The Blue Note Club at 174a Roker Avenue, Sunderland was a popular venue in the mid sixties but it was fairly short lived. Although some of the top touring bands of the era appeared there in the twelve months or so that it was open, the club became more famous for contraception than for music.
The Blue Note was opened in September 1964 by a business man named Ray Grehan, who was involved in several other music ventures in the North East. The main room in the club was housed on the first floor of a large building, which was part of a terrace of houses and shops on the South side of Roker Avenue, not far from its junction with Church Street North. As well as local bands, such as the Junco Partners, well know national bands also appeared at the club regularly – the likes of the Mindbenders, Alex Harvey Soul Band and the Pretty Things.
Advert for the Blue Note’s opening night in 1964
I played at the Blue Note a couple of times with the Kylastrons, early in 1965. On one of these occasions I saw the Junco Partners for the first time. At that point in time they were the best band I had seen. They were all great musicians and the two singers, Ronnie Barker and John Anderson gave the band a charisma and energy that no other North East bands could touch.
At some stage during its lifetime, the Blue Note started attracting adverse publicity in the local press. It was frequently raided by the police for under aged drinking. It was one of the first establishments in the area to have a condom machine installed in the gents toilet. The bad press was not due to the existence of the machine but because the resident DJ, John Harker, encouraged club goers, over the house PA, to go to the toilet and get their “goodies”. The consequence of the police raids and the press involvement was that the Blue Note closed down, probably because it failed to get its license renewed.
174a Roker Avenue, the home of the Blue Note and Club Astec – how it looks today
After the Blue Note, John Harker went on to be a popular DJ in many of the North East’s clubs. He appeared in the eighties TV music show, ‘The Tube’ as resident DJ. Sadly, John died in 2008.
I’m not sure of the exact date when the Blue Note actually closed its doors but it reopened as an unlicensed venue in the spring of 1966 and its name was changed to Club Astec. Business was brisk in the summer of 1966, in particular during the period that some of the World Cup games were being played at Roker Park. I played regularly at the Astec with the Jazzboard and a lot of the crowd from the el Cubana came to see us at the club. Another popular Sunderland band that performed regularly at the Astec were Revolutionary Spirit. However the club lacked the atmosphere of its predecessor, the Blue Note and attendances fell off. The Club Astec did not last too long as an unlicensed venue.
The Cellar Club in South Shields is probably best remembered as the venue that on 1 February 1967 hosted one of Jim Hendrix’s few performances in the North East of England. This was the New Cellar Club. A purpose built three storey building on Thomas Street (without a cellar), which opened on 2 December 1966. The New Cellar was impressively advertised as a £50,000 disco club for 18 to 25 year olds. It bore no resemblance to the original Cellar Club which it replaced.
Advert for the Hendrix gig
The old Cellar, otherwise known as the Cellar Jazz Club was situated not far from Thomas Street at 45 Beach Road. It was opened in 1956 by Gladys Hogg, a former dance teacher who had previously used the premises for her dance school. Gladys was the mother of Stan Bailey, one of the founder figures of the well known Bailey Organisation. The Cellar was housed in a terraced building, which from the outside looked like large family home. Although it did start its life as a jazz club and ran for many years as such, in later years the music changed over to R&B, soul or whatever was popular at the time with jazz still being played on a Monday evening.
The River City Jazzmen performing at the Cellar Jazz Club in the early sixties
I first started playing at the old Cellar midway through 1966. At that time, the club was open seven days a week with a different local band every night. My memory of the premises is as follows: -
The hallway where Alf Hobson the doorman, dressed in a black suit, white shirt and bow tie, took your money and signed in guests had a small table not far from the front door. There was a bar in the one of the rooms to the right and the main rooms where the band played were downstairs in the basement. The basement had a stone floor and there was no stage and no dressing room.
The Cellar Jazz Club (the old Cellar Club) on Beach Road as it looks today
The following photos of the old Cellar were kindly sent to me by Brian Short who used to be a member of the North East band, the Sect. Brian visited the building which housed the Old Cellar decades after the club had closed. The owners at the time were having some building work done but up to that point had left the original basement much the same as it had been in 1966: -
The stairs leading to the basement
The basement where the bands played
One of the wall paintings
Another view of the basement
THE NEW CELLAR CLUB
I was one of the first musicians to perform at the new Cellar Club on Thomas Street. Before the official opening on 2 December 1966, a party was held for the staff and the contractors who had built the club. The Jazzboard were booked to play at the party, which took place on 1 December 1966.
Advert for the New Cellar
The main dance floor was on the top floor with raised seating areas on three sides. Unlike the old Cellar, there was a stage for the band and the DJ. In fact, musicians were well catered for with their own dressing room/relaxation area behind a revolving stage. The bar was on the raised area opposite the stage. From what I can recall, there was a bar and eating area on the first floor and the only places accessible to the public on the ground floor were the foyer and toilets. The place was well decorated and furnished.
