Sala Cocó

The semi-basement under the Alcázar

The dance floor opens under the Teatro Alcázar, at number 20 Alcalá Street, halfway between Puerta del Sol and Cibeles. It is not the three-story labyrinth that burned down in 1983: the renovations of the 2000s moved the dancing to a semi-basement about four meters from the street, an open-plan room with a booth at the back and elevated VIP areas on the sides. Access is from the city center, almost next to the Sevilla metro, and the atmosphere is that of a compact club: single dance floor, light beam, and a door that, on big nights, fills up because the venue fits in a historic plot, not in a peripheral area.

From the 1983 tragedy to the new name

On the dawn of December 17, 1983, a short circuit turned the Alcalá 20 nightclub —then a temple of the movida— into the worst catastrophe of Spanish nightlife: 81 dead. The name remained marked for decades. In 2005, with a fire-fighting cistern, sprinklers, and reduced capacity, there was an attempt to reopen that the City Council sealed shortly after opening. Sala Cocó was born in 2011 on that rehabilitated space, with its own identity as a nightclub and without claiming the old name: a modern, spacious room designed for other nights to inhabit its dance floor.

One room, several nights

The venue does not program as a single brand. For years, Thursdays and Saturdays were occupied by Mondo Disko, a house and techno session that brought Laurent Garnier, Adam Beyer, Óscar Mulero, or VTSS to the booth. In 2019, Boiler Room broadcast the XIX anniversary of Mondo from this dance floor. On Fridays, La Discoteca —born in 2022 as a replacement for Cha Chá— turned towards reggaeton, trap, hip hop, and house. There is a cloakroom, reserved areas, and a dance floor designed to be filled until closing, usually at 06:00. The club culture here is that of a borrowed room: the building provides the container; the nights, the story.

Sealing, moving, and present

In July 2025, the Activity Agency sealed the premises for two months after exceeding capacity relative to the license. Mondo Disko then moved its calendar to Sala BUT. The physical club remains at Alcalá 20: a container of Madrid nightlife in the heart of the center, with opening linked to each program and the tension, never fully resolved, between legal capacity and dance floor demand.