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Birmingham Nightclubs of the Past - Memories

  • Thread starter Thread starter mazbeth
  • Start date Start date
You're right Kelly, they certainly were.
Had some great times and still got some great memories - dancing, drinking, dating -
carefree days and really good fun!
 
It was indeed called the Holy City Zoo, It was Managed by his brother Duncan. I was at the time Manager at the top rank suite and went to the opening night, drank champagne all night. It was always rumoured that the debt from the club was the reason Andy left Villa, don't know how true though in the trade
 
:DanceDiscoBoogie::DanceDiscoBoogie:your right astonian it was the conti club,many a good night was had there.Was it really that much to go in there, i cant remember,i must have been rich cos i certainly wouldnt pay that price now to get into a club. I don't think the clubs nowadays have got a patch on the clubs in the 70s and 80s or maybe it's me just getting older.haha
 
HI Shazza
how are you today fine i hope ?.
yes it was really a fiver to get in and to be honest it was not just like any other club
but you would be there until six in the morning if you wanted to be even laterand get a breakfast
and they did not just let tom dick or harry in them days into tose premises beleive me ;
if you knocked on the door ther was a little sliding hatch where the door man would slide back
and peer out through it and it was only small and up high on the door and you would just see his eyes peering through the gap and asked you what you want ; and yu would say can i come in , either liked your face
and let you in or turn you away but once you have been once in before you could always get in
this was years before the montie club ever appeared on the scene and openened up
it was basicaly a private club ; you ould not just walk up or should i say walkdown the steps to the basement
knock and walk in or even kick the door in it was a very thick and solid door with big heavvy bolts
drawn
the music was good and none stopping right through until six not like today so called pop music ;
it was all west indian music and reggae
i know they pay a fiver to get into clubs but way back then in the fiftys you only payed that fiver there becauseof its privancy and being under ground type of club if you get my drift and none licence from the police
and the council and it was a rough cliental along with the interior ;
but those were the days good music not like todays rubbish ;
take care shazz astonion ;;;
the norm clubs yes it was a pound
 
A blue'un!!! In 1960? That's at least £75 translated to today's dosh. You must have been well minted Astonian. I started work on £5 a week in that year, still got my payslip. Ten bob (perennially borrowed off our mom on Monday mornings) would get you 4 pints and a packet of Park Drive. The the old white fiver went out in 1957 to be replaced by the smaller blue one. Not long after I started work at weekends after pub closing we used the Cedar and the Doll's Club, the Kilhendrie (Walsall) the Barn and the good old Monte, saw Wee Willy Harris and Los Paraguayas there in the early sixties - don't remember any entrance fee though . We just drank halves (NEVER pints as true townies) until gently newted, and gave what we had left to the roulette wheel croupiers...hence the permanent arm on the dear old mom...
 
true angela i remember going out on a friday, saturday the local pub on a sunday and going on a monday evening. when i think now back i wondered how we did it every week
 
maxwell bullivant said:
The Cedar was further up the road Katyboo, the red palace/building was The Surfside Stop, it was an all nighter in the 60s, i was only 15 years old in 65/66 and would look in envy at the older people who could afford to go into The Cedar.Mind you the Surfside had its moments. Max
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The Surfside Stop was the cafe on the ground floor of that building.
I think the club upstairs was called The Penthouse
 
HI DENIS ;
Yes thats quite den; we used to call them a blueie in those days
but it was worth every penny in there
with the fryed dumping they made and a couple of barley wines put me right by morning to head off to
averys in foundry lane my uncle bill smart did not like me coming half steamed
ecause the foreman was is best mate and he did not want to fall out with him if he told me off
mind you den ; i would think twice before parting with cash
if you don,tmind me saying the clubs ain,t like they used to be ;its all head bangers and drugged up kids
saying that ;there ain,t many places for old codgers now is it i am passed it now
but i do line dancing now some nice country and westeren music
i am off to nuneaton to a speacial party for a young lad whom is disabled he his eighteeen ;
but there will alot of senior people there and they have orgaised a bang for him whom he as met before and they will let him stand on the stage and play a guitar
best wishes denn speak soon ; astonion ;;;;
 
Well blow me down old timer. I agree the clubs now would do my head in. I loved a gamble and lots of chat. Brown and Mild and Capstain Full Strength were my only drugs. And the occasional Aspirin after a good night out... Glad to hear you are still dancing though. Used to adore boppin' to Gene Vincent or Johnny Burnette or Carl Perkins...don't mind the Country boys though. Dwight Yoakam is a bit Rockabilly. I worked at Nuneaton's George Eliot Hospital for ten years, I loved the Town and the people. Great folk...great to talk with you too. Mind how you go. Cheers.
 
When I was a Sixth Former (at Hillcrest School in Bartley Green) in the mid-80s, we used to frequent Maximillian's night club at Five Ways. They used to give out bundles of free entry tickets for "18th and 21st birthday parties", so long as you entered the club by 9:30pm. Sometimes the entire 6th form would go for a night out on these tickets (and of course barely anyone was actually 18). We'd start the evening in the Max's Bar downstairs - with everyone drinking orange juice, because we were determined not to be thrown out - and head up to the nightclub at opening time. It wasn't unknown for us to go in at opening and leave just after 10:30pm so that we could get the last day-service bus home! But on good nights we might stay till 1am :-)

Maximillian's was a decidedly naff club, which we knew at the time; so they obviously needed the clientele...and we were happy to have somewhere to go. Birmingham in the 80s wasn't renowned for it's socializing opportunities for 6th formers!
 
hi,guys...some great storys..here.. is there any fotos, of the [night out]..a very good friend worked the bars..in the 70,s...great-times.. wished it was still here.??...why did the night out close..any idea,s..if there are fotos, on this thread can you give the page no..please..as i go blind reading to much.??...regards,..christy.
 
