Lost Night-Clubs of Leeds!

[RayCooke]

That club on Chapeltown road was called the 'Tahiti Club' when I 1st worked there and then changed to the 'Bamboo Club'..it was run by 2 greeks..Gargas and Geekie. Had a gambling [poker] room upstairs in the converted loft.

[biofichompinc]

Geordie-exile wrote: Geordie-exile wrote: Willy wrote: Remember the Peel on Boar Lane,downstairs in the very damp club, late 60s early 70s also the very big bouncer on the door,I remember his nickname was lurch.no offence to the guy, we got on really well unlike others when he kept order on the door. That would be Tony - there are a couple of mentions of him elsewhere on the site if you do a search. I've just read on another forum that Tony Hardcastle was killed. Is that true? One Wednesday afterrnoon during summer this year, maybe July or August, I called into the New Roscoe for a quick one. Big Tony was leaving as I walked in. It took a while for me to twig, but I checked with the barmaid and it was definitely him. She said he goes in regularly.I remember him from the Meccas, old and new. And the Del Rio.

[String o' beads]

Oh that's good news! Thanks.I wonder if he knows just how many people [of a certain age] remember him?

[RayCooke]

Geordie-exile wrote: Oh that's good news! Thanks.I wonder if he knows just how many people [of a certain age] remember him? Haha. I'm 64yo and I do !!!

[Steevo]

This thread brought back some memories -Im just gonna brainstorm and see where it takes me ! ! ! so - 1st bar I ever went in was Berlins circa 1994. I recall the following - please help fill in the blanks if you can .Berlins - with its spinning wheel deal. Ritzys (legend) and Mr Craigs - it was really here or Ritzy. Harveys - now Blue Coyote. The Bank - had my 18th here in Park Row - now the Bier Keller. Stumps under the Library - then LS1 now a cafe. I remember a couple bars / clubs near Foleys - Im sure it was a restaurant called FISH - anyone remember its history. Was there a nightclub - Off the wall nextdoor down some steps. The Music Factory round near the calls somewhere. Heaven and Hell. The Atrium. Santiago used to be called Tequila Tequila , remember when it opened ! ! ! ! ! Observatory was legendary ! ! ! Planet Earth revolving dancefloor - Majestuk and Jumpin Jacks. I always remember going to a club / bar in that weird structure near the merrion hotel - What was that - any names please ! ! ! ! ! ! I think I remember Lens and Digbys - went in once at 18/19yrs old. . . were they where the old steps bar is now? ? The Town and Country was my favourite - Brutus Golds Love Train - I used to have a mate called Neil who got us in free - he was a dancer whos stage name was alberto balsam ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! I cant remember many more - but they stick in my head. I remember going to the felon and feast and firkin , and ive also loved many a night in the old scruffy murphys / viva cuba / coburg before wandering to the Polly Bop at the uni. Keep it easy folkssteevo

[col]

The Warehouse and The Phono were the best. Back in the 80's I spent most evenings hanging out in those clubs with people who later became famouse like Marc Almond and Andrew from the Sisters of Mercy.I saw loads of bands at the Warehouse inc THE PSYCHADELIC FURSPSYCHIC TVALIEN SEX FIENDBOW WOW WOWIn the late 70's THE F CLUB was the only place to go. situated in Brannigans on Call Lane it was a small basement club run by the legendary JOHN KEENAN and i remember seeing loads of bands live there inc...THE REZZILLOSUK SUBSSPIZZanother good one was TIFFANY'S in the Merrion Centre where i saw JAPANKILLING JOKESPEAR OF DESTINYDEAD OR ALIVE too many to listgreat times ...great memories

