Bring Back Door Pickers

It seems that lately door pickers might just be making a comeback. And that's probably because of the new centre of clubland: Berlin. Berghain is a special place that has an atmosphere and reputation that are fiercely protected, guarded by one special gatekeeper: head doorman and photographer Sven Marquardt. "I feel like I have a responsibility to make Berghain a safe place for people who come purely to enjoy the music and celebrate – to preserve it as a place where people can forget about space and time for a little while and enjoy themselves," he explained to GQ magazine. ''The club evolved from the gay scene in Berlin in the nineties. It's important to me that we preserve some of that heritage, that it still feels like a welcoming place for the original sort of club-goers."

Just as Berghian's music and design have influenced clubs all over the world, so has its selective door policy. There are a handful of clubs empowering the picker once again. Clubs like Fuse, Abode at 338 and The Egg are bringing the practice back, protecting their brands, their clubs and their people – making it better for everyone who does gets in.

Lucy, who worked on the door at Fabric for seven years as well as at Matter and The End, is now a door-picker at Studio 338. ''I think the most important role in a club is a door picker" she says. "I believe that I'm a host, and am there to show off the club. And to make clubbers feel that they are in a safe environment, where it's OK to become intoxicated and vulnerable."

And not everyone can do it. Pickers have to have very, very thick skin, not be scared of confrontation, be honest, unbiased and a good judge of character. They must be able to restrain themselves in the face of provocation. They have to be in tune with the philosophy of their own club and the people who come to it. They have to have style – they're the ultimate representation of what they would like inside the club. They are the masters of their own little universe and they can create the kind of world that we'd all like to live in. Gaz Lethbridge at Basics had his own way of getting the mix right. "We wanted gay people and straight, all races and everyone together.

I always used to look out for and befriend the Asian people who came to the club – they always looked worried that they wouldn't get in. They are the people who I encouraged to come and be part of the crowd'. Good door pickers don't just make clubs better, they can make the world a better place. Bring 'em back.