# Romford exhibition charts suburb’s rise as a 1990s dance music hub

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/mega-mega-mega-going-back-to-romford-how-an-outer-london-suburb-became-a-metropolis-for-90s-dance-music/
- Published: 2026-10-29T11:00:32+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-29T11:48:26+00:00
- Original publisher: The Guardian (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/oct/29/mega-mega-mega-going-back-to-romford-how-an-outer-london-suburb-became-a-metropolis-for-90s-dance-music
- Topics: Culture, Entertainment, Music

## Key points

- Romford became a hub for 1990s underground dance music.
- Boogie Times helped supply records to local ravers and DJs.
- A new exhibition charts the suburb’s musical history.

## Summary

A new exhibition in Romford traces how the outer London suburb became a major hub for 1990s underground dance music. Its story centres on Boogie Times, a record shop opened by Danny Donnelly in 1989, which helped connect local ravers and DJs with the rapidly growing demand for house and rave records.

Romford’s scene grew alongside pirate radio, local parties and nights such as Culture Shock at the Hollywood nightclub, where DJs including Danny Rampling and Darren Emerson introduced energetic house music to mainstream club-goers. The exhibition, titled *Mega Mega: Romford’s Suburban Sound Revolution*, takes its name from Underworld’s 1995 track “Born Slippy”, which famously invokes the town. The supplied article text ends part-way through its account of DJ Uncle Dugs.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.