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It was a quote from Don DeLillo.

“You can be homesick for a place even when you’re there”. That’s how I felt last night when I visited St. Joseph’s Social Club in Wembley for the very last time. It was once the thriving hub of a huge Irish community and was run by my mate Frank Waites’s dad. Even though we weren’t legally allowed to drink, Frank and I used to work behind the bar. But little things like licensing laws never seemed to apply to St. Joe’s. It was where I DJ’d for the first time and the place on which I based the social club in my first book. Now sadly, it’s closing down because over the last 30 years, the Irish community in Wembley has all but disintegrated. This record reminds me of St. Joseph’s in its glorious heyday. Obviously I loathe the song but I’ll always love the memories it evokes.

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