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Top rank suite night club

Z

zonda

Brummie babby
Does anyone remember the Top rank night club in town?, used to go there in the seventies. Also a small club, think it was called Sloopys.
 
Hi Zonda:)

I well remember the Top Rank, I used to go there every Saturday morning when I was 12 - only squash and cola served:D and progressed to a Tuesday night. I loved it :):) I was about 16 when I used to go on Tuesdays - naughty :D:D
 
Ah, thank you.
I never went in there when it was Top Rank, or Humming Bird, but I have seen a few bands in there since.
Picking my daughter up from there tomorrow night actually....makes me feel pretty damn old and I'm only 47!
 
The Top Rank Suite, The Humming Bird or The Acadamy. I never set foot inside the doors. I was well past my night clubbing days before it opened. All I know as the Humming Bird it cost the rate payers of Birmingham a fortune.

Phil
 

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Yes, I went there once when it first opened.
All I can remember of it really is that there was a fair size dance floor and there was a balcony upstairs from which you could look down onto it.
 
I THINK (don't quote me on this) it was where I saw The Beach Boys and Rod Stewart & The Faces in the 1970s, when it was still Top Rank.
 
I used to go to the hairdressing competitions there as well. I was a model for my friend there. As you say very swish I saw many top stylists of the day there. It was a good live venue as well.
 
Wendy said:
I used to go to the hairdressing competitions there as well. I was a model for my friend there. As you say very swish I saw many top stylists of the day there. It was a good live venue as well.
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Wendy, would I be right in remembering that 'Mr. Teasy Weasy' was the top-of-the-bill stylist there? Mind you he did have his own salon in Birmingham (somewhere) so he might have been that much more "exclusive".
 
Yes Ramond came and Vidal Sassoon, plus more just known in the trade.:) It was quite an event. They were also held at Penns Hall.:)
 
Gillian Atkins said:
Hi Zonda:)

I well remember the Top Rank, I used to go there every Saturday morning when I was 12 - only squash and cola served:D and progressed to a Tuesday night. I loved it :):) I was about 16 when I used to go on Tuesdays - naughty :D:D
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I am another who remembers going on a saturday morning. I think it cost about 10p back then, around 1973/74. They always played the hits of the day. I remember when "Peters and Lee" got to the top of the charts and we all booed the Dj for playing it. Yes them were the days lol :D
 
I can remember one tuesday night when they introduced a girl on the stage as Michael Jackson's girlfriend. The poor thing nearly got lynched.
 
Hi Guys,
Only used it after time , when you'd all gone/Geoff Hopkins was asst'manager/manager.
Waited in the Waverley hotel~bar or Hole in the wall pub (Billy Husband was the Gaffer)
But once in there,quite a time.
Met many names (stand up argument with Desmond Dekker) happy days?
Be seeing you.
 
Top Rank was great back in the late 60s early 70s.great clubs round city centre
Snobs corner of Paradise St. Rum Runner. Barberellas.The Locarno Hurst St,
they have just had a riot in Birmingham City centre at was supposed to be a nice day out
xmas lights turned on with top bands performing spoilt by thugs breaking through the barriers causing injury to many people needless to say it has been cancelled
 
How could i forget the Top Rank...... and the pub the Hole in the Wall just up the road.

The first time i went to the Top Rank was on the eve of my 21st.

I was a regular at the Rum Runner, The Locarno and Barberells.

What a clubber i was..... Not now though
 
Those were the days i wonder how many of us were in the clubs at the same time,Top rank Barberellas i seen the drifters there, the locarno was like my second
home,mid 60s to mid 70s i used to be in Birmingham center most weekends and a
couple of days in the week,Rum Runner Sunday,Raymonds hairdresser in New St
probably was the best in Brum a bit pricey for me at that time,well we certainly enjoyed ourselves,would you do it again,erm YES is the short answer:)
 
hi all
snoopys was the small club. I well remember the rank, it was pretty good, and had a really large dance floor. If I remember there was the main floor and the upper balcony (a few times I was there when some drunk kid fell over the edge). A big stage too. I saw dave lee travis from radio 1. there The usual routine was rebeccas on fridays, the rank on saturday and locarno on sundays. god!, couldnt manage that now.
 
zonda said:
Does anyone remember the Top rank night club in town?, used to go there in the seventies. Also a small club, think it was called Sloopys.
Click to expand...

I met my wife in Sloopy’s, who at the time worked behind the bar at the Top Rank. We have now been married for 36 years.

Peter
 
I saw so many great bands at the Top Rank I remember seeing Slade there in their skinhead days,the support band........Status Quo,go figure !
Keegs
 
Hi, This is Geoff Hopkins:
I just discovered this site by accident, and lo and behold, I found my Name. I was A senior Manager at the top rank suite in Dale end from when it re-opened in september of 1977 until it closed in 1981 (I think it was 81).
During that time we had the privilege of entertaining many bands and personalities, from the Boomtown Rats to The Jam, Tony Monopoly, The Nolans, Sir Richard Attenborough, Sigourny Weaver, Robert Powell and dozens more. I used to have photo's of these personalities, but sadly over the years they have all been lost. If Anyone wants information regarding this period, please contact me @ [email protected], or facebook me.
THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES
 
I can remember Graham War,a record shop owner DJing there.He was really crap,never mind those were good days!
 
Top Rank - we went there when there when we all could not agree where to go, two of my (then) friends met their future husbands there, much crowd surfing, drinking, falling down....(if you were guys..) Saturday Night fever dances a la movie Studio 54...those where the days?
 
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