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Birmingham Nightclubs of the Past - Memories

  • Thread starter Thread starter mazbeth
  • Start date Start date
hi sylvia.
the nightclub you mention was the fleur-de-lys, yes it was upstairs and overlooked the council house, my uncle geof elliot who was a proffesional gambler won the club in a game of cards,, yes it was like that--it was a gentlemans club, with tables set around and you could have a meal and a caberate, i was only 18 at the time so realy felt the bussiness when turning up to find i was offered the best table. like johnny prescot my uncle never kept it long.
 
Hi Tommy
I new the Fleur-de-Lys when the Rainbow Casino owned it and Johny Prescot was the front man for the club it was cetainly not lost on a card game.I knew your uncle very well he used to play with the Baxters alot at the Rainbow the Fluer and the Ambassadors I found him a nice fellow and allways tipped well
 
Surfside Stop constitution Hill

Not sure if this is a first, the building on the left was the Surfside stop coffee bar and upstairs the night Club. lasted about 2 years 66/67. you had to use a lift to get upstairs to the club. Only our maker would have known the survival rate if there had been a fire!!:rolleyes::cool: Sticher was a bouncer of this night club, up and down, up and down on his lift.
 
Re: Surfside Stop constitution Hill

bobsummers said:
Not sure if this is a first, the building on the left was the Surfside stop coffee bar and upstairs the night Club. lasted about 2 years 66/67. you had to use a lift to get upstairs to the club. Only our maker would have known the survival rate if there had been a fire!!:rolleyes::cool:
Click to expand...

I used to go in the Surfside after getting a pass out from the Midnight City. Max
 
Re: Surfside Stop constitution Hill

this is the balalaika??? it was owned by jack hale, a partner of my dads in the press club opposite the law courts, yes you had to get the lift upstairs, , i suppose even then it was a difficult place to get people in.
 
Hi roy
yes heart beat summer row one of the first to play up and coming midlands bands
and the tv done a weekly wednesday playing around tea timeshowing the up and coming bands dexi and the mid nights
pinkerton assorted colours from cov the red caps and then later the estabished ones
best wishes astonian
 
I have just had a call from a mate who wants to know the name of the first known nightclub in Birmingham.Can anyone help please?Moss
 
What about the Cedar club, I think that was before Snobs, and The Rum Runner
 
are you talking about Johnny Avery he used to go to the club I worked at he was a complete nutter if he dared to play up he was thrown out and they did not open the doors he was a bully
 
The Bermuda Club (Navigation Street) was opened in the late fifties, before the Cedar Club in 1960.
Then there was The Locarno (Hill Street) in 1961; The Rum Runner was 1964.
The Elbow Room was opened a bit later in the sixties but I'm not sure of the exact date.
 
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The rum runner was the first then the pink elephant bromsgrove st then the jig saw at saltley
then the other fewtrells club sprang up then the gary owen then the rest
astonian
 
Yes browning
quite correctly he stood no messing he never openened the door you went head first with old johny
best wishes astonian
 
You're right that The Rum Runner was an early one (1964) but in the town centre there were a few before that.
Out of town there were a few good drinking clubs before we started calling them 'Nightclubs' in the sixties.
The Bermuda Club was Eddie Fewtrell's first club, about eighteen months before he opened The Cedar, I think, so that would be 1958/59.
 
You mentioned The Locarno which was more of a ballroom, what about The West End that was early on 50S I would have thought
 
The Locarno was pretty big and probably more the old dance hall style, as was The Reservoir (Ladywood) and the Westend Ballroom (Suffolk Street).
We started calling them Discotheques or Nightclubs in the early 1960s when the clubs became smaller and switched more to DJs and records rather than live bands.
 
Angela K said:
The Locarno was pretty big and probably more the old dance hall style, as was The Reservoir (Ladywood) and the Westend Ballroom (Suffolk Street).
We started calling them Discotheques or Nightclubs in the early 1960s when the clubs became smaller and switched more to DJs and records rather than live bands.
Click to expand...
Yes they were ballrooms rather than clubs, I expect they were open in the 50s, The Ringway was fairly early 60s
 
The Bermuda in Navigation Street was the first club I used to go to, probably about 1959/60. There was also the Tudor Bar which was upstairs in the Locarno, and the Moat House which was in Moat Row. There were other clubs but probably not classed as night clubs - The Key Club which was at the back of the Sombrero was one.

Judy
 
The Tower Ballroom (Edgbaston) was one of the early ones - it opened in the late 1920s.

I wasn't around that far back, I only read about it!
 
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I can remember going to The Gay Tower as it was called in 1962 before Mecca took it over it was really bleak and grey. No palm trees then.
 
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