[-_Phil_-]

dustyfingers wrote: There was a disco above the rolarena (now a ytv buiding) on kirkstall rd who's name escapes me, we were too young to get in but our club WAS the roller rink. waiting for the bouncers to turn round so we could glide into the bar upstairs for half of D.D. you could follow a bird for 3 hours solid in those days, sometimes they didn't even notice! i think the d.j was called simon peters perhaps. white suit? speed sessions with Rocking Goose and if you got lucky an arm in arm romantic skate to 'I'm just a lonely boy. lonely and blue'i saw mungo jerry there, my mate missed the concert 'cos he had to get the last bus home before they came on.some of the older guys, rockers and greasers, used to bop to the rock n roll with their skates on. blimmin' rebels! Many of the places mentioned in this thread are a bit off the subject of night clubs, but I thought I'd chuck my bit in anyway.I have fond memories of the Rollarena.I remember my mate Kelly (RIP) losing control during the Rocking Goose - Johnny & The Hurricanes speed skating bit and crashing head first into the safety barrier. Kelly was ok but the barrier was loosened a bit. We were in a group (they weren't called bands yet) and for a short time we had a residency spot here to give the DJ a break. One week we were double booked with another group and we lost the toss of a coin, so Kelly and I went to check out the Ice Rink in Bradford to see if they had groups on there. Trying to cut a long story short, this is where I met the girl who I married in 1973 and hence the move from The Big City to Wibsey. But I digress.I'm a bit older than a lot of you guys here so don't know many of the 'newer' places mentioned. However I do recall the Ace of Clubs on Woodhouse Lane opening. There was a bit of a furore as I think it was the first place in Leeds allowed to stay open until 1 or maybe 2 am.I also remember quite vividly when my old friend Sir Jim (RIP) smuggled me into the Mecca one afternoon to show me his twin deck record player setup. It was actually this great guy who started me down the road on my so called musical career, such as it was. But I digress again.Also mentioned in this thread is the Tatler Cinema. I remember Dad (RIP) taking me here before the Tatler days when it showed the old black and white newsreel films and Disney cartoons on an afternoon. There was another entrance through the 'tunnel' as if you were going to the Central Station I think. I can't remember what the cinema was called or what was written on the monument outside. It may have just been called the Newsreel Theatre.Another place Dad took me although I was well under-age is the Adelphi where we saw the White Eagles and The Yorkshire Post Jazz Band. Much later in life I got to know the YPJB double bass player, Bob Frettlohr. Lovely family.In his youth my Dad had played at the Adelphi, amongst other places which I can't remember, when he played clarinet in a jazz band called Satan & His Seven Stokers. Anyone heard of them? Rather than night clubs in my heyday, much of the entertainment was of the ballroom type. Anyone remember those steep steps going up to Altman's just off Great George St? I think this is one of the places where the Grumbleweeds found fame, and I remember the posters outside for a group called Hotsnot. Wonder what happened to them.Although I left the City my musical fumblings took me to many of the venues mentioned here. Some favourites being Haddon Hall, Star and Garter (later known as Bar-Celona), The Royal Park, Coburg, Cherry Tree, Victoria (later Trotters) on York Road with the Irish Centre over the road, FForde Greene, auditions at Jimmy Windsor's and practically every working men's club who had groups on.One of the saddest things about this lot are all the RIP's.Let's keep the memories coming in.

[RayCooke]

I was in a couple of groups around that time. Never did the Star & Garter..did the FForde Grene a few times..I did some solo stuff for a while around the pubs..another guy called Rikki was on the same round as me..can't remember his second name..favourite song was the story of The Virgin Sturgun..LOL Used to go up to Newcastle a lot or Lincoln was good as well. Good old days eh...64 now and still do a bit of blues but just on odd occasions..very odd ones LOL

[book]

RayCooke wrote: I was in a couple of groups around that time. Never did the Star & Garter..did the FForde Grene a few times..I did some solo stuff for a while around the pubs..another guy called Rikki was on the same round as me..can't remember his second name..favourite song was the story of The Virgin Sturgun..LOL Used to go up to Newcastle a lot or Lincoln was good as well. Good old days eh...64 now and still do a bit of blues but just on odd occasions..very odd ones LOL Which groups were you in?

