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Birmingham Nightclubs of the Past - Memories

  • Thread starter Thread starter mazbeth
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Hi Winston:

Your story about selling your treasured records to buy your love a wedding ring touched me. It was obviously worth it but on the other hand you
are thinking about what those records would be worth now I know.
Most of us are faced with some kind of decisions that are very hard too make and then tend to look back and think "I wish I had never or I wish that I had gone back and bought so and so". In the buying so and so area...I may have told this anecdote before. In 1972 I was working as a temp at Barclay's bank Aston Cross and I would walk by the pawn shop
across Rocky Lane on Lichfield Road quite often. I bought a silver 6d ring
and another ring from there but one day I saw a beautiful solid 22ct gold charm bracelet which was crammed with solid 22ct gold charms...there were at least two or three in every link. I went in and asked the price...it was one hundred pounds. It was very heavy indeed. I was saving up for a trip on the QE2 back to North America and needed every penny....so I walked out. I will always wish I had bought that bracelet.
 
col h said:
There was a club in yardley shopping centre, cant remember what it was called though.

didnt go there much - mustve been about the last club in brum to refuse admission if you werent wearing a tie.

There was a poster inside the door, with a picture of a teddy boy on it, urging people to dress smartly. This would have been 1972/73, when suits and ties were well on the way out.
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It was originally called the Cavendish Club and was run by the same people as the Dolce Vita.
 
Ah Right , thats where i got the Dolce Vita in my head from .
I knew a young lady that was one of the dancers there. Stange to see her now , mind you its stange to see myself.
 
Wasnt the Dolce vita owned by the Mills Bro's ?

Were they the same Mills Brothers who were mentioned in the Krays / Jack McVitie murder trial ?
 
Re: Birmingham Nighclubs of the Past- Memories

i saw tiny tim at la dolca vita way back in the days, happy memories hey
 
does anyone remember BEN the bouncer at la dolce vita.he was a big maltese guy .very good looking and knew it ..he also worked at the albany hotel with me as a waiter..he used to let us go in for nothing ..
 
Hello I was interested in the memories shared of the lovely Locarno. My older brother went when it opened and I remember it being featured in the Evening Mail. I first went when they opened it to youngsters on a Saturday afternoon and later I used to be a regular. I especially loved the ladies boudoir, and of course the Bali Hi bar and Tudor club. I also remember D.J. Bobby Gee and in fact I had a letter printed in the Sunday Mercury a few years back (when they featured Locarno nostalgia) with the headlines I HAD CRUSH ON D.J. BOBBY!! and he never knew either!! So there you go. I used the Heartbeat club too and then graduated to the La Dolce Vita and then later Barberellas amongst others. It used to take me hours to get ready in those days with eyelashes and hairpieces to fix on but it was great fun and I'm sure arguably we had a better night out than the young do now.

I look forward to reading more comments.
Cheers Silve:)
 
Well Silve, perhaps our paths crossed , i used to go there on Saturday afternoons , and then started going on the nights when i left school and had a job.
I worked with one of the "bouncers" and the code they used over the mike if a fight had broken out was " The lights have gone out in the bali hi"
 
do you remember andy ross and his band ..and gerine desilva who sang with them ...this was on the boring days no rock n roll didnt stay long on these days went on to the west end ballroom for the disco music .live groups too.. alvin stardust..freddie and the dreamers emile ford .carl wayne to name a few ..good days and no fighting if some bloke asked you to dance and your fella was there ....
 
Yeah i remember Andy Ross , and the sprung floor at the west end, does anyone remember the name of the small group that were resident at the Lacarno , ? The leader was a ,,,,, Rotund gentleman ,,,, who would drive off at the end of the night on a ,,,,,,,,moped,,, i think his 1st name was Roy .
 
Does anyone have any memories of The Midnight City, or am i the only one who survived LOL, The guys that ran it were the Pryks, there were shops in there selling clothes , and these shops , as well as the drugs caused the eventual closure.

Dexys Midnight Runners were named after this place, Kevin Rolands brother used to tell him about his times there ( I have a thery were the Dexys part comes in , but not able to put on public forum )
 
hi max i dont remember the er rotund gentleman at the locarno..only andy ross .i was more of a west end walla ...rockers used the west end .mods used the locarno...were you a mod ...i was a rocker ...good times .plenty of live music ...did you ever see gerry levine .i was soooooooooooooo in love with him.. strangely enough my eldest son played in groups and still mixes with the old sixties groups jeff lyn gerry levine mike sheridan to name a few .keep it going
...
 
