One Venue You Wished You

[Pauldonnelly]

attended?

maybe you weren't even born or maybe like others you were in Prison?

Stafford for me, as Kevin Spittle once said to me "the day NS grew up" dunno if it was the fact I never went but the music was just up my street.

During the dkof night with hennigan and thorley I took time out to discuss Stafford with them, awesome converstaion with two normal bloke like you and me.

One statistic that knocked me out was both of them said on a good night no more than 300, which took me back as I had this notion it was 1000 no problem, bit like Hennigans face when I told him what the legal capacity was of the Torch...

Edited September 4, 2007 by PaulDonnelly

[Mark R]

It has to be Wigan Casino.........I can remember as a youngster having dreams about what it must have been like!! I was 15 when it closed!!

Must admit, having listened to some of those Stafford clips yesterday, I think the way your mate described Stafford is pretty cool. It certainly opened my eyes up a bit, from those deep, dark sinister sixties newies like Roy Roberts "Got To Have Your Love" through to Atlantic Starr "One Love", and all in the same room

Cheers,

Mark R

[Guest in town Mikey]

Wigan for me too.

I could have gone, many times, but listened to the older guys who said it was rubbish now compared to what it was, and what else there was on offer. So didnt ever bother going.

[Simon M]

It has to be Wigan Casino.........I can remember as a youngster having dreams about what it must have been like!! I was 15 when it closed!!

Must admit, having listened to some of those Stafford clips yesterday, I think the way your mate described Stafford is pretty cool. It certainly opened my eyes up a bit, from those deep, dark sinister sixties newies like Roy Roberts "Got To Have Your Love" through to Atlantic Starr "One Love", and all in the same room

Cheers,

Mark R

Ah ah " One Love" Thorley played that

[Guest]

For me it would be the Mecca despite my reservations about IL it's the one venue i would love to have attended particularly before NY disco took it's hold.

Derek

[Steve G]

For me it would be the Mecca despite my reservations about IL it's the one venue i would love to have attended particularly before NY disco took it's hold.

Derek

Yeah same for me. Never went, and wished I had.

[Guest garv]

I wish i could have gone to the Mecca, could`t afford Wigan & the Mecca. Seems silly to say that now but my wages were gone by 1 AM every Sunday morning. Cleethropes as well....... mega difficult for us to get to back then.

[Guest Bearsy]

Wigan for me

[Simon M]

Wigan for me

Mecca for me 4 Funky disco Curtis

[Dave Morris]

Stafford for me.Moved down south,new job so getting time off was impossible.Loved the Mecca before it went disco.Wigan wasn't bad either.

Dave.

[Pete Coulson]

Stafford for me.Moved down south,new job so getting time off was impossible.Loved the Mecca before it went disco.Wigan wasn't bad either.

Dave.

yeah stafford for me to, the number of records i've bought and been told, that was played at stafford, think it would have been right up my street.

pete

[Harrogatesoul]

Can I have 2?

1. Stafford (Too young)

2. Canal Tavern, Thorne ( Stuck ina stupid 60s only northern blinkered approach)

Regrets.. I've had a few...

Rich

[Citizen P]

The Torch---the week ihad everything sorted to go--it shut

Stafford---on a break --family and all that, but from what I've heard since................

Tony

[Simon M]

Stafford did need more people .. Oldies venues attracted more people even back then Morcombe Pier hardly gets a mention now but had 1000 punters quite a few times in the so called wilderness years !!

[Val (Chunky)]

Can I have 2?

1. Stafford (Too young)

2. Canal Tavern, Thorne ( Stuck ina stupid 60s only northern blinkered approach)

Regrets.. I've had a few...

Rich

you can go to the Canal Tavern now...........make up for lost time

[Simon M]

you can go to the Canal Tavern now...........make up for lost time

yeah but Rod Dearlove and Graeme Ellis have packed it in now !

[Guest in town Mikey]

Stafford did need more people .. Oldies venues attracted more people even back then Morcombe Pier hardly gets a mention now but had 1000 punters quite a few times in the so called wilderness years !!

I went to Morecombe once but didnt enjoy it. I'm surprised it doesnt get talked about more, but in my view, when it comes to quality Stafford may have had a far smaller crowd, but was light years better than Morecomb.

[Chris L]

For me it would be the Mecca despite my reservations about IL it's the one venue i would love to have attended particularly before NY disco took it's hold.

Derek

I went from late '71 to early '73, it was the bees knees, Jebby, Ian, Alan etc,

great crowd, big buzz, luvverly looking girls..............................................

For me it is The Wheel, we dithered too long and before we knew it, it was closed.

Chris L

[Sanquine]

yeah stafford for me to, the number of records i've bought and been told, that was played at stafford, think it would have been right up my street.

pete

Same here..

