A MAJOR exhibition documenting the alternative music scene of 1980s Birmingham through previously unseen items has launched.

Is There Anyone Out There? is a curated collection of original photographs, film footage, audio recordings, flyposters, contracts, riders and eyewitness accounts charting the history of legendary Birmingham music haunt The Click Club, marking 30 years since it opened.

The exhibition, presented by Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research and at Birmingham City University's Parkside Gallery, draws upon the personal archive of established music promoter and photographer Dave Travis.

It showcases some of the thousands of photographs taken at the club which ran between 1986 and 1990.

Established in 1986 by Dave Travis and Steve Coxon, The Click Club was the name of a concert venue and disco associated with Birmingham’s alternative music culture.

Located at the nightclub Burberries on the Street, on a pre-regeneration era Broad Street, capacity was limited to a few hundred attendees on any one night.

Dave said: “Steve Coxon and I started The Click Club out of frustration at having to travel all over the Midlands to see the bands that we liked or that we were reviewing for the music press.

"We thought that it would be an ideal situation if we stayed where we were and the bands came to us. Birmingham was very different in the 1980s; most of the clubs stipulated a 'smart dress' policy and as a result the nights I and my friends could go to were limited.

"The Click Club operated a no smart dress policy although it was always more of an attitude restriction."

During its lifetime, the club showcased a wide variety of acts reflecting the varied culture of the independent and alternative music such as Primal Scream, We’ve Got a Fuzzbox and We’re Gonna Use It, and The Mighty Lemon Drops.

The club supported the emergence of other local bands such as The Wonder Stuff, Ocean Colour Scene and Pop Will Eat Itself and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin.

The Click Club played an important role locally, nationally and internationally, as part of a touring circuit, and for distributors and retailers of independent music.

As a central feature in a music scene operating on a DIY-basis, independent of the major labels, at the intersection of subcultures, it also had enormous cultural value for its participants.

The exhibition runs from now until Friday, May 27.

Admission is free.