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Rum Runner

NORTHFIELD said:
I remember Bob from the Katz. His girlfriend worked on the reception at the Rum. He was a former teacher, from Yorkshire I think. Mickey Walker on the door. Great entertainer! Former Redcaps. Beauty queens Pauline and Sonja. Unbelievable night when The Everlys played there. Black tie dos, with soda syphon fights with Paul Berrow. The Berrows were the most generous of people.
Click to expand...
Hello Northfield
Bit of senior confusion here, I think.
I am originally from Scarborough in Yorkshire. My wife, Pat, ran the small quiet bar in the Rum after a short stint on reception. Mal Ford played gentle keyboards in there. He now runs major entertainment agencies in Blackpool and USA. The drummer and the rhythm guitar both were Bobs. One from London one from Ross. We all started out as teachers. Mick Walker was doorman and compere, ex Redcaps bass player. A great joker. He is still doing the rounds as a comic. The Berrows were the fairest most open handed business people I ever met. Great people. The Everlies, Tom Jones, Chuck Berry, Bonzo Dogs, Peddlers, Tremeloes, Barron Knights, Lulu, Tammy St John all played there. We had the privelege of being their support band. What a bonus. See the Rum Runner Nightclub entry in Wikipedia for more info.

Ted
 
I can remember going to the Rum Runner to see Duran Duran when I was training - one of the girls in the set went out with one of the Taylors, but can't remember which one!!!
Had some great times there.
Sue
 
Don't remember what he drove. I only ever saw him inside the club. What a great personality.

He leapt onto the stage one night interrupting us in the middle of a number and grabbing the mike off the lead singer to announce the birth of my son, Mark. He knew before I did. He'd had a phone call to relay to me. He decided to do it his way. That's Mick, alright. Jeez, I miss those days.

Ted
 
Hello Sue.
Duran Duran were well after my time at the Rum. I had been left about 10/12 years when they happened. What a fantastic journey they had. Again all down to the Berrows. This time it was the next generation but still the same generous spirit.

Ted
 
Great times And sad times. Gina behind the bar. i saw her a few days before she died in a car crash on the way to Coventry. Her boyfriend was Brian on the door.
 
NORTHFIELD said:
Great times And sad times. Gina behind the bar. i saw her a few days before she died in a car crash on the way to Coventry. Her boyfriend was Brian on the door.
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Absent friends - God bless em all. There were some lovely looking girls behind that bar. All shapes and sizes but something attractive about each one. Bev Bevan's girl friend worked there for quite a while. She and my wife,Pat, were friends for a short while until we moved on and lost touch.

Ted
 
does anyone have a pic of the rum runner please...walked all the way home with a broken heel from there one night..or was it staggered:D:D that would have been around 1969/70

lyn
 
Astoness said:
does anyone have a pic of the rum runner please...walked all the way home with a broken heel from there one night..or was it staggered:D:D that would have been around 1969/70

lyn
Click to expand...

Hello Lyn.

Most of my pix were destroyed in a minor flood at my home some years ago.

Here is a sad nostalgic pic of the club being demolished but still recognizable.View attachment 67899

Ted

This is my first attempt at uploading an image on this forum. Bear with me if it takes a second attempt.
 
Great photo Ted even if a little sad shows the barrel seats well. My friend Rosalind Dyer worked behind the bar she was a very pretty blond girl. I would love to contact her again we had some great laughs.
 
thanks for the pic ted and well done on posting your first one....happy days

lyn
 
Hello fellow townie, Carol.

What a very kind thought.
Yes I do play occasionally but only for friends and family at private parties and functions.

Mainly I write and record on my own little mini recording studio.

It's not Decca or EMI but it's not too bad a quality for home produced.

Try this link if you are interested and scroll to the bottom of the page.

You will find a couple of links to some of my stuff.

The first track. 'A Bad Case of the Blues' is a number I wrote a few years ago when my good friends decided to split after years of OK marriage.

