R&R (EastEnders)

R&R

R&R
Series EastEnders
Type Nightclub
First appearance 1996
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. It closes after being raided by the police in 1997, but reopens later that year as 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 also starts a loan shark business from inside the club with Phil Mitchell and Conor Flaherty.

e20

The club is later rechristened e20 by Steve Owen, after he purchases the premises from Annie in 1998. It is named after the Walford postcode, London E20. Lenny Wallace is employed as a barman and Matthew Rose is the DJ. Steve later employs Billy Mitchell there, knowing this would annoy Phil and Grant Mitchell. The e20 opens on 14 February 1999, and it is on this Valentine's Day that Steve's obsessive ex-girlfriend Saskia turns up to taunt him and starts knocking him around, but when she starts to strangle him with his own tie, he defends himself by hitting her over the head with an ashtray, which kills her. He frames Matthew, the witness, for the murder and the boy is sent to prison. When he is released, Matthew takes revenge by tying Steve up in the club and threatening to set fire to it, but he's only trying to scare Steve into an emotional wreck.

Steve marries Ian's ex-wife Melanie Beale in 2001, and she becomes a supposed, only-in-writing, owner of the club. Later, Dan Sullivan kidnaps Melanie as revenge on Steve for playing a part in his imprisonment. After she is finally released, she decides to torch the e20 to get back at Steve for his lies. The club needs to be completely rebuilt, but while Steve's 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 rebuilding money. Steve resorted to plotting an armed robbery to raise the needed money in late 2001. In early 2002, after his criminal friends learn he conned them out of their share of the money from the robbery, Steve decides to sell the club and move to America. His friend Beppe di Marco is interested, but he is £3000 short of the asking price and must allow Billy Mitchell to become part owner, although 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 helps her run it, but with him in charge, his feud with the Mitchells leads to Sam and Billy being sacked...and later leads to Billy burning down Angie's Den in January 2004, not realising that Vicki Fowler is inside. Billy rescues Vicki, but an explosion rocks the club and it must 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 been the one to force her cousin Billy to torch it). Den returns from holiday with the necessary funds and the Wattses retain and refurbish the club. When Sharon opens it, Kareena Ferreira and Lisa Fowler work there briefly as bar staff, as does Juley Smith until 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. Johnny makes Jake Moon the manager and Grant Mitchell runs the club with him for several months. Jake and Grant both leave and Ruby runs the club with her boyfriend Sean Slater. She tries to employ Wayne Thompson as a manager but after Sean gets angry with 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 to her sister Roxy Mitchell her plans to buy Scarlet from lease-owner Ruby. After arguing whether to call it "Roxy and Ronnie's" or "Ronnie and Roxy's", the sisters decide on "R&R." Ronnie makes an offer to Ruby, then is told that a better offer has been made and Ronnie must improve hers. Jack Branning turns out to have made the better offer; he goes into silent partnership with Ronnie and R&R opens on 29 November 2007. In August 2009 Ronnie and Jack split up and she sells the club to him. She temporarily runs it with Jack's brother Max until Jack fully recovers from being shot. In May 2010 a wire-complications fire destroys the club, which is reopened that 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 and hires Joey Branning 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.

Key events in the club


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