View of the stage from just below the bar area
I remember the round black tables which were specially made for the club. On the surface they had the names of the local bands that had played at the old Cellar club; Junco Partners, Jazzboard, Shady Kases, the Sect, Elcort etc.
During the first few years, a lot of well known acts played at the New Cellar. Some that come to mind are: Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band, Alex Harvey, Family, Chicken Shack, Rory Gallagher, Tim Harding and, of course, Jimi Hendrix. Here is a link to a site about Jimi Hendrix gigs in the North East. There’s also a lot about the Cellar and some information about some north east bands that played there in the sixties.
More Cellar memorabilia: -
Jimi Hendrix at the Cellar on 1st February 1967
Membership application for the New Cellar
Ads for the New Cellar’s opening night with Cream on 2 December 1966
A fairly recent photo of the building which housed the New Cellar Club
Adverts for the Cellar Jazz Club (the old Cellar Club on Beach Road)
Adverts for New Cellar Club
The Jazzboard performing at the New Cellar Club, Thomas Street in 1967
During the sixties, Newcastle’s club A’Gogo was one of the top music venues in the North East. The ‘Gogo’ was to Newcastle what the Marquee club was to London. It is fondly remembered by club goers and musicians alike – people like Eric Burdon, Brian Ferry and AC/DC’s Brian Johnson. But unlike the Marquee, there is very little information about the club A’Gogo on the internet. There are, of course, many references to the Animals being the resident band at the club in the early sixties. The Animals also recorded a live album at the Gogo and even wrote a song about the place.
The Club A’Gogo was opened in the early sixties in Percy Street, Newcastle at a time when jazz was very popular and almost mainstream. For instance, in 1961 there were three jazz performers in the top 20 all at the same time – (Dave Brubeck, Kenny Ball and Acker Bilk). There was no shortage of traditional (trad) jazz bands and modern jazz combos doing the rounds in local clubs and there were plenty of venues to accommodate them. In Newcastle in the early sixties some of the most popular places for live music were the Palletta in Blackett Street, the Oxford Galleries and the Majestic Ballroom (where the Beatles made their first live appearance in the city).
There was also the Marimba coffee bar on the corner of Grey Street and High Bridge which had originally been opened by a Londoner named Michael Frank Jeffery. Mike Jeffery also ran a popular Jazz Club called the Downbeat in Carliol Square. Eric Burdon of the Animals was a member of a crowd that used to hang out at the Downbeat. In one interview Burdon described his bunch of friends as “like a motorcycle gang …… without the motorcycles ……. they were tough, hard-drinking and listened to American music”.
The Downbeat eventually succumbed to rock music featuring local bands such as the Alan Price Combo (originally the Pagans), the Kylastrons and a Whitley Bay band called the Invaders, the first ‘non-Jazz’ band to play there. The Downbeat was eventually closed because of fire regulation and did, in fact, subsequently burn down as did Mike Jeffery’s other venture, the Marimba coffee bar.
Newspaper ad for the downbeat in 1962
Probably from the proceeds of insurance pay offs on his previous two ventures, Mike Jeffery opened the Club A’Gogo in partnership with another local businessman called Ray Grehan. At the time, Ray Grehan was the sales manager for a company named Automaticket. The Club A’Gogo was situated on the top floor in a building on Percy Street in Newcastle’s Haymarket area above a canteen used by Newcastle Corporation bus crews. The Handyside Arcade, another well known land mark of the era, was part of the same block. These buildings have long since been demolished and in their place stands the Eldon Garden Shopping Centre.
When the club first opened the downstairs box office was run by Keith Gibbon, a lady called Barbara and an Irish ex-pro boxer called Paddy. There were two rooms upstairs, initially managed by Bill Smith. On the right was the licensed “Jazz Lounge” where the Tommy Henderson Trio was the resident band. On the left was the “Latin American Lounge”, (later to be renamed the “Young Set”) which was not licensed and featured mainly the pop music of the day.
The Young Set (originally named ‘The Latin American Lounge’)
In the early days, the Jazz Lounge was true to its name and featured mainly jazz acts. As well as local jazzmen such as Mike Carr, the club was also host to a lot of visiting London musicians such as the Tubby Hayes Quartet and the Alan Elsdon Jazz Band. Gradually, the Jazz Lounge changed to accommodate some of the great British groups that were emerging in the early sixties; bands like the Alex Harvey Soul Band, Graham Bond Organisation, Spencer Davis Group to name but a few. In 1963, the Animals became the resident band in the Jazz Lounge. In an interview for Northstars, John Steele of the animals describes his early days at the Gogo: -
“Well, it was very exciting and at the a’Gogo you had two rooms; you had a young set room and what was called the jazz lounge. Originally that was the sophisticated jazz lounge but that developed into us (the Animals) becoming the resident band, and after a while, the policy changed to more commercial music and it was just heaving, jumping and in the young set room you would have bands like the Rolling Stones, who would come in and check us out in the other room.