See what you think. (My Royal Navy pals called me Burt after the other good looking Lancaster)

https://www.aardwolf.net/Burt/welcome.html

Ted
 
Hi Ted, really enjoyed those tracks, the 2nd one I thought had a touch of the man in black's voice when you went down real low. Kind regards. I started a thread some time ago stating the groups we have seen, I bet you will beat us all.
 
carolina said:
Hi Ted, really enjoyed those tracks, the 2nd one I thought had a touch of the man in black's voice when you went down real low. Kind regards. I started a thread some time ago stating the groups we have seen, I bet you will beat us all.
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Thanks for the kind words. Appreciated.
It is certainly true to say that any band worth listening to in the sixties had a very fair chance of turning up at the Rum sooner or later.
Katz always played the early slot 9 till 11. Then an hour's disco and the visiting band played the second spot, 12 till 2.
So it's pretty fair to say that I was at least on nodding terms with most of the rock and roll guys in those days including quite a few who made the big time.

Ted
 
Hi Ted,

You're Bob! Sorry for my 'senior confusion' over your name. No confusion of remembering you as a great guy and your group as top notch. You always delivered a first class set. Great times.

Northfield
 
NORTHFIELD said:
Hi Ted,

You're Bob! Sorry for my 'senior confusion' over your name. No confusion of remembering you as a great guy and your group as top notch. You always delivered a first class set. Great times.

Northfield
Click to expand...

It is really touching to be remembered after all these years. Thanks for that.

I really do believe that all the bands gave top performances at the club.

There was something about that intimate 'close enough to touch' atmosphere of being just inches away from the people on the dance floor.
You could actually laugh and joke with the dancers as you played - not that anybody could ever hear a word!!
It just brought out the best in everyone.

Ted
 
I may be late to this discussion. I recall going to the Rum Runner on many Friday nights between 1972 and 1974, arriving about 9pm and leaving at closing time. I have two key memories of my nights there, the first being the way the dance floor cleared when Nutbush City Limits played and two enthusiastic females launched into a dance of flailing arms and writhing bodies. Most entertaining.

The other memory was meeting a lovely girl, Pamela, who I went out with for a year.

Thanks for the memories, as they say.
 
OneSteveM said:
I may be late to this discussion. I recall going to the Rum Runner on many Friday nights between 1972 and 1974, arriving about 9pm and leaving at closing time. I have two key memories of my nights there, the first being the way the dance floor cleared when Nutbush City Limits played and two enthusiastic females launched into a dance of flailing arms and writhing bodies. Most entertaining.

The other memory was meeting a lovely girl, Pamela, who I went out with for a year.

Thanks for the memories, as they say.
Click to expand...

Hello OneSteveM and welcome.

72 was just after my time. I left the band towards the end of 68 but they stayed on as resident group for a few more years .

You may just have caught the tail end of them before they went to another club in London.

See here

https://www.aardwolf.net/rumrunnerkatz.html

Cheers

Ted
 
I remember the BBC TV series Gangsters that used the Rum Runner,they changed the name to some thing else, something cow related I think. I remember the club name outside was made up of those little reflective metal discs that moved and caught the light. It looked really tacky but that was the BBC in the late 70's.

I remember a car chase outside the fire station where the cars were meant to be traveling at speed swerving all over the road. The police had refused the Beeb permission to go at speed around the Queensway, so they made out they were going fast, boy did it look stupid.

Pat Roach played the part of a IRA heavy.
 
Old & Grey said:
I remember the BBC TV series Gangsters that used the Rum Runner,they changed the name to some thing else, something cow related I think. I remember the club name outside was made up of those little reflective metal discs that moved and caught the light. It looked really tacky but that was the BBC in the late 70's.

I remember a car chase outside the fire station where the cars were meant to be traveling at speed swerving all over the road. The police had refused the Beeb permission to go at speed around the Queensway, so they made out they were going fast, boy did it look stupid.

Pat Roach played the part of a IRA heavy.
Click to expand...

Hyah O and G.

Pat Roach was a regular punter at the Rum in the sixties and probably later.

I recall a fancy dress night put on by the Berrows one night probably in 1967 when both Pat and I had the same Laughing Cavalier type costume.

He was about six foot seven and I was a foot shorter. I felt a bit like Little and Large but a great time.

Do you remember the name of the episode of Gangsters or the rough date of it.

It's the first I've ever heard of it .

It would be interesting to see if a copy of it still exists anywhere.

