Imagine a time when there were no arena gigs. Imagine a time when the only way to buy a ticket for a gig was to go to the box office. And imagine a time when town halls, ‘the college circuit’ and Top Rank ballrooms accounted for almost half the country’s music venues. Welcome to the 70s (& 80s).
When a band went on tour 50 years ago they jumped in the van, got the road atlas out and set off in the direction of the nearest transport caff. Or, more latterly, a Little Chef. They would then traverse Blighty’s highways and byways – maybe picking up the odd hitchhiker on the way – and, in no particular order, hope and pray the van wouldn’t break down, that there’d be more than one man and a dog turn up to see them and, at the end of the night, the promoter would pay them. Actually, in respect of those last three bullet points I don’t think an awful lot has changed between then and now.
But all of the above was contingent on the band finding both a venue that wanted to put them on in the first place and also had a budget to pay them.
One group of venues that provided bookings were the Student Unions in Universities and Polytechnics around the country.
However, that’s another story for another day.
Today’s blog post is all about the venues that were once the backbone of any tour but have since withered on the vine: venues that got repurposed, reimagined or, most likely, razed to the ground.
As my point of reference, I dug out one of my old scrapbooks (remember them?) and found some bygone tour dates for an up and coming band called
Girl.
They were managed by
Don Arden (infamous father of
Sharon Osbourne) and signed to the
Jet record label.
In 1980 the glam five piece had put out a couple of singles and just released their debut album
'Sheer Greed'.
They’d already supported some big hitters and in April/May were embarking on their first serious UK jaunt as headliners. (Within two years they’d split up; their guitarist Phil Collen jumped ship to Def Leppard - where he remains to this day. Phil Lewis their flamboyant singer – who at the time was dating Britt Eckland – is now the frontman with LA Guns.)
But let’s go back and see where they went in that Spring of 1980. and what has happened to those venues since.
The Marquee Club, Soho – for a London band the Marquee would have made a great homecoming/end of tour gig, but Girl decided to kick things off there. The club, which had moved from Oxford Street in 1964 to the location most people remember on Wardour Street, shut its doors for the last time in 1988 after it was deemed unsafe (they blamed a quarter of a century of noise vibration!). It’s now prime West London real estate in the guise of Soho Lofts and a poncy restaurant. I knew the club well and still miss it dearly.
Then off to Wales and the Troubadour Club in Port Talbot - a basement dive under the Aberafan Shopping Centre. In 2024 after being frozen in time for more than 30 years, they fumigated it and opened it again very briefly for a photographic exhibition featuring many images of the club taken in its heyday.
Malvern Winter Gardens – shut in 1990
St. Albans City Hall – now the Alban Arena.
Middlesborough's Rock Garden – in a four-year window it was an intimate little rock club home to punks and rockers alike. It closed later the same year.
Retford Porterhouse – I was there! Home of AC/DC’s first UK gig in 1976 – the owners shut up shop in 1980 and went on to open Rock City in Nottingham – a club I still frequent.
Cheltenham Town Hall – still open.
Blackpool Norbreck Castle Hotel – still open.
Sheffield Top Rank – now the O2 Academy albeit it’s been closed for the last couple of years due to the RAAC concrete scare.
The Boat Club, Nottingham – still open. Led Zeppelin played there. My son’s band Trippin’ Over Wah played there!
Bristol Locarno – from 1961-1998 it was a hotbed for live music. People still talk about Bowie’s gig there in ’72 with The Spiders. Owned by Mecca it was demolished in the late 90s with the O2 now sitting on part of the old site.
Cardiff Top Rank - from 1963-1982 it played host to everyone from The Beatles to U2. Demolished in 2005.
High Wycombe Town Hall – still open.
Newcastle Mayfair – a 1500 capacity ballroom built in 1961. All the great and good played here (The Who, Pink Floyd, The Clash). It was demolished in 1999.
Bradford University – still open.
Exeter Routes – now a Pentecostal Church.
Gravesend Woodville Hall – still open.
Manchester Polytechnic – the campus at Cavendish House was closed in 1982.
Glasgow College of Technology – now Glasgow Caledonian University – no longer a live music venue.
Aberdeen University – the Gallowgate campus was demolished in 2002.
Dundee University – no longer a live music venue.
St Andrew’s University – still open.
Cleethorpes Winter Gardens – a venue whose name alone conjures up a period in time that’s long gone. Roxy Music, Free, the Sex Pistols; they all trod the boards there. It was also a renowned Northern Soul meet up. But the wrecking ball came a callin’ in 2007.
Wakefield Unity Hall – still open.
Abertillery Metropol Theatre - still open.
Folkstone Leas Cliff Hall - still open.
Rickmansworth Civic Hall – still open.
Dunstable Queensway – demolished in 2000.
West Runton Pavilion - a legendary coastal venue. I know Alan wants to say a few words about this place but I feel honoured to have been there before it was razed to the ground in 1986.
So, of the 30 venues that Girl played on that tour, only 12 remain.
60% of the venues have gone.
Forever.
And with the odd exception (I’m thinking of The Marquee), you won’t even find a blue plaque where these proud clubs once stood.
As someone who is passionate about live music and psychogeography this is a double blow. The erosion of culture and architecture is something we should all be worried about, not just musicians. With pubs too closing at an alarming rate, the number of venues available to up-and-coming bands is forever dwindling.
The message couldn’t be clearer – support live music!
John Medd
John Medd is a blogger and photographer with an unhealthy obsession with the 1970s. When not writing about The Sweet over at Are We There Yet? he can be found taking photographs of puddles.
