This is the story of the Top Storey club fire of May 1961. The club was quiet on the night of the fire because it was a Monday. In the club, there were about 20 and 25 people. Bill Bohannon, the manager, smelled smoke about 11 p.m., less than half an hour after the owner's arrival. Bill went down to the groundfloor to investigate and found the furniture store to be on fire. The fire prevented him from going back upstairs and he managed to escape. He called for the doorman to ring the fire brigade, which he did and they arrived within 3 minutes but it was already to late. The fire spread up the single stairway which meant the people on the top floor were unable to escape. When the clubbers realised they were in danger some began to jump from the windows. The building was eight stories up wit nothing but concrete to meet them at the bottom.