[-_Phil_-]

Hello book,As I mentioned in a previous post, it was Sir Jim who got me started musically.I was thirteen when he used to pick me up in his white Roller with the gold door handles and take me to various interesting places. One of them being the Mecca, also mentioned earlier, but also to TV and radio studios in Leeds. It was in one of these studios, a big old house type of building somewhere in the Blackman Lane area I think, where it sort of went like this;JS - "Do you know this song they're playing in there kid?" (I was always 'kid'. I don't think he ever remembered names.Me - " 'Course I do."JS - "Then let's get you in there to sing it. Can you sing kid?"Me - " 'Course I can."And that was it really; I did the song, signed the contract which paid me ten bob there and then (never had as much money before) and away I went as a session singer, with a bit of bass guitar thrown in now and again. At thirteen years old.Trying to keep a boringly long ramble short, I ended up singing on literally hundreds of the hits and misses of the day. Hear them every day on the radio. The good old sixties.Could start name dropping by telling of some of the people I worked alongside, but let's not spoil things by being big headed.As regards groups, the first I was in involved four of us in the fifth form at LGS. We did make a demo single, but that was about all really. I think we were called Tyme and Creation, but I may be wrong.Next was the group I mentioned before who had the short residency at the Rollarena. I haven't a clue what we were called. The creative smoking substances plus Watneys Red Barrel tend to have that effect.When I met my wife-to-be in Bradford I decided to quit this group, who then called it a day anyway.I thought that was the end of all things musical until we saw a group of lads from the Wakefield area called Ice Kool in the Alexandra Club on Tong Road. I was impressed. We saw them again two weeks later at the Hall Road Club where we got chatting to the lads and decided to become groupies. Before long I ended up being their roadie, manager, sound mixer man and wet nurse. This episode changed me from being an on-stage person to the sound engineer.After the eventual demise of this group there then followed various others for whom I produced the sound. These included Splitz (only a duo but with a huge sound), Three Spoke Wheel, Saddletramp, Fi-Hi, Johnnie and his Fingers, 25 Years After, Shy Tot, Gregory Brothers, Main Attraction (not the Leeds group of the same name), and my favourite of all - Bruno.Although I had never let my past singing achievements be known to any of this lot, there were a few of them who pestered me to join them on stage. It was the singing in the van on the way home that gave them a hint of my vocal talents (tongue firmly in cheek). I much prefered to oversee the sound that they were making rather than making any racket of my own.All this lot sort of fizzled out about six years ago as old age turns what used to be fun into hard work. Humping all the gear about at the beginning and end of the night!Then about nine years ago we moved our caravan onto a site near Scarborough where there was an excellent karaoke night every Saturday. I'd never really been interested in this form of 'entertainment' as it's very rare you hear anybody who can actually sing. But this place has some good voices. Very soon one of the regulars heard me singing along to myself and actually remembered seeing me years ago in Leeds when I did a few gigs with Edison Lighthouse. Unbelievable. So she then made it know to everyone and very soon I was dragged up into the singing position. Once again trying to cut a long boring story short, this eventually led to me assisting with the hosting of the karaoke and becoming a sort of entertainments manager for the club.I packed this in last year when I had a fall out with the site owner. I just do the occasional karaoke wherever and whenever I'm persuaded. It's strange, but I find I actually enjoy myself more now than I did back in the day. Must be because I'm amazed that I can still belt them out.Going back to the Bruno group, a couple of weeks ago we had an evening out with Dave who was the vocalist at the time. He always has a go at me for never joining them on-stage for the odd number, but he is planning a do for his sixtieth next year and he's hoping to get some of the lads back together for a concert to celebrate. He's made me promise that this time I'm up there. I wouldn't miss it for the world.Sorry for rambling again, but you guys get my juices flowing. I need to write that book.Let's have some more memories.