Based in a building that had formerly been the North London Colosseum and Amphitheatre and then a cinema, in the 1960s and 1970s the club became one of the first venues to play black music in the United Kingdom.

The disused Victorian theatre was originally built to house Robert Fossett's Circus in 1886[10] It was known as the North London Colosseum and Amphitheatre and elephants performed alongside acrobats and jugglers.

[12] According to one description, "this multistoreyed, multi-roomed, Victorian-built hulk was labyrinthine – a reggae centre as if concocted in the mind of Jorge Luis Borges.

"[1] It was the first club to open in Hackney, and "quickly became a meeting point for newly arrived Afro-Caribbean immigrants experiencing cultural exile".

Dunbar showcased up-and-coming reggae artists and later hosted legendary sound clashes and sound systems.Both local musicians and top international artists played and sang at the Four Aces Club, among them: Desmond Dekker,[13] Jimmy Cliff,[13] Roy Shirley,[14] Alton Ellis,[14] Prince Buster,[13] the Upsetters,[2] Ann Peebles,[3] Percy Sledge,[3] Ben E. King,[14] Jimmy Ruffin,[14] Billy Ocean,[3] the Ronettes[15] and many others.

[16] Among the influential sound systems were Count Shelly,[3] Fat Man,[9] Jah Shaka [17] and Sir Coxsone,[10] with DJs vying to play at the Four Aces.

[14] Labrynth was founded by Joe Wieczorek and originally hosted illegal warehouse rave parties during 1988 and 1989 at the height of the acid house scene.

[12] The cutting down of trees planted in the club's garden in memory of the young people who perished in the New Cross fire – widely believed to have been a racist arson attack – preceded the building's demolition.

[22][23] Subsequent campaigns took place putting pressure on the council "to prevent the eradication of monuments which hold the memory of Black history and the story of multi-racial political solidarity in the borough", in particular the successful petition to retain the name of C. L. R. James on the relocated Dalston library.