R&R (EastEnders)

R&R

R&R
Series EastEnders
Type Nightclub
First appearance 1996-2014
Location 4 Turpin Road, Walford, London

R&R is a fictional nightclub, in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders, located at the fictional address of 4 Turpin Road. Over the years, it has had several different owners and names. It has also been called The Cobra Club, The Market Cellar, e20, Angie's Den, Scarlet and the current R&R.

Owners

The Cobra Club/The Market Cellar

The club is opened in 1996 and named Cobra Club. It is owned by George Palmer, who employs Huw Edwards and Lenny Wallace as barmen. After the club is raided by the police in 1997, the Cobra Club closes, but is reopened later in the year and renamed The Market Cellar. The club is actually used to facilitate George's money laundering operations and illegal gambling. Later, George's daughter, Annie Palmer, takes over the running of the club and she also starts a loan shark business from inside the club with Phil Mitchell and Conor Flaherty.

e20

The club is later given the name of e20 by Steve Owen, after he purchases the premises in 1998 from Annie. It is named after the Walford postcode, London E20. Lenny Wallace is employed as a barman and Matthew Rose is the DJ. Billy Mitchell later gets a job at the club from Steve, because Steve knew it would annoy Phil and Grant Mitchell. The opening day of e20 is 14 February 1999, Valentine's Day, and Steve's obsessive ex-girlfriend turns up and starts taunting him and then begins knocking him around until she tries to strangle him with his tie. In self-defence he hits her over the head with an ash tray, killing her. Matthew, who is a witness, is framed by Steve for Saskia's murder and sent to prison. After release, Matthew takes revenge by tying him up in the club and threatening to set it on fire, but he is only trying to scare Steve and turn him into an emotional wreck.

Steve marries Melanie Beale Ian's ex-wife in 2001, and she becomes a supposed owner of the club, though this was not correct as it was only in writing. Later, Dan Sullivan kidnaps Melanie as revenge on Steve for aiding playing apart in his imprisonment. After she is finally released from capture, she decides to torch the e20 to get back at for Steve for the lies he has told. As a result, the club needs to be completely rebuilt. Unfortunately for Steve, while his insurance claim was valid, the insurance company use a minor technicality (relating to an incident where he was fined for illegally importing duty-free wine from France in the 1980s) to invalidate his policy and avoid paying out, leaving him with no money to rebuild the club. Steve resorted to plotting a well planned armed robbery to finally raise the money to rebuild the club in late 2001. In early 2002, after Steve's criminal friends find out he conned them out of their share of the money from the robbery, Steve decides to leave for America and sell the club. He sells it to his friend Beppe di Marco, but he is £3000 short of the asking price and has to allow Billy Mitchell to become part owner, even though Billy only got 1% ownership and Beppe had 99%.

Angie's Den

Angie's Den is named after Sharon Watts' mother, Angie Watts and apparently deceased father, Den. Initial employees are Sam Mitchell and Billy Mitchell (who still owns 1% of the club). Later Dennis Rickman works there and helps run the club with Sharon. When Den resurfaces he manages the club and his feud with the Mitchells leads to both Sam and Billy being sacked. This feud later leads to Angie's Den being burnt down, by Billy in January 2004, without realising that Vicki Fowler is inside. Billy rescues her, but after an explosion that rocks the club, it has to be closed down. Suspecting foul play, the insurance company refuse to pay out for the damage, which nearly leads to Sharon selling the remains of the club to Sam (who had coerced her cousin Billy to torch it in the first place). Den comes home from a holiday with the necessary funds and the Wattses holds onto the club. It is refurbished and Sharon reopens it. Kareena Ferreira and Lisa Fowler work there briefly as bar staff and so does Juley Smith, but he is sacked for selling drugs. When Sharon decides to flee Walford to start a new life with Dennis in 2005, she sells Angie's Den to Johnny Allen.

Scarlet

On 14 February 2005, Johnny buys the club and names it Scarlet after his daughter who died in a fire the previous year. Initial employees include Danny Moon, Jake Moon and Billy Mitchell. In 2006, Johnny decides to leave Albert Square. Johnny's one-time fling, Amy takes over for a few months, but it proves unpopular for a young woman to be manager. Mike Swann also has a very brief spell as manager. In April 2006 after Johnny is imprisoned for murder, his young daughter Ruby is given the club. Jake Moon is given the role of manager by Johnny and Grant Mitchell runs the club with him for several months. Jake and Grant both leave, leaving Ruby and her boyfriend Sean Slater running the club. Ruby tries to employ Wayne Thompson to work as a manager but after Sean gets angry at him he is not seen again. Ruby then leaves Walford for good and the future of the club became uncertain.

R&R

On 16 October 2007, Ronnie Mitchell reveals her plans to buy Scarlet to her sister Roxy Mitchell. Ruby Allen owns the lease of the club. Ronnie and Roxy argue over whether to call it "Roxy and Ronnie's" or "Ronnie and Roxy's", but decide on "R&R". Shortly after making an offer to Ruby, Ronnie is told that a better offer has been made and Ruby will not accept it unless she makes a better offer. This later turns out to be Jack Branning who goes into silent partnership with Ronnie. R&R opens on 29 November 2007. In August 2009 after Ronnie and Jack split up, she sells the club solely to him. Ronnie temporarily runs the club with Jack's brother, Max, until Jack fully recovers from being shot. In May 2010, a fire destroys the club, caused by wiring complications. It is reopened in August with Ronnie and Roxy going into partnership with Jack. In January 2011 Jack sells his share (60%) of the club to Phil Mitchell. In August 2011, to spite her cousin Phil for telling her that she is no good for the business and should sell her share of the club to him, Roxy instead sells her share (20%) to Janine Butcher, much to Phil's dislike. Off-screen, Ronnie also sells her 20% share to Janine.

When Sharon Rickman returns, she takes over the role of manager, while Joey Branning is hired as bar staff. In February 2013, Phil offers Sharon a 19% share in the club to stop her from resigning. Ronnie is in prison and although it was never stated what happened to her share, Phil offers 19% to Sharon, because it is the most he can give her, without losing control to Janine, implying that Janine now owns Ronnie's 20%. When Ronnie returns from prison, she learns that Phil has been involved in a car crash and he places her in charge of his businesses, until he recovers, a short while later. Roxy is appointed as the club's manager, after splitting from her fiancée, Alfie Moon. Roxy's new boyfriend, Carl White, shows an interest in buying the club, but is later caught dealing drugs in there and Roxy ends their relationship. In December 2013, Janine sells her 40% stake to Phil, in order to buy The Queen Victoria. The following month, Sharon decides that she wants to be a landlady again, so hands her share of the club back to Phil, in return for him funding her new bar.