We would be in the jazz lounge backing John Lee Hooker or Sonny Boy Williamson; I’ve backed people like Tubby Hayes and Tony Coe and as well as playing with Eric (Burdon) before we were called the Animals. I also played with Mike Carr at times, playing straight jazz, so there was this beautiful mix of music – modern jazz, R & B and authentic blues men coming over from America, with the new British music going on in the room next door. It was jumping, a fantastic atmosphere. Yeah it was great.”
Eric Burdon performing in the Jazz Lounge at the Gogo in his pre-Animal days
In the meantime the Invaders became the resident band in the Young Set. Dougie Vickers, who was the Invaders’ drummer, remembers the band auditioning for Mike Jeffery. The Invaders were offered the gig but only on the condition that they added a sax player to their line up. They promptly found a saxophonist and began playing in the Young Set on Wednesday, Friday, Saturdays and Sunday nights. The Saturday night sessions would start at 12.00 midnight and end at 4.00am. Dougie recalls that on some occasions the queue to get into the club stretched from the doorway in Percy Street around the corner to St James Park.
Club a’GoGo flyer from 1963
Due to the popularity of the Club A’Gogo in Newcastle, Mike Jeffery also opened a second Club A’Gogo in Whitley Bay.
The Junco Partners, who took over as the resident house band at Newcastle’s Club A’Gogo in 1964 after the Animals hit the big time, probably know as much about the club as anyone. In the following clip Juncos – Ronnie Barker and Dave Sproat remember their days at the Club a’GoGo.
In this second clip, the Juncos (and Eric Burdon) revisit the building which housed the GoGo (years before it was demolished). The clip contains footage of the entrance on Percy Street, the stairwell, landing and the stage of the Jazz Lounge.
Mike Jeffery went on to manage many rock performers. Most notable are the Animals and Jimi Hendrix. He also owned night clubs in Majorca and met an untimely death in 1973 when a plane bringing him back from a trip to Majorca collided with another plane over Nantes in western France. The accident occurred not long after Jimi Hendrix died in London. Jeffery was on his way back to a Court hearing in London concerning Hendrix when he died along with 60 other passengers when the DC-9 crashed,
People who frequented the Gogo in the sixties will also remember some of the characters who worked at the club. Tommy Crumb, a bald guy who usually wore a leather coat, looked after the door on ground level with several others. The clubs upstairs were managed by Myer Thomas who is mentioned by name in the Animals song ‘Club a’GoGo’. A couple of the better known bouncers were the Finlay brothers – Dave and Tommy. Dave was a tall good looking bloke with fairish/ginger hair. Tommy had darker hair was a quite a bit shorter than Dave. I recall waiting to go into the club one night when a guy came running out of the door hotly pursued by Dave Finlay. The guy ran along Percy Street and Dave tried to head him off by jumping onto the bonnets and roofs of a couple of parked cars.
Other names that people remember as working at the club were Big Phil, Keith Crombie and Keith Young.
Percy Street in the sixties – entrance to the Gogo was by the doorway (bottom right) Site of the Club A’Gogo on Percy Street in the noughties
I played at the Club A’Gogo, both the Young Set and the Jazz Lounge with two bands; the Jazzboard and the Village on several occasions between 1965 and 1968. Due to band commitments and the fact I lived in Sunderland, I was never a regular visitor to the club but when I was with the Jazzboard in 1966 we often went to the Jazz Lounge after our own gigs in the Newcastle area had finished. Some of the bands I saw at these late night sessions were Graham Bond, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (with Eric Clapton), Geno Washington and not forgetting Newcastle’s favourite band, The Junco Partners.
Newspaper ad for the Gogo (1965) Membership card for the Young Set from around 1967
Around this time, there used to be a black guy who sat in with a lot of the visiting bands on conga drums. I think he must have kept his drums at the club and brought them out if he got the nod from the band. The stage in the Jazz Lounge wasn’t very high and you get quite close to the musicians. Myer Thomas used to manage the stage and the appearance of the bands. I can remember him telling off our keyboard player, Jimmy Hall, for smoking on stage. Another ex-Gogo regular remembers Myer at the time that the Animal’s ‘House of the Rising Sun’ had been released. Every night he would announce its progress up the charts. Myer eventually moved out to Majorca where Mike Jeffery together with Keith Gibbon opened a night club named Sergeant Peppers in the Plaza Gomilla, Palma.
During his short career, Jimi Hendrix only played a handful of gigs in the north east. One of them was at the Club a’GoGo on 10 March 1967, a week before the release of ‘Purple Haze’. His first hit -’Hey Joe’ had first appeared in the charts 3 months earlier. By the time of the GoGo gig, Hendrix had built up a solid reputation in the music press and was receiving accolades from famous musicians, such as Mick Jagger.
Hendrix played two sets at the Club A’Gogo; the first in the Young Set and then a late set in the Jazz Lounge. Five weeks earlier he had played at the Cellar Club in South Shields and had surprised the audience by ramming his guitar into the ceiling above the stage. Hendrix repeated the stunt at the Gogo and left his guitar suspended in the hole he made in the ceiling.
