi-sexually curious folk.  One guy was called Ashley.  This guy jokingly always tried make things meet with Colin!  

Being liberally minded, the nightclub decided to hold a Gay/Lesbian night.  Guess who had to work that night? Thankfully not on the same floor, but I had to run a few tasks.  So of course people decide to say words of encouragement, like "don't bend over pickin' glasses!".  By the time I got down there, we had become so homophobic, we were worried that we were going to attacked by a mob of sexually deprived lunatics! Of course, no such thing happened.  Remember Ashley?  He decided to walk around waving a large black dildo. 

After a while, I got really tired of working there.  The bar staff were not very pleasant, and the managers (Rob and Steve) really didn't manage, unless of course they feel they can run the place by trying to drink as many bottles of Tiger as possible, but each to their own I say.

So I quit. 

Only to come back the next year as light and sound technician! Got the job quite easily actually.  He didn't even look at my CV, which I had so diligently prepared for him.  So there I was, in the DJ booth, hanging out with the DJ and chatting to women that came to the DJ box to ask for requests. Liked it already. 

Now things start to go downhill.  The Skydome complex had been finished for about half a year, with a new Odeon, Nightclub (Ikon and Diva), 3 Bars, and a ice-skating rink. Soon enough, night after night, less and less people came to the Planet, since the other nightclubs either offered better deals, or were in fact better in general than the Planet.  How could the nightclub compete if it had no money?  For some reason, the place had been losing money ever since it was bought, and the sales people were biting into their desks trying to figure out what to do to bring the people back. 

I was of course trying to do a nice set with the lights, but how can you if you cannot replace the bulbs if they break.  The student union could not afford to maintain the place.  Plans had already gone underway to look for a new location to have a student nightclub.  The new place was going to be the old Working-Mans club, freshened up and sorted out.  It was actually meant to replace the Planet before the new academic year started, but due to problems (probably with money) that didn't happen. 

The year went, with there finally being only two night a week open.  The bar was still open almost everyday, so that wasn't the problem. 

Finally the year ended, and I had to try and get the same job at the new place...if possible.  Thankfully I did.  Even got a friend to come with me, Lewis.  The fact that he was my next door neighbour was quite useful actually, because we could both discuss who would do what night, depending on what each of us had to do the day afterwards etc.  Of course, it was fun at first. Everything actually worked!  However that was about it.  The nightclub room was called the "studio" and was no more than that. A very large rectangular box, with a stage at one end and the bar at the other.  Extremely boring, and references to School hall dances were strife.  The DJ box was and still is, really really tiny.  The problem is only magnified when the DJ brings all his records or CD's with him.  Where does he put all of these?  New problems that spelt doom for certain night there already.  Everybody sighed when the new management said that they saw no reason why the nightclub shouldn't run every night?  Well first of all you have all the other nightclubs, who have decided to pretty much take up the void that was left by the original planet, whilst the new building was being set up, and then you have the location itself, which had ended up being nothing like in atmosphere to the original students union night club. 

Of course, the management soon learned that ,after a few costly nights with no people coming.  Lewis and I had also become tired of our job, partly because it took up too much time ,and it was too much, too late at night.  It really wasn't worth it, when the bar staff are paid just as much, but do quite a lot less.   So we both quit.  Interestingly enough, I decided to just change jobs and now I have become Bar Staff. 

This story of course continues.  Rumor has it that the Planet is going to re-open as a new privately owned club, whilst the second rumour is that the studio is going to be improved, so that it looks less like a school hall.  So maybe things are going to improve in the state of coventry?