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Birmingham Nightclubs of the Past - Memories

Hi
there was a casino in the Rum Runner off Broad street and also at the back of new st station,just up from the Grapes pub.Gambling was never my forte.
regards
frank Hanson
 
Thanks Frank. I'm not into gambling either, so I guess it was a different Casino Club. Thanks for replying. My Mom was a Hanson - Winifred. She was born in Clifton Road, Aston. Her Dad was Thomas Hanson, son of Samuel! Any connection?

Carolina - no it wasn't the Grand Casino Ballroom at the Old Square. I did go there quite a lot to lunchtime dances when I was about 16. The Casino I'm talking about was when I was older! I can't for the life of me remember where or what sort of place it was. Don't think it was a gambling club though.

Judy
 
Re: Birmingham Nighclubs of the Past- Memories

Sorry guys, The Casino you mention on Hagley Road was not the one either. I lived in Norfolk Road at the time. I think Libertys is next door to TGI Fridays isn't it? I would imagine Frank's suggestion comes the nearest as it was in the town centre. I think maybe it was a club that changed names in the 60's perhaps. I will ask a couple of friends from those days when I speak to them next.

Judy
 
The 'Wheel Club'....has changed hands a number of times since Bill Cutler owned it during the 70's .......along with a similar club in Moseley......
 
The steering wheel casino was on the corner of Norfolk rd. And Hagley road and further down was the rainbow casino
Corner of Portland red on the opersiteside of the road next one was further down just bear onto broad street and the place was the old
Thearter hall when that finished it became a night club then it was at the bottom of hill street
Just above all those little clubs and pubs below I do know one did open up just along on broad street half way down into town

On broad street it was possible by Lee long lands give a yard or two best wishes astonian,,,,,
 
Hi I said by Lee long lands on broad street so it could have been the old building of the head office of the British railway
Which was a big building that was more or less just before Ronnie Scotts it was a big glass show price this casino you are trying to think of
It was around that postion come to think of it best wishes astonian,,,,,,
 
Doesn't ring a bell Astonian. I am talking about 1959 so it was long before Ronnie Scotts was in Broad Street. I remember going to the first Ronnie Scotts in Brum. Can't remember exactly where it was without checking, but it might have been at The Swan in Yardley.
 
The casino on broad street I am speaking of was yes long before Ronnie Scotts Scotts club came around from London
There was very few pubs and clubs in those days that I do know I was tramping broad street from a very early age long before any casinos on broad street and long before the steering wheel ever came around my dear when I was around the only two clubs was the the rum runner the pink elephant
And brum beat was the only ones around in those days and long before the futeralls started opening clubs
Of course other was one or to on Soho rd. One seedy one and the monticala where I frequented there was ever only two casinos on Hagley red
Astonian,,,,
 
Astonian, I never went to either The Rum Runner or the Pink Elephant. The clubs in my day were The Bermuda in Navigation Street, which was the first club opened by Eddie Fewtrell and his brother, and then later the Moathouse in Moat Row. I guess the Casino will have to remain unknown!!!

Judy
 
Tony
I said this the other day to jayell but I do not think she understood what I was saying in my explanation like I was trying to explain about the one on broad street many years ago it would have been more or less opesite the old st peters church what turned into a restaurant the casino was all a glass front
All lit up I think it lasted about two years they had gone and broad street was changing
And I tried to tell her also it could have been yards from the postion of what became Ronnie Scotts Ronnie Scotts came years after the casino had finished
And I told her that the only other one was the bottom of hill street above the futurist picture house and one time time thwarted
And above all the pubs along there it had a arch drive through when and if you ever went to the casino you drove in the one way and you was met by a porter
And then you would drive your car out back onto the hill street side and as you walk down hill street you could not miss there big huge sign lift up
And saying casino the casino on broad street did last I think for about three years. The one at the bottom of hill street put them out of business
That's where the pro gamberlers went to that one or the rainbow and where you win to much you was waylaid on the back door exit
Yes you are correct in saying the bottom of hill street best wishes astonian,,,,,,,,,
 
Jayell can you tell me what year are speaking off please burmudawas fewtrell first club yes the only clubs in my days around brum
And that was the rum runner was the very first club on the scene along with the pink elephant in Bromsgrove street
And we used the tow rope coffee Barr either after hours it was the rum runner or the pink elephant for us along with a well known celebrate
Whom knew the city very well yes fewtrell opened up not very long after the rum runner he open end up a series of clubs
One after the other in a short period of time all around that I do know indeed I will not say no,more as to how I know
For reasons of thinking I might name dropped and I do not do that for reasons to my self best wishes astonian,,,,
 
Astonian, I did understand what you were telling me, but it just didn't ring any bells as to the place I had visited called The Casino in 1959. It could be that I will never find out where it was as I really don't remember. I had a boyfriend at the time called Terry Sanders, and we used to visit the Cabin pub and then go on to the Casino occasionally. To my knowledge I have never visited a gambling club so I don't think it is any that have been mentioned.

I was a member of The Bermuda Club in Navigation Street in 1958. You wouldn't know it was there unless you knew about it. It was behind a tailor's shop (I think), and there were no signs of any kind outside. It was very popular with townies of the day, but was raided a few times. It wasn't very big inside but there was a bar and a small dance floor.