Another band that appeared at the Gogo in 1967 was Captain Beefheart. In his book about his days with Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band, drummer John ‘drumbo’ French recalls the visit to the club: -
“We became lost trying to find this club, as we had driven up from London. It was late afternoon when we finally asked directions. I recall rolling down the window and asking some fellow on the street if he’d heard of the place. He didn’t understand me. I said it again and his face lit up: “Oooh, the cloob a goo goo.” He went on and on about how to get there. The brogue to my untrained ear sounded Scottish. I didn’t understand a word he said but the driver got it all. I thanked him and we drove off to the club. It was a medium sized club with a lot of thick dark tables with initial carved in them, and the smell of ale permeating the whole building.
“John French: Do you remember playing in the Club A’Gogo in Newcastle?
Jerry Handley (Beefheart’s bass player): I remember Newcastle, that’s where the Animals were from originally.
John French: They sounded Scottish, they had very strong accents. There were knife marks all over the booths. It was a rough looking place. They carved their initials in all the booths.
“The performance that night was quite good. By this time we were into our stride. I think the main problem with the band was that Don (Captain Beefheart) didn’t like to tour or perform. However it was the best thing for us.”
In an interview on the ITV series ‘Northstars’ (broadcast in 2002), Bryan Ferry recalled seeing the Junco Partners at the Gogo and playing there with his own band – the Gas Board. He remembered carrying the band’s gear from the Young Set across the landing to the Jazz Lounge. Ferry described the atmosphere at the Gogo as heavily charged and said it was the best club he had been to.
The Invaders – the first resident band in the Young Set (photo kindly supplied by Dougie Vickers, drums)
Also in the ‘Northstars’ interviews, Brian Johnson of AC/DC remembered seeing the Yardbirds at the Gogo but was kicked out as soon as Keith Relf appeared on stage because he was too young to be in the Jazz Lounge; Sting recalled seeing Jimi Hendrix and Rod Clements of Lindisfarne remembered being close to the stage when the likes of John Mayall and Alex Harvey appeared. He recalled meeting the same bunch of people around the stage area waiting for the bands to appear.
Brian Ferry remembered that the walls of the Jazz Lounge had a day-glo mural of a New York skyline. In fact, he helped the artist, a David Sweetman with the painting. Rod Clements remembered portraits of Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson and John Lee Hooker on the walls.
Ex-club goers that have contributed to the Chronicle Live site remember the mod clothes – herringbone jackets and hush puppies and other gear brought from City Stylish. According to one contributor, the Gogo lost its popularity after the opening of Sloopy’s (formerly La Dolce Vita) and this forced its closure.
The GoGo is best remembered for its intimate atmosphere and for the great bands that appeared there throughout the sixties. ChronicleLive, often features people’s memories of the life and times of the Gogo and is well worth checking out.
Gogo flyer
Here are some of the bands and artists that appeared at the Gogo:
• Alan Bown Set
• Alan Price
• Alex Harvey
• Alexis Korner
• Amen Corner
• Brian Auger’s Trinity (with Julie Driscoll)
• Captain Beefheart
• Cream
• Fleetwood Mac
• Garnet Mimms
• Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band
• Graham Bond Organisation
• Herman’s Hermits
• Hollies
• Howlin’ Wolf
• Ike and Tina Turner
• Jeff Beck
• Jimi Hendrix
• Jimmy James & the Vagabonds
• John Lee Hooker
• John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers
• Long John Baldry
• Lulu
• Mary Wells
• Memphis Slim
• Moody Blues
• Pink Floyd
• P J Proby
• Rolling Stones
• Root & Jenny Jackson
• Screaming Jay Hawkins
• Sonny Boy Williamson
• Spencer Davis Group
• Status Quo
• Steam Packet (with Rod Stewart)
• T Bone Walker
• The Animals
• The Family
• The Herd (with Peter Frampton)
• The Who
• Walker Brothers
• Yardbirds
• Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band
Gogo newspaper cutting from 1965
Here are some Gogo gig dates:
• 07/02/1964 – Graham Bond
• 05/06/1964 – John Lee Hooker
• 20/03/1965 – T Bone Walker
• 20/01/1966 – Spencer Davis
• 17/02/1966 – The Who
• 19/03/1966 – Zoot Money
• 12/10/1966 – The Family
• 10/11/1966 – The Family
• 15/12/1966 – The Family
• 02/02/1967 – Alexis Korner
• 10/03/1967 – Jimi Hendrix
• 11/03/1967 – Root & Jenny Jackson
• 16/03/1967 – Jimmy James & the Vagabonds • 19/05/1967 – Pink Floyd
• 01/07/1967 – The Family
• 20/10/1967 – Cream
• 16/11/1967 – Jeff Beck
• 23/11/1967 – Cream
• 04/12/1967 – Eric Burdon and the Animals
• 15/03/1968 – Status Quo
• 22/03/1968 – The Herd
The first time I visited the el Cubana was in 1965 as a member of the Kylastrons. It was a well known venue in the North East and beyond. It was the dream of every local musician to play there. I was lucky – later that year I joined the Jazzboard and played at both the el Cubana and its sister club, the La Cubana on a regular basis. I have fond memories of the two clubs and the people who went there (including my first serious girlfriend, Julie). The clubs were owned and run by Eric Punshon who now lives in New Zealand. This is Eric’s story: -
“It was a busy and exciting time in the late fifties for me in my late teens. Elvis Presley, Bill Haley and the Comets were emerging and big bands were the norm. As well as working at Priestman and Galen buildings in Green Terrace known as ‘Sunderland Technical College’, I somehow found time to organise dances at the Barnes Hotel and bus trips to Blackpool. Popular places at the time in Sunderland were the Seaburn and the Rink in Park Lane. There were occasional dances at Wetheralls on the Green opposite Bishopwearmouth Church, St Bennett’s Church Hall in Roker Avenue, Grange Hotel in Newcastle Road and of course the Barnes Hotel. We also had coffee shops, Notrianis in High street, Fellas in Silksworth Row and Binns Restaurant in Fawcett Street, which were meeting places for my group of friends and where we would sip coffee until we got kicked out for not spending enough.