Cheers

Ted
 
Gansters 1976 Incident 3 and Incident 4. I knew Pat well, we went to Blackpool to see the lights in his Bentley, it ran on LPG, it was funny driving down the mile with people staring at us in the car. Mind you the PAT *** reg did give it away some what. We did have some good times, and he was very proud of the various parts he played no matter how small.

He would also go out of his way to help people.
 
Old & Grey said:
Gansters 1976 Incident 3 and Incident 4. I knew Pat well, we went to Blackpool to see the lights in his Bentley, it ran on LPG, it was funny driving down the mile with people staring at us in the car. Mind you the PAT *** reg did give it away some what. We did have some good times, and he was very proud of the various parts he played no matter how small.

He would also go out of his way to help people.
Click to expand...


Thanks O and G.

I Googled it and found it all on You Tube.

It seems that most of it was shot in the Rum and Gas Street basin.

I really enjoyed seeing the old place again almost exactly as I knew it before the eighties renovations.

Never saw any strippers in the sixties though, but you can't have everything i suppose.

Great stuff.

Ted
 
Last edited:
TedLancaster said:
Thanks O and G.

I Googled it and found it all on You Tube.

It seems that most of it was shot in the Rum and Gas Street basin.

I really enjoyed seeing the old place again almost exactly as I knew it before the eighties renovations.

Never saw any strippers in the sixties though, but you can't have everything i suppose.

Great stuff.a load

Ted
Click to expand...

Glad I could bring back some happy memories. It's surprising how a few things can bring back a whole load of memories.
 
thanks for the info. To all the people who worked in the bar or the casino we are having another party in Dec 2012 dates to be arranged
and any other people in the night clubs and casinos in the 60s and 70s.We recently had a party It was hosted by big Albert who was doorman there whe went on to own the Elbow Room More info to follow
 
I remember Albert a lovely man...well he did let me into the club...lol
 
Hi Folks, rightly or wrongly I always considered the Rum Runner to be high end price-wise (entrance fee, booze, restaurant) but then again I was only on apprentice wages so most of the establishments in the city came under that heading in 1968, when I was 19.

Anyway this gorgeous girl started in the offices of the large engineering factory where I worked and rapidly became Miss Highly Desireable throughout the length and breadth of the factory, not just to single blokes but also to engaged and married guys. She'd only been there a matter of weeks and I saw her approaching me at the end of this long corredor, we'd exchanged the odd smile before, and there was never going to be a better chance. The monkey on my left shoulder said, "Forget it, she's not for the likes of you, you'll only make a fool of yourself." The right shoulder held the opposing view, "Go for it, what have you got to lose? Better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity."

The right shoulder prevailed. I engaged her in what seemed like small talk but it was actually intelligence gathering, I found out she was new to the area and was living with a relative, anyway to cut a long story short I asked her out the following Saturday and she accepted - couldn't get my hat on! Spring in my step as I walked back to my office! Next part of my plan was to get my mate to get a date and make-up a foursome, why ? He'd got a car, I hadn't. Just as well he came - you'll see why in a minute.

So there we all were on the dance floor at the Rum Runner when, let's call her, Julie, said she hadn't eaten since breakfast and was starving. Being a knight in shining armour and never knowingly not going to the aid of a damsel in distress I took her to the restaurant, hoping she would settle for a bowl of soup - WRONG!

I checked my wallet as she studied the menu, it was going to be close. I ate as cheaply as I could just so she wasn't eating alone, whilst she had the top of the range steak. The meal still cleaned me out apart from a few pence - my mate came to the rescue with a loan.

Anyway the rest of the evening was pretty mediocre and we eventually left the club about 3.00am and made our way home.

The following Monday my alleged exploits had circulated around the factory by the time I had got to work, but no-one would believe I'd left everyone for dead, breezed in and swept Miss Highly Desireable to the Rum Runner, they all thought I was making the story up!

I know what you are thinking, "They got engaged and lived happily ever after", WRONG! - She never looked at me again!

Ah Well! That's life.

Regards,
Peg.
 
another comical story from you peg:D i am sure there is a photo of rum runner on the forum been trying to locate it without luck so far..

lyn
 
Great times at the Rum, I ended up marrying a member of staff, but thats another story.
 

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I meet lots of Brummies over here and usually the discussion moves to pubs and clubs of town, Rum Runner always comes up.
 
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