SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

in the early 70's i think a guy called harry was a dj at le phonographique. maybe he was from trinidad, i remember him,looking a bit like the bongo player from t.rex, and another guy with an afro and sunglasses diving up back ash road in headingley in an orange bond buggy looking like 2 hippies wedged in a piece of cheese. i looked in his l.p record box once- i only remember Black Sabbath and Tyranasorus Rex. as young suedehead teenagers we passed the little exotic looking club on our way to the mecca upstairs (over 16's on mondays and over 14's on tuesday) .watching the girls dancing to tamla, reggae (al capones guns don't argue!) and pop. we, the lads, would occasionaly find the courage to moonstomp on the dancefloor. god, we looked like plonkers!

dustyfingers wrote: in the early 70's i think a guy called harry was a dj at le phonographique. maybe he was from trinidad, i remember him,looking a bit like the bongo player from t.rex, and another guy with an afro and sunglasses diving up back ash road in headingley in an orange bond buggy looking like 2 hippies wedged in a piece of cheese. i looked in his l.p record box once- i only remember Black Sabbath and Tyranasorus Rex. as young suedehead teenagers we passed the little exotic looking club on our way to the mecca upstairs (over 16's on mondays and over 14's on tuesday) .watching the girls dancing to tamla, reggae (al capones guns don't argue!) and pop. we, the lads, would occasionaly find the courage to moonstomp on the dancefloor. god, we looked like plonkers! you did not look like plonkers,you were young and exuberent...imagine if we still had that energy now and could channel it,then the world would be a much better place.one thing is true however...youth is wasted on the young.

I used to go to the Mecca on Mondays too, also we were able to get into The Phono (or The Wig-Wam as it was at that time) for a couple of halves of lager before going into the Mecca. I remember the DJ too, although I never knew his name.

i thought it may have been the wigwam club, was there a full size silouette of hendrix or something on the wall outside?we were young and could only get a beer at certain places. we got our halves of Double Diamond confiscated and thrown out of the Aloha bar? for possession of squeaky voices. if that was the name of the bar, it was on a corner on Boar lane by the Masons? clothes shop where you bought cord wrangler jackets and there was an alley with a cafe called Lulus where bigger lads with real sideburns used to meet.we managed to get a beer in a little pub called The Fishermans Hut or The Guildford on the Headrow and a trip to The Peel resulted in fighting with long haired lads with stripy blazers and loons I seem to recall. Getting beat up didn't seem as dangerous in those days, a kicking by Boot Boys might result in a telling off from your mam for getting cherry red boot polish on your white sta prest but everyone lavished so much love on their Doc's it was like being kicked by someone wearing slippers! Oh carefree happy days.

It wasnt the love of the Docs it was more like the fear of losing them by lashing out especially after having the laces confiscated.

I did the same .. Tuesday nights at the Mecca until I was sixteen & then Monday nights. A couple of cheap pints on the way there ... in one of the more salubrious pubs like the Duke William, Granville, Plasterers, and then as we got closer the Little Londoner or the General Wade. Then the farce of trying to get into the Mecca bar for an overpriced half of DD. What a laugh.

Aaaahh! The sweet memories of teenage boozing!