The site of the el and la Cubana, 13 Toward Road , Sunderland as it looks today.
During one of our many Saturday afternoon meetings at Binns’ restaurant, gazing down Fawcett Street and dreaming up ways to kick the Sunderland scene up a notch, a group of us decided to open our own club. It would be devoted only to a certain selected age group and have dim lights and an intimate atmosphere. We agreed to meet each week at a church hall in North Bridge Street each putting in five shillings a week until we had sufficient funds to open our own magical club.
In 1957 after many weeks of planning we rented a place in North Bridge Street in which to open a club. We named the club the Bridge Street Jazz Club. At the time, running private clubs was fraught with difficulties. They were not legally able to make a profit and the club had to be run by a committee. Any profits had to go back to the members.
The founder members were Cliff Balbach, Brian Farquhar, Alan Rolfe, Alan George and myself. We became the committee. I soon realized that it would not work with a committee, so I resigned just as the club opened and I forfeited my money. (Technically speaking this was the first club in Sunderland). As I thought, the club closed after a brief period. Our attempts to kick Sunderland up a notch failed but my dream remained. Life rolled on and we all got girlfriends, wives etc.
Around 1960, a big change came. The then Prime Minister, Harold McMillan, changed the law, making it possible to run a club as a proprietary club, (although technically they still needed a committee), but in reality the club owners could pay themselves wages. Lonnie Donegan had brought skiffle across the Atlantic from America, which gave rise to the groups we still know to this day. Tommy Steele was playing his guitar in the London coffee shops. These three events helped set the scene. Cliff Balbach and myself decided the time was now right to re-attempt to open a club.
In 1961 with an enormous amount of help from my brother, David Punshon, we set about transforming 13 Toward Road, Sunderland (a five story building) into the el Cubana. We commissioned builders Ellis & Gowland (Billy Ellis & Arthur Gowland) to do the main building conversion work. Cliffs Balbach’s mother had given him £1000, Eddie and Hannah Punshon my parents gave me £500. McCann’s (Low Row) supplied us with the furniture on hire purchase. So for about £2000, plus a bank loan of £200 from Peter Smith, the manager of the District Bank in John Street, we eventually opened the el Cubana Coffee Club in the first and lower basements.
The el Cubana was a teenage club. It was a magic place; the dance floor area was painted black, it sported reflective panels on the walls, hands and feet on the suspended ceiling above the dance floor, and a stage. Below the dance floor, a dimly lit cellar painted deep purple, in it a lounge and a coffee bar, which sold Coca Cola, orange juice, hot dogs, hamburgers and frothy coffee made of all milk. Live music in the form of groups was the norm. The groups all had their own distinctive dress. Real show business stuff. We had the famous ‘Limbo Poll’, which appeared while the group was on their break and every one would have a go. Fred Barnes, the doorman, would do his comedy act on stage. One night whilst Fred was telling his jokes on stage, a lad shouted, ‘Puff’ to him and promptly ran, swiftly followed by Fred. Everyone thought ‘Oh Crikey’! Fred came back, got back up on stage and said, ‘The lad had nothing to worry about – I only wanted to give him a kiss’. There was also the famous ‘Galloway’ oil painting, which graced a wall in the el Cubana (and later the Hot Spot), and which was featured on Tyne Tees Television. I still have this enormous painting hanging on my garage wall.
Clippings about the opening of the el Cubana from the Sunderland Echo dated 28th November 1962
Fourteen months after a prolonged battle with Magistrates to obtain a liquor licence, the La Cubana Nightclub opened above the el Cubana on the ground and first floors, both the el Cubana and the La Cubana were based on a Spanish theme. We found out later that the name ‘el’ Cubana, was grammatically incorrect as ‘el’ is masculine and ‘Cubana’ feminine. It’s like saying Mr Pauline! The plan was to bring in Spanish staff, but this was fraught with red tape, so sadly we had to abandon that idea.