HI CHRISTY
I do not know personaly but i suspect it was all about money and the rates
and the cliental shortage after all as you know there was some really big names and international stars appeared there wine danced and cabret nightly was expensive to go and i there say provide to pay for the super stars
so it closed and reopenened for the your clients [ the kids ] cheaper bands ]
and less paying out and making big saving on the pocket
but like todays youth ; its a case of druggs and drink and trouble which was quite often every week ends
so it closed down for a while then it openened up as a gay bar for abit ;
and due tothe short fall it closed then it was a asian night and venue but that was short lived
owing to trouble and loss of clientel and finnances and raste on such a large property
have a nice day best wishes astonion ;;
 
I wouldn't call it a night club - we went to the WEST END in the early 60s. Only orange juice, etc. on sale. I remember the sprung dance floor and seeing GERRY & THE PACEMAKERS and FREDDIE & THE DREAMERS there. I think it was 3s6d (35p approx) to see them. Last bus out of Navigation Street was 10.30pm. I have an early picture somewhere, will dig it out and post.
 
I remember going to one with my Wife, i think it was in the 60s, maybe 70s called the Dome by the Horse Fair to see Frankie Laine my Wifes favourite singer (she bought his first 10 inch LP when we were in Hong Kong in 1953 in the RAF called Mr Rythm, I have still got it), also on the bill was the Bachelors and Frank Carson, we saw Frankie Laine again later on at the Night Out in Solihull, I think that is now a skating rink . I have just noticed posts about the Night Out, perhaps I have got them the wrong way round - Night Out in Bham and the Dome in Solihull, perhaps someone with a better memory than mine (I am 80!!) could put me right ??? Eric
 
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Local History said:
I wouldn't call it a night club - we went to the WEST END in the early 60s. Only orange juice, etc. on sale. I remember the sprung dance floor and seeing GERRY & THE PACEMAKERS and FREDDIE & THE DREAMERS there. I think it was 3s6d (35p approx) to see them. Last bus out of Navigation Street was 10.30pm. I have an early picture somewhere, will dig it out and post.
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I dont like to correct you ,but for the sake of accuracy 3s6d is actually 17and half new pence. I still convert everything back even today sad or what lol Max
 
The Night Out and The Dome are the same club. First the Night Out and then changed to The Dome. Regarding The West End, wasnt Sunday Nights for jazz? Do you remember how they used to dance to jazz - each partner facing one another and both holding their right arms up towards their faces and then clasping hands together and just keep pushing yours/their arms to the left and right up and down.
 
I have not been into the city for years but as far as my memory goes you would pass The Hummingbird on your right hand side, then it was probably next turn on the left and Sarah Moons was on the right.
 
i remember 'sarah moons' but cant remember where it was
i also remember the pub 'sam wellers' we used to go there first before going on to the powerhouse
 
I remember the road Sarah Moons was on being a slight hill and sarah Moons was at the top on the left. The reason I asked about this pub was to see if anyone remembers the resident D.J. named John. He had very good equipment with a phenominally heavy bass that could make a beer glass move across a table. He called at my house yesterday evening and we sat talking about old times until the early hours. It is the first time I have seen him for about 18 years.
 
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My dad was a dj (known as Micky Dunne) at the Ringway club, which was owned by the Malarky (not sure about spelling) brothers in the 60s. Although it was rough he was well looked after. They lent my mum and dad the money for a deposit on their first house.

Stars like Lionel Blair and his sister used to got there. And groups starting out such as Raymond Froggett and Hobsons Choice used to play there. The rhythm player for Raymond Froggett borrowed my dad's guitar when they went to London to record their song 'Red Balloon', and that was the last my dad saw of that!

The other dj was Andy Ferriss.

He later played at the Ringway, the Factory and Wolverhampton Wanderers social club which was awarded the club of the year, that was were he first met Roy Wood and the originators of ELO.

My mum worked at Castaways, where she was a cashier and met lots of stars such as Tom Jones, Dusty Springfield, Scot Walker and many more.

The stories are rushing back for my dad after reading your posts and dictating mine!

Sarah
 
Hello Sarah, I remember the Malarkies and the ringway, I also remember the Castaways but not the DJs because I was never interested in that sort of music. I bet your dad can tell some stories if he worked in the Ringway.
They were good times.
 
Stitcher said:
Hello Sarah, I remember the Malarkies and the ringway, I also remember the Castaways but not the DJs because I was never interested in that sort of music. I bet your dad can tell some stories if he worked in the Ringway.
They were good times.
Click to expand...

:D Yes he can but he's banned me from putting them on here!!
 
Yeah, good times at the Ringway.

If I remember right it was a pound per drink, but beer was only in half pint bottles, so a pint was two drinks, both bottles tipped, or more like upended into the glass together, then thrown in the bin, so you got about 2/3 of a pint plus froth if you were lucky.

Funny, nobody ever complained. lol

At one time, you had to sign in, there must have been 100 Mickey Mouses and Donald Ducks in there most nights.
 
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