HE has helped Hereford party for 15 years, bringing dance music heavyweights such as Pendulum and Sub Focus to the city before they were famous.

But now club promoter Richard Bayliss, aka DJ Dex, is all partied out and looking forward to the quiet life.

He will sign off in style with his last night on April 4 at The Jailhouse, before exchanging his turntables and the club scene for his sofa and Saturday night television.

The 33-year-old from Bromyard said: “I always aimed to put on a great night for local people – the sort of night I would like to go to.

“I will be sad when it is all over and I will miss it, but I’m getting on and am happy to leave it to the next generation.”

Local clubs including the Crystal Rooms and the Lock Up hosted Dex’s Monumental nights over the years, and his track record of booking up-and-coming acts set for future stardom was impressive.

Australian drum and bass act Pendulum have had a number one album in the UK, but they launched their first release in Hereford.

Likewise electronic production duo Chase and Status played to a crowd of just 40 people in our city before going on to sell out Wembley Arena and achieve four top 10 hits.

Yet -despite attracting the stars of the future, Dex still found it difficult to make such nights financially viable.

He said: “It is a big gamble and sometimes if a night failed I would spend the rest of the month living off baked beans.

“I won’t miss the stress that goes along with it.”

Even without his input, he added Hereford has a better live music scene than other nearby cities such as Worcester.

Dex now intends to focus more on his day job as a Hydrometric Technician, as well as on music production. He has two songs being released shortly.

• The final Monumental night will be held at the Jailhouse on April 4 and sees Ed Solo headline. Support comes from Dex, Rize, Windy, Manuver, Guy di Guy, Rastey, Shmuckton, Iolo and Nik Jonson.