During the building process, I twice worked four days and four nights without sleep and my feet were ‘rotting’ (but that’s another story). We announced the opening of the el Cubana with advertisements in the Sunderland Echo. On the opening night of the el Cubana we were hastily beating a retreat out of the back doors with rubbish as the first customers were coming in the front doors. I went home got bathed and donned my evening suit and returned to find the club full. Dress standard was very strict for the members. People tend to act the way they dress. Swearing was a no-no and attracted two weeks suspension of membership. The club always opened exactly on time. The formula worked and I continued these standards in the following thirty years in the Hot Spot and Rascals, which were the natural successors of the Cubana clubs.
The Galloway painting
El Cubana in the early days ran two sessions, 7pm until 10-30pm and 11pm until 2am. Club 11 in Villiers Street had opened a short while before the el Cubana, but the el Cubana soon dominated the scene. Club 11 closed and owners Frank Pickering and Mike Pemberton moved on to other things. Sunderland went on to dominate the North East scene as other clubs started to open. There were La Strada, Wetheralls, Rococo, The Blue Note, Parama (later the Ku Club), and the Bay Hotel. Some of these did not last long. The Locarno (Genevieve’s) later called the Fillmore was where Geoff Docherty went on to promote the big name rock groups. In 1966, Club Annabel’s opened followed by other venues. In late 60s times began to change. The music scene was falling apart with some of the big groups going on stage in a very poor standard of dress and some being quite destructive and charging too much. Nothing like the real show business. This had a dramatic effect on the behaviour of the younger generation. The local council at around this time in their wisdom were busy slapping down double yellow lines everywhere, which had the effect of removing the older stabilising generation from the town centre. Yellow lines are fine during the day but they should not have applied, say, after 7pm. I decided I could not maintain the standard I had set. I decided to cease trading until things improved. I closed the el Cubana and La Cubana in 196?. I rented the premises out and it became the Courier Social Club.
The doorway to what was once the la Cubana club
Entrance to the basement of 13 Toward Road – previously the el Cubana.
The groups that played at the club were supplied by the Jack Wright Agency and Ivan Birchall agency. The biggest highlight being the Spencer Davis Group, who played at the club the very night they hit number one in the charts with ‘Keep on Running’. Other groups to play were the ‘Steam Packet’ before they became huge in the music world, Long John Baldry and his discovery Rod Stewart, Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & the Trinity Sound who performed together as the Steam Packet. Alan Price, John Miles, Brian Ferry, to name but a few, played at the ‘Banna before they became famous. We would get the big name groups of the time turn up in the early hours of the morning (after they had played at the Seaburn Hall, Empire or Odeon).
Newspaper ad from 1963
The big groups performed a 30-minute spot (for free), just so they could say they had played at the el Cubana in Sunderland and the Cavern in Liverpool. We were famous in the entertainment world. Apparently the acoustics in the ‘Banna were ideal for groups. The best group ever was called the ‘Jay Birds’, a bunch of session musicians from London who had joined up briefly and did a country wide tour just for the hell of it. They also wanted to play the Cavern and the el Cubana. Again this was one of those early morning gigs, free to us. They arrived and carried in a small amount of equipment, compared to the average band, we were wondering if we had made a mistake saying ‘yes’ to this unknown group. It proved that quality does not require quantity in terms of equipment in the hands of real professional musicians. They stopped the show by the sheer quality of their playing. Sadly for the world, it’s a tough job travelling, and they reverted back to session playing. Many of the big groups of the time had recordings enhanced by these guys in the recording studios – I wonder where they are now? The most popular regular local group to play at the ‘Banna was the Junco Partners, who are still performing to this day. I haggled many a time with John Wood their leader over the fee. They were the most popular and highest paid local group.
Inside the el Cubana in 1964 or 1965
Dancers at the el Cubana in 1964 or 1965
Bernie Walsh, sax player with Paul Ryan and the Steaks performing at the el Cubana in 1962.
A Club is only as good as the people it attracts and the success of the ‘Banna was the members. There are many notable members’ stories and events, which I could write about. The following members and staff spring to mind. I would be interested to know how their lives have panned out and what they are doing now. Fred Quinn, Joe McGough, Derek Robinson now owns Geordie Jeans with his brother, Judith Robinson his cousin. I bumped into Judith in a New Zealand vineyard Christmas 2003! Malcolm Laverick, Carole Smith (Ancona Street) married Keith Checkly, one of the members of the Kylastrons group who played at the ‘Banna, Diane Cooke who worked at Blacketts, Pauline & Pat Cohill, Linda Hall, Yvonne Weightman who was the legs in the famous advert for a petrol Company, Marjorie Hyam who wore a black cat suit and won the fancy dress, Linda Kempster, Norma Moore, Una & Pauline Lake, Nora Allen (I think she married a Sunderland footballer and went to Australia), Dorothy Clifford, Alice Hudson, Janice Parmley from Chester le Street, Moira Porter, Margaret Douglas known as ‘Spot’, Jeanie Nichol, Pauline Timiney, Ian Smith, Sandra Thompson, Iris Rumney, Anne Fearon, Gerry French, Ellis Holliday, Mike Elliott (appears on television as a comedian and later played the boxing coach in the hit movie Billy Elliott), Keith Miller, John Duckworth, Sam Barnett, Jenny Hodgson and not least many others. I keep in touch with Liz Yeo, and Leslie Scott a Sunderland Council leader and Mayor.
