IT was the nightclub that was supposed to bring magic to the Greyfriars centre in a roundabout way – but ultimately proved to be a disaster.

And now the last remnants of the roundabout nightclub are being flattened as work to transform the junction continues.

When Greyfriars and Civic Drive were built in the mid-1960s, the idea of putting a nightclub in the middle of a roundabout, accessed from an underpass, seemed like a great idea and one which captured the spirit of the era.

It opened at the end of the decade, and attracted interest as the Merlin – although it soon became clear that punters weren’t that keen on walking through a dirty, smelly underpass to get to a venue that constantly reverberated to the sound and smells of traffic going around it.

During the early to mid-70s, the venue took on a number of different guises.

It was the Lafayette nightclub which might have sounded exotic, even revolutionary, but still failed to attract the town’s clubbers.

And it was also at one stage called The Roundhouse (clever, eh!), before briefly becoming an Oriental restaurant.

None of these ventures lasted long – but then none of the businesses that opened up in the Greyfriars centre lasted long.

By the time the 1979 picture was taken, any hope that the building could be an entertainment centre for the town were already effectively over.

In 1984 the Greyfriars’ Centre was largely demolished to widespread acclaim – it remained the most hated building in the town.

The building at the centre of the roundabout was locked up. At one stage part of it was used as a store by the borough, but the top section was then demolished and it was turned into a “normal” roundabout.

Now the remaining part of the building is being demolished – it should be gone by the end of the week – and not a tear is likely to be shed.