I'v go brilliant memories of all the old nightclubs, but the Locarno was by far the best. My Uncle Sean was a bouncer on the door, and he let us slip in for nothing.
I remember winning the Bob Marley album "Catch a fire" after providing the first sock with a hole in it!! I'd heard this one before, and the hole was where you put your foot! Everyone else was busy looking for a hole that needed darning.

My Grandad also had a radio repair shop in Hurst Street, and my Uncle Fred had one further up. Anyone remember them?
 
I remember the competitions .one time they asked for a portrait of the queen needless to say i was too poor to be able to produce a bank note ...
 
Hello Maxwell I remember the Midnight City , saw some great bands there Cream , The Who and Family to name a few . The problem was it had no drinks licence ,obviously one of the Prykes had upset a magistrate somewhere along the line and when the police raided the place just as the headline act stated it didn't last long , pity
 
Has no one mentioned the 'Factory' down near Gas Street Basin? It was a truly 'cool' joint! I saw Stan Getz play there in 1967, if my memory serves me well? The best modern-jazz performers in the world played there. The girls who went there were something else too - REAL sophistication....or so it seemed to me at that time.
 
Hi ya Berniew, i was there the night it was raided ,there where some many pills thrown on the floor, unbelivable, I know one of the Prykes , and i cant remember if it was befor or after it was closed , was done for driving along wwith a Police man holding on to his car !!!!. I remember at the time alot of talk that Cicil Gee menswear shop had alot to do with the closing ( Aledgedly ) cus he didnt like them selling clothes 24/7 , he also was ( Aledgedly ) a magistrate, Do you remember the all night cafes ? Surf side Stop , Constitution Hill , and the Tow Rope on Broad st .
 
Hello Maxwell I had forgotten about the boutique in the Midnight, I never gave the clothes thing a second thought , an interesting theory . I do remember the Tow Rope and it was ropey all sorts in there in all sorts of states. I also remember the Surf Side and the club above the Penthouse Suit , accessed by a small lift that carried about 5 people at a time ,were there any fire regulations in those days. Bernie
 
pmc1947, a few pages back you mentioned the Golden Gloves at Camp Hill. My friend worked the door there.
 
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Stitcher said:
pmc1947, a few pages back you mentioned the Golden Gloves at Camp Hill. My friend worked the door there.
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He would most certainly have remembered Sean Coyle, my uncle.
Sadly Sean passed away a few months ago, but his coffin passed by where the Golden Gloves once stood.
 
I dont think that anyone has mentioned the magnificent Penguin Club, next to Villa park .it was on the site of the old Fairlanes bowling alley, real top acts appeared there. one of the features was a special enclosure with Live Penguins on show. The owner Johnny Kirkbright (RIP) had his own Penguin that he dressed in a " Penguin suit ":)
 
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A Sparks said:
The big club on the corner of Smallbrook Ringway and Hurst St was probably originally La Dolce Vita - I think it changed names a few times after that - no idea if it's still open as I don't live in Brum now.

Re the Gary Owens - it was in Small Heath wasn't it?
I never went there myself but I was told it had a reputation for being rough?!
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Hi guys! Just a quick mention - The Gary Owen was not a rough club! It was a great late drinking hole with average music. It was the odd drunk who managed to get in that caused trouble. Luckily not many got passed Christie!!

As for the Fewtrells they were not gangsters when I worked for them, think they got the reputation from the world they worked and lived in! They always looked after us as did most of the male customers in the clubs in those days. We were never scared waiting for a taxi no matter what the time.

Great thread by the way!!!:)
 
Jacks Daughter, thats exactly how remember the the scene and the family in question. They were good times in my opinion and I would not like to be a teeneger around the clubs these days.
 
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Not sure if any one has mentioned this one THE MAYFAIR SUITE back of the Odeon in town used to have some good nights there back in the early 60s
 
Forgot about that place.

Used to have some name bands on there in the early - mid 70s. Second only to Barbarellas on that score from what I remember.
 
dek carr said:
Not sure if any one has mentioned this one THE MAYFAIR SUITE back of the Odeon in town used to have some good nights there back in the early 60s
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I remember that place but I never went to it as a club.

I sat a Civil Service exam in there during the day, I suppose it had been hired as it was quite a large room and there were quite a few people.
There were no windows and the light was a bit dim, added to which the telephone kept ringing and no one seemed to answer it!
Not the best place to sit an exam I think :D
 
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