Now the biggest surprise of all! There is an active ”el Cubana” society, held together by the afore mentioned Leslie Scott and his friends Dave Kennedy, Peter Newrick, Trevor Smith and Brian Snowdon. Along with the Junco Partners, they regularly run re-union Gigs (usually charity fund raising events).
a local band at the el Cubana in 1964 (or 1965)
Since 2003 I have lived in New Zealand and am still in business.
I hope many people have a lot of pleasure reading this brief article, as I have had writing it.
Eric Punshon”
Old friends of Eric and the Cubana clubs are welcome to mail him.
If you were in a north east band in the mid to late sixties it is likely that that there would be two Newcastle venues on your wish list of places to play – the Club a’Gogo and the Mayfair Ballroom. If you did get a gig at either or both there was a good chance that you would be supporting a well known band . Both the Gogo and the Mayfair regularly booked the top touring or chart bands of the day. There the similarity ends. The Gogo was a small to medium sized venue, which appeared full when there were just a few hundred people inside. The Mayfair, however, had a capacity of a few thousand and, although lacking the intimate feel of the Gogo, had a great atmosphere on a good night.
Unlike the Club a’Gogo which had a life span of around a decade, the Mayfair was a popular venue from the sixties until it finally closed in 1999. It is reputed to have hosted Europe’s largest and longest-running rock club, spanning nearly four decades. Some of the biggest bands in the world played at the venue early in their career, such as Pink Floyd, U2 and Nirvana.
The material on this page is primarily about the Mayfair between 1966 and 1971. If you are interested in the Mayfair Rock Disco of the nineties then click on this link.
Entrance to the Mayfair Ballroom on Newgate Street
The entrance to the Mayfair was on the corner of Newgate Street and Low Friar Street (now the site of the Gate Leisure Complex). It had an oblong-shaped ballroom with a large balcony right around the room. There were several bars with seating areas on the balcony plus more bars downstairs in the areas surrounding the large dance floor.
In the sixties and seventies there was a circular revolving stage which enabled bands to set up on each side and follow on from each other without a break in the music. When a really popular band appeared there would often be a wooden barrier in front of the stage to stop over enthusiastic fans getting at their idols.
The revolving stage
Sneeze at the Mayfair in 1969 behind a fan proof barrier!
Pierre Pedersen, the organist with Sneeze, once told me an amusing anecdote about an incident involving his previous band Coloured Rain. It had occurred on 26th September 1968, several months before he joined Sneeze. Coloured Rain had played at the Mayfair on the same bill as Pink Floyd and the Nice (forerunners of Emerson, Lake and Palmer) plus another local band called the Sect. Coloured Rain had drawn the short straw and had to follow on from the Nice. The climax of the Nice’s set was their electrifying instrumental version of Leonard Bernstein’s ‘America’ (from West Side Story). As ‘America’ reached its crescendo with the extremely heavy sound of the Nice reverberating through the Mayfair, Keith Emerson was standing on his Hammond organ, feet on the keys, throwing big knives at his Lesley cabinet. The stage revolved with the last chords of ‘America’ still in the air and with the crowd shouting for more. As the Nice disappeared, Coloured Rain came into view playing a very weak version of the Drifters’ song – “Down at the Club”. The Mayfair floor cleared within seconds and Coloured Rain, in particular, Pierre the Hammond organist, learned the true meaning of the phrase – “a tough act to follow”!
Paul Kossoff appearing with Free at the Mayfair in March 1970 (photo kindly supplied by David Harding)
One of the hazards in playing at the Mayfair was that the balcony overlooked the rear of the stage and was a good place for people to stand and aim abuse or even missiles at the band if they didn’t like them. The Alan Bown Set appeared at the Mayfair in 1970 and during their opening number a glass was thrown onto the stage from the balcony area above. The band promptly left the stage and refused to return. When I appeared at the Mayfair quite regularly with Sneeze in 1969 and 1970 we used to strap our four PA (open backed) speaker columns to the balcony above the stage. After one gig we discovered that someone had methodically punctured each of the sixteen speakers with a knife. Luckily the cuts were clean and didn’t affect the sound too much.
The Mayfair stage with the balcony at the rear
The Mayfair Ballroom, which was run by the Mecca organisation, had a resident band called Jimmy Bence and his orchestra for formal dance nights. The venue was also hired out for corporate events (with or without the resident band) or to local promoters for a fee. A Newcastle booking agent called Ivan Birchall promoted a lot of gigs in the late sixties. He would book one or two top bands and fill the bill out with a couple of local bands that were on his books.