Judy
 
Sheldontony, thanks for that information. That is more the sort of area I would imagine The Casino to have been but like I told Astonian. I don't ever remember visiting a gambling casino.

Judy
 
Hi Judy,

Bermuda Club - that certainly is a new one on me and I was about town in 1958. We live and learn! Hope you are keeping well.

Maurice
 
Not sure if you already been asked this Jayell but are you sure it wasn't The Casino Dance Hall near the corner of Corporation St and Lower Priory by the Old Square? The Cabin pub was near there. I thought I had posted some memories of The Casino dance hall a few days ago but not sure that they appeared (may have pressed the wrong button). If you think it may be the right 'Casino' I'll be happy to repeat....
 
Hello Maurice - Hope you are keeping OK. The Bermuda Club was entered by knocking on the door and waiting to be let in! It was very popular with the crowd I went around with at the time. It felt very sophisticated to be one of the in-crowd!

Judy
 
Thanks Shawcross. I knew the Casino Ballroom in the Old Square well as I used to go to the lunchtime dances there when I was about 16. I worked at the other end of Corporation Street at the time. I dont think it was there, but who knows! I am now of the opinion that it could have been anywhere that I wrote about in my diary. Time has deleted it from my memory!!! I have also asked another friend who was about town at the same time (1959) but he doesn't remember it either.

Judy
 
Hello Judy,

Yes, I'm keeping fine, thank you - for an old 'un that is! The only place I remember having to knock on the door was an Irish place up in Broad Street, and when we got in, there were always a couple of cops having a quiet drink at the bar! I just remember it as a place to get a drink after hours, generally when I'd finished playing.

Carolina, I was out of Brum by early January 1961, and whilst I knew of the name Fewtrell, I never actually met them or, to the best of my knowledge, went in any of their establishments. My favourite haunt until it closed was Chris Padan's Firebird in Carrs Lane.

Maurice
 
Hi Maurice
Nice to see and hear from you again and I hope you are well
On the subject of the Bermuda club it was only selected people at the beginning whom they let in of certain characters
Unless you was known you would not have been let in I,m afraid ,nothink personal towards you ,but I will used the expression
I got from my friend today Keith is a retired police motor cyclist and specialist fast responded car driver for the force during that
Period and he was city centre patrol for years his wife still works within the force but never or less
Today I asked him about the club scene and I stated the very first two clubs in the city at that period was
The rum runner and the pink elephant on Bromsgrove street and mentionioned the Bermuda club
He said he knew the owners and the club and its problems and he called it a very intimidating club meaning
So you see you would not have got in with out being known
I am trying to recall that Irish place you are on about I recall it being a dark green tiled out side tiled brick work on the corner of a street
Along broad street it was an Irish pub known for the afters like wise even today if you are in the know you can get into any pub
Providing you are known personally or with a friend whom is in the know that particular pub was later one of the first pubs
In the city to be called orieliys which when the Irish theme pubs started to take off I was offered it myself but we moved on
And declined it and went to a pub in cheltam for area years we ran area pubs and clubs around brum
And the place our dear jayill is trying to recall was about 600 yards back down along the broad street going back towards the hall of memory
Only on the same side of the pub as I cannot be precise of the roads it was between I have had to recall building
So if you came out of ozools street and turned left and walked along area yards and looked across the road over broad street
There was a huge glass frontage of shops during that period and one was with bright lights lift up in neon lights
And the sign said the casino and also it said apply for membership that's where that casino was
And I would gamble my last quid on it AS. A certain also facing it on broad street was that old church which was transformed into a
Restaurant with. A guy dressed in tradional Indian clothes with a turban on his head and. Turned up at the toes shoes
That's where this the casino club would have been surely to god. That as to be some record on file in the ,library
I do know it exist its not a pigment of my imagination that's for sure. Best wishes to you astonian,,,,,
 
Hello Alan,

Nice to hear from you again and I'm sure you are right about the Irish place, the entrance of which was just inside an alleyway off Broad Street on the right hand side going out of town. As to the exterior decor, I can't help you as it was always dark and after midnight when we turned up there and I was always in the company of a drummer called Pat Sweetman from Winson Green, now sadly passed away. Pat knew the boss - I would never have attempted to get in on my own.

Another place I once played at was a Jewish sort of (mainly) youth club somewhere in Edgbaston and on the night I was there so was the late actor, David Kossof. But we're now talking of getting on for nearly 60 years ago and memories fade.

My connection with the Firebird owner, Chris Padan, was much more of a personal one as I used to eat there a lot as well as play there from time to time. I was sorry when he decided to move down to Surrey in 1960, but the building was scheduled for demolition so I guess that he couldn't extend the lease. He was in his 80s when he died in London in the late 1990s.

Thanks for the memories, Alan - catch up with you again soon.

Regards,

Maurice
 
Good morning Judy,

Yes, great memories and so many of them when it was only open for such a relatively small number of years. Thanks for the card, you seem to have so many of them. I can still taste Chris' Spanish omelettes now, but I best remember it for all the visiting American musicians that I met there of a lunchtime. The last time I played there was just a jam session which included both Roy Castle and Acker Bilk. Happy days.

Maurice
 
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