Manor Suite Porthcawl

[Rhys Roberts]

I was walking through the fair ground in Porthcawl yesterday and curious to see if the sign for the Manor Suite was still there.

This was my first Northern Soul venue back in 1983.  As you can see, it all looks very tired in 2018.

Looking through the window, it is now a storage room; full of junk and old amusement rides.

Back in the day, this was a fantastic venue and the soul nights were always packed out with great music from the resident DJs.

Those nights always stuck in my memory and led me back to the addiction many years later.

 

I remember seeing these posters around town and had to get my mate to buy us tickets because we were only 15 at the time.

It was a lot easier to remember phone numbers back then with only 4 digits!

Great to see that Nigel has organised an event for next March and there is still a great crowd in Porthcawl.

 

Would be great to hear the stories from anyone who attended the Manor Suite back then (and see some more photos). 

Does anyone remember when the first and last nights were held at this venue?

 

Thank you.

 

Rhys

[Mr Fred]

Never went to this place. But One of the Dj's names got the grey matter working wasn't Al Kent from Bradford as I met him many years ago in Bradford.

Regards Fred Ward. 

[Rhys Roberts]

Thanks Fred.

I think this is the Al Kent from Blackwood (S Wales) but there is another soulie named Al Kent in Glasgow: https://www.facebook.com/al.kent.5

He may be a member here?

Regards,

Rhys

[Wilxy]

Fantastic venue, which I frequented  regularly during its' tenure.... great times indeed! 

[Rhys Roberts]

Hi Wilxy,

Thanks for the reply.  Do you remember when the soul nights stopped?

I can remember going around '83 to '84.

Cheers,

Rhys

[Wilxy]

4 hours ago, Rhys Roberts said:

Hi Wilxy,

Thanks for the reply.  Do you remember when the soul nights stopped?

I can remember going around '83 to '84.

Cheers,

Rhys

I remember attending in the 90's, can't be specific datewise? and still have some of the fliers in my attic, which I'll dig out in due course!

[Rhys Roberts]

That would be great to see the fliers!

Please upload some photos or scans if possible?

[Kenb]

Shades of Soul Issue #8 -Aug 1986

 

[Wilxy]

Nice One Ken, Forgot about that piece in Shades Of Soul.....Loved the Manor suite and miss the likes of Edwin, who was possibly the Most Underrated DJ in South Wales BAR NONE! He was playing stuff in those days that many of the Dj's of the future wished they had at the time! 

As I've previouslyI said Great Great Times.......

[Rhys Roberts]

Thanks a lot for the upload! 

I have never seen that one before so it brought back some great memories. Yes those revolving doors were like a soul grinder .

 

This was the first time I had seen proper Northern Soul dancing and I remember saying to my mates (Pritch, Chris T, Darren, Daf, & John):

"OMG they look like pond skaters, how do they do that?"

Took a lot of soul nights and a lot of cider & black (these were pre Strongbow Dark Fruit days) before I took to the floor...

 

 

 

Edited September 28, 2018 by Rhys Roberts

[Jerry Hipkiss]

I only went the once - as far as I can remember - December 1984, a coach from Cheltenham and Gloucester with all the usual reprobates on board . Had a great night, think I got home about 6am, tried to sleep for a couple of hours, and then went to work for the whole day! Hmmmm....

[Rhys Roberts]

Thanks again Ken, I managed to buy a copy of the Shades of Soul Issue #8 -Aug 1986 on eBay last week.