In 1970 the Sunderland promoter, Geoff Docherty began promoting concerts at the Mayfair in addition to the gigs he had been promoting at the Bay Hotel and Locarno in Sunderland. Geoff’s first promotion at the Mayfair on Thursday 9 April 1970 featured Rory Gallagher’s Taste and Black Sabbath.
Mayfair ticket
The first time I played at the Mayfair was with the Jazzboard in April 1966 supporting the Pretty Things. I particularly remember the night because our drummer, Nigel Olsson didn’t turn up. He had been picked up by the police earlier in the evening on a warrant for some trivial matter and they wouldn’t let him go to the gig. We had to persuade the Junco Partner’s drummer, John Woods to fill in for Nigel. I subsequently played at the Mayfair regularly with three other bands – Village, Sneeze and Scalliwag. I remember one gig at the Mayfair in December 1969 when Sneeze was supporting Love Affair. The Love Affair’s vocalist Steve Ellis surprisingly announced on stage that he was leaving the band. There were lots of tears from the band’s stunned fans. I suppose there’s one gig at the Mayfair I’ll never forget. That was on the 24th May 1968; the night I first met my wife!
Eddie Martin, the vocalist with popular Newcastle band the Sect remembers that the band used to play every Thursday with two different local bands and usually a top chart band. The bands that Eddie remembers being supported by the Sect were the Troggs, The Move, Humble Pie, T Rex and Dantalions Chariot (which was Zoot Money’s band when he moved away from the soul music).
Here’s list of some of the gigs at the Mayfair (compiled from various sources) for the period 1966 to 1971: -
25/02/1966 – The Animals
21/04/1966 – Pretty Things & Junco Partners
14/07/1966 – Alan Price & Chris Farlowe
20/07/1966 – Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky Mick and Tich, Pieces of Five & the Sect
11/08/1966 – The Troggs & Tony Rivers and the Castaways
26/04/1967 – The Tremeloes
27/10/1967 – Small Faces
28/11/1967 – Alan Price Set, Jimmy Powell and the Dimensions & Mr Poobah
03/02/1970 – Sect, Mass Action, Blondie & Envelope
14/02/1970 – Spyda, Junction Partners & Sneeze
24/02/1970 – Animal Farm, Morning Glory & Sneeze
27/02/1970 – Crazy World of Arthur Brown
19/03/1970 – Free, Juicy Lucy, Junco Partners & Raw Spirit
08/04/1970 – Sect, Sneeze, Dogg & Juice
09/04/1970 – Taste & Black Sabbath
16/04/1970 – Yes & Graham Bond
30/04/1970 – Edgar Broughton & Terry Reid
07/05/1970 – Tyrannosaurus Rex , The Sect & Dave The Rave
15/05/1970 – Colliseum & Man
22/05/1970 – Radha Krishna Temple & Black Widow
29/05/1970 – Savoy Brown + Juicy Lucy
12/06/1970 – Edgar Broughton + Quintessence
19/06/1970 – Terry Reid & Fat Mattress with Noel Redding
26/06/1970 – Rare Bird & Hard Meat
03/07/1970 – Roy Harper, Pretty Things & Brinsley Schwartz
08/07/1970 – Junco Partners, Gollum, Saratoga & Sneeze
10/07/1970 – Chicken Shack, Mathew’s Southern Comfort & Man
17/07/1970 – If, Lord Sutch and his Heavy Friends
23/07/1970 – Atomic Rooster & Van Der Graaf Generator
31/07/1970 – Deep Purple & Taste
07/08/1970 – Derek and The Dominoes
14/08/1970 – Quintessence, Mott The Hoople & Supertramp
28/08/1970 – Tyrannoraurus Rex
11/09/1970 – Blodwyn Pig
02/10/1970 – Keef Hartley, Strawbs & Pink Fairies
09/10/1970 – Fleetwood Mac
04/11/1970 – Sect, Raw Spirit & Steam Coffin
19/11/1970 – Chicken Shack
26/11/1970 – Curved Air
15/12/1970 – The Who
22/12/1970 – Edgar Broughton Band
30/12/1970 – Lindisfarne
05/02/1971 – Family & Dada
18/02/1971 – T. Rex
18/03/1971 – Led Zeppelin
26/03/1971 – John Peel introduces Mott The Hoople & Medicine Head
08/04/1971 – Skid Row
30/04/1971 – Quintessence & Stone The Crows
14/05/1971 – Buddy Miles, also Robin Ayers
28/05/1971 – The Faces, featuring Rod Stewart
18/06/1971 – Curved Air
25/06/1971 – Deep Purple & Quiver
03/07/1971 – Procul Harum, Stone The Crows & Chicken Shack
09/07/1971 – Groundhogs
16/07/1971 – Wishbone Ash
23/07/1971 – Coloseum & Osibisa
30/07/1971 – Rory Gallagher & The James Gang
06/08/1971 – Curved Air & Medicine Head
13/08/1971 – Mott The Hoople
20/08/