Karen

[Maark]

Same here..

Karen

None for me..........I'm happy to have done what I have done in the past 6 years and what you didn't know you don't miss. All my memories and experiences are relatively new.

OK, then, at a push, for historical reasons, Wigan, but musically, I would have preferred Stafford.

[Guest]

Maybe St Ives? (Have heard good reports) and possibly Yate (Bristol) around mid 80's.

Never did Wigan but then again have never wished I had.

Stafford in the early-mid 80's was fantastic, I really appreciated it then and still hold very fond memories....mainly due to the progressive nature of the tunes played/attitudes of the likes of Messrs Thorley/Hennigan n Darge.

[Rushden Vic]

think the only two venues i wish i had been about for was the pendulum and the torch both a little before my time luckily i experienced the blackpool mecca late 73/74 before it went disco - catacoombs was awesome for a 15yr old in 73 and the best allnighters for me were yate 79/80 ish and then stafford mid 80s . luckily there is still a venue that in my opinion reminds me of the spirit of yate and stafford and thats burnley kestrel suite

Edited September 4, 2007 by Tony Parker

[Guest Baz]

Blackburn all nighters

Pounding hard edged 60's soul...............

[Jumpinjoan]

Blackburn all nighters

Pounding hard edged 60's soul...............

Was it?

Well... maybe the first time round... sort of...

[Guest Baz]

Was it?

Well... maybe the first time round... sort of...

From what i've been told

Might be getting my places mixed up though

[Guest Bearsy]

None for me..........I'm happy to have done what I have done in the past 6 years and what you didn't know you don't miss. All my memories and experiences are relatively new.

OK, then, at a push, for historical reasons, Wigan, but musically, I would have preferred Stafford.

I didnt see no one pushing you Maark

i agree with a post earlier about buying a tune and you get told its an old Stafford play,

for me Wigan would of not neccesarily been about the music but about everything else it had going for it, getting from the station to the Casino, the queueing up, the smell, the people, from everything i read about the place it was something special indeed

[Baz Atkinson]

definetly the wheel all them records to discover !

baz a

[Guest Matt Male]

For me probably Blackpool Mecca, St. Ives and Yate.

Edited September 4, 2007 by Matt Male

[BrianB]

I can't believe I never went to the Torch! All my mates used to go, but I stuck with the Mecca from 71 onwards until the disco crap.

Wigan and Samantha's was great. Atmosphere, records, people, the faint whiff of danger!

The Pendelum was also top class!

Never went to the Wheel either, but those records seemed to be played at a lot of venues at that time, Burnley Mecca, Bird Cage Ashton Under Lyne (free coach from Burnley), and many other places.

There were so many places to go from 71 to 77. We were just plain spoilt. Records too popular after a month!

Said it before, how lucky are we we to have this scene that we mostly whinge about!

[Guest nubes]

I think for me...it has to be Cleethorpes first time around during the Mid 70s...from what i can gather it was quite a groundbreaking venue for its time...Delxx

[Guest Simon]

Even though i'm sick of hearing about it & it's name has been tarnished by people trying to make a few bob, it's got to be Wigan Casino for me.

I know it's very easy to look at things through rose coloured spectacles & i know there were a lot of bad things that went on there BUT it just looks to me like the ultimate adrenain fuelled NS experience!

Simon

[Guest topcatnumpty1]

Yeh, i would have to pick 2 also,--did Wigan 1974 to the close ,but for some reason never went to Cleethorpes Pier and also The Torch was before my time and would have loved it for the sheer volume of discovery,s that r now thought of as "classics"-- sorry another one --Stafford--Top of the World--missed it completely while in my first marriage!!

Love and stuff

Tony Coleby.

I think for me...it has to be Cleethorpes first time around during the Mid 70s...from what i can gather it was quite a groundbreaking venue for its time...Delxx

[Jerry Hipkiss]

The Torch---the week ihad everything sorted to go--it shut

For me it would have to be a Torch niter - managed to get to one all-dayer there and that was magic!

[Guest lifeandsoul]

I wish i could have gone to the Mecca, could`t afford Wigan & the Mecca. Seems silly to say that now but my wages were gone by 1 AM every Sunday morning.

hA got me remembering - couldn't wait for winter to come, cos there used to be these charter train trips from Bristol, cattle wagon things that used to do the football as well, packed full of day/night trippers with their vacuum flasks and ham sandwiches, and screaming children, going to see the Blackpool illuminations. Was the cheapest way to get to blackpool back then, always a mad rush to get the train home though at something like 12.45!

[Guest miff]

Went to Wigan quite a few times but never went with out partaking in the old smarties and far to many of them so only have sketchie memouries of the place, So would liked to of gone straght, Just once

[Slippers]

Stafford for the music and from what I've heard, the punters.

[pikeys dog]

The Wigan revival in the shopping centre - just to see if people were actually daft enough to get up and dance to the Champion on the tiled floor outside Specsavers.

[Pete S]

The Catacombs - right on the doorstep but closed when I was 14 so just missed it

(in fact part of it may actually BE my doostep )

Edited September 5, 2007 by Pete S

[Geoff B]

Twisted wheel for me,never went even though some of my mates did.Went to Stafford regularly,just been listening to a tape i did of Mr Guy Hennigan live playing things like Naughty boy,Song of a woman etc.

[Steve G]

Even though i'm sick of hearing about it & it's name has been tarnished by people trying to make a few bob, it's got to be Wigan Casino for me.

I know it's very easy to look at things through rose coloured spectacles & i know there were a lot of bad things that went on there BUT it just looks to me like the ultimate adrenain fuelled NS experience!

Simon

At the time in the 70s this was THE place to be. I have fantastic memories of WC, 2000+ under 25s bought together by one thing - the music. So don't feel uncomfortable for nominating it if you never went. It's not WC in the 70s that's unfashionable, it's 40 somethings trying to recreate it in 2007....in a shopping centre

[Guest StuartRigby]

At the time in the 70s this was THE place to be. I have fantastic memories of WC, 2000+ under 25s bought together by one thing - the music. So don't feel uncomfortable for nominating it if you never went. It's not WC in the 70s that's unfashionable, it's 40 somethings trying to recreate it in 2007....in a shopping centre

Has to be Wigan for me although Stafford and Allanton hold special memories for me also...........recreating Wigan?????? never and why try to? I'm as nostagilc as the next person but that was the end of an era as far as I'm concerned but I was also happy to move on and enjoy the scene as it has changed...........I just still love the music and the dancing, you just can't beat it

[Guest in town Mikey]

Actually I might have to add Yate at the Baths. I only got to the Stars and Stripes venue. Did I miss much Hippo?

[Munchkin]

Stafford did need more people .. Oldies venues attracted more people even back then Morcombe Pier hardly gets a mention now but had 1000 punters quite a few times in the so called wilderness years !!

totally agree morcambe doesnt get mentioned hardly at all(peir or dome or carlton)

wish i could have gone yate a little more often.. only went about four times but well worth the journey

[Munchkin]

The Catacombs - right on the doorstep but closed when I was 14 so just missed it

(in fact part of it may actually BE my doostep )

yeh i missed the cats too couldnt afford to catch the bus and get in so, had to stay home alone

[Munchkin]

Went to Wigan quite a few times but never went with out partaking in the old smarties and far to many of them so only have sketchie memouries of the place, So would liked to of gone straght, Just once

do you mean straight there or what

[Guest StuartRigby]

do you mean straight there or what

Personally I always went straight there,never cared for smarties

[Jerry Hipkiss]

Actually I might have to add Yate at the Baths. I only got to the Stars and Stripes venue. Did I miss much Hippo?

Well, it was...ummm....different to the big 'un, I've compared it before to a houseparty, far more room for chatting, good fun but the 77 to 79/80 period was the best.

[Eddie Hubbard]

Can I have 5 ? The Wheel , The Torch , Pendulum , The Cats [ nearly went to the last night, but that's another story ] and Va Va's . In conversation with Steve Glover and Jan years ago , at Soul Galore record stall , they reckoned that Up the junction , Crewe was the best , so would've liked to have gone there as well !! Wish I'd gone to The Mecca more as well ,especially for Colin Curtis's last hour sets, but Wigan was more straightforward on the train .Best ,Eddie

[Guest Soultown andy]

Being a manchester boy it would have to be the wheel,went to all the other big clubs of the late seventys wigan head and shoulders above everything, was just to young for the wheel but think i would have loved it.

[Guest garv]

Can I have 5 ? The Wheel , The Torch , Pendulum , The Cats [ nearly went to the last night, but that's another story ] and Va Va's . In conversation with Steve Glover and Jan years ago , at Soul Galore record stall , they reckoned that Up the junction , Crewe was the best , so would've liked to have gone there as well !! Wish I'd gone to The Mecca more as well ,especially for Colin Curtis's last hour sets, but Wigan was more straightforward on the train .Best ,Eddie

Leamington Spa, Coventry, Birmingham Intl, Birmingham new street[change here] , Stafford,Wolverhampton, Crewe[ change here] Warrington, WIGAN

The 5:15 got us to Wigan for 9:35 .......... then hit the earlys in M`s

Coming back was real fun . I could recite that train journey in my sleep