When Toys R Us announced it was going into administration, the UK mourned. It was like reliving Woolworths all over again, can we not have one childhood memory stay sacred? No longer would kids enjoy Saturdays spent looking up at (seemingly) 100ft shelves of the coolest new toys. It’s difficult to let go of an icon of our childhood, and seemingly, many people refused to last weekend.
That’s right, in the Easter Weekend party that we’re honestly livid we didn’t know about, a group of revelers held a rave in an abandoned Toys ‘R’ Us. Whether it was in celebration of the stores long history as our favourite shop, or just some genius opportunism at an actually amazing place to hold a party, people turned up to the Hounslow store for an all-night party.
It’s unclear just how many people did attend, but since it was an organised event, albeit illegally organised, we’re guessing it had quite a crowd. At least, it was big enough for someone to call the police to shut it down. That’s right, we’re not allowed to have any fun. The party was brought to an abrupt stop by Hounslow police at around 11.27pm, with five arrests made, assumedly the event organisers.
The ‘unlicensed music event’ was held on Hounslow’s Bull’s Bridge Industrial Estate, and party planners (somewhat inartistically) spray painted over the Toys ‘R’ Us sign with ‘raves ‘r’ us’.
Honestly, hats off to the organisers, maybe if they’d have been in charge of marketing they could have orchestrated a Raves R Us franchise and not only saved our childhood but also made adulthood a bit less shit. Have you seen the toys kids have these days? You could rave while driving round in a mini electric range rover!
Alas, Toys ‘R’ Us remains on the outs, at least this may inspire some great party themes in future. In fact, I’m bagsying that for my next birthday, and I’ll be playing the advert theme tune on repeat...
Click through to see all of the things we miss from the 1990's Argos catalogue...
Debrief Argos 1999 Catalogue
1 of 141. Easy Bake Oven
What says a young girl constrained by the gendering of their sex than a desperate desire to be the sole proprietor of a kitchen tool.
2 of 142. Discman
SO high-tech for 1999.
3 of 143. The Way Things Worked
You knew you were a cool kid when you had this series before the school library did.
4 of 144. Pocahontas Costume
In the woke light of 2017, it's likely that this would be perceived as cultural appropriation :/
5 of 145. Mr Frosty Ice Cream Factory
Never trust a child that makes their own ice.
6 of 146. Baby Born
On reflection, what was possibly fun about having a doll that constantly needed feeding and then and weed everywhere?
7 of 147. CD Stereo
On reflection, it makes sense why our parents wouldn't buy us a portable radio, because really what self-respecting adult can listen to B*Witched blaring at top volume all hours of the day?
8 of 146. Themed Bedsheets
Making sleepovers better since 1999.
9 of 148. Polly Pocket Mansion
Fact: Polly Pocket had a nicer house than anything available on Help To Buy
10 of 149. GameBoy
More advanced than an electronic Disney game, less hardcore than a PlayStation. Otherwise, known as the dream.
11 of 1410. Cosmetics Collection
It's super creepy for a child to have a bigger make-up collection than me, a 28-year-old beauty editor.
12 of 1411. Play Till
Who else learnt basic arithmetic on one of these fake tills?
13 of 1412. Spinning Sindy
Seriously, what was more fun than a doll that could also be used as a weapon?
14 of 1413. Educational Electronics
When we were young enough to be fooled into thinking that learning could be fun as long as it came with an electronic accessory.
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.