Last year saw big changes on the club scene. Forget the credit crunch, it is quite safe to say that clubbers never had it so good, what with so much new blood, energy and entrepreneurial prowess.

More of that later; let's not forget the year's casualties and, alas there are plenty. While the gay scene got kicked where it hurts most - the West End - the mainstream had to suffer the wrecker's ball slightly further North. Indeed, King's Cross was hit hardest as it lost some of the most important clubs London ever had, i.e. The Cross, Canvas and The Key.

The first one is already much missed as generations of clubbers have passed through it's six huge railway arches and garden over a fourteen year period. Canvas, in the Freight Depot, had a five year run hosting larger-than-life club nights often reaching it's 3000 capacity. The more intimate The Key (1000 capacity) also managed to impress during a five year run. sad to think that all that was to make way for the £2 billion Railwaylands development on York Way. A gaping hole had to be filled again and thankfully the area has since experienced much new activity. The one most anticipated is The Room that owner Billie Reilly, owner of super-club Pacha, has planned out underneath Camden Road station. The opening of the 200 capacity arch is scheduled for January 2010 and will essentially be a bar/restaurant, with a midnight licence. Meanwhile one can enjoy the new Pacha terrace - atop York Way's gastro pub Drivers, owned by Reilly, which managed to bag a 24/7 music and entertainment licence. The arrival of new hotspots Egg and Apothecary , also on York way, has naturally gone a long way to fill the gap in Kings Cross, the nightlife of which seems to have recovered quickly enough as a result. Just in time to meet the recent influx of tourists from St Pancras Eurostar terminal and the hordes of students from the massive new St Martins College of Art and Design building.

Meanwhile, who would've thought that The Cafe Royal on Regent Street, a playground for the rich and famous, and a hub of glamour and scandal for decades, would also die a death?. Naturally, the adjacent celeb haunt Chinawhite had to go as well. Three other losses to the scene are The End and AKA, off New Oxford Street, and Turnmills in Farringdon. Remember that they have been running for thirteen years and have left unforgettable clubbing memories to their patrons. A new owner bought the building and intends to turn it into luxury apartments. As for Turnmills, it has made an incredible mark on the scene with a list of seminal clubs, notably Trade, the first real after-hours phenomenon in the UK. But it's not all doom and gloom though, as south of the Thames a new super-club opened last september at the iconic 02 arena. It's Fabric's big sister 'matter' (no capital m) which was launched - modestly - as the best club in the world. Fingers crossed, it certainly hasn't failed to impress so far at least. Custom-built and seemingly with no expense spared, to serve as a live venue as well as a club space, the retro-futuristic decor might have come from the imagination of Guy Pellaert.

Beside the three-balcony floors built around the central body-kinetic dance-floor, the incredible crisp and vibrating sound is the big crowd pleaser, as clubbers literally dance the night away. And at the end of the day, isn't that what its all about?

" Music happens to be an art form that transcends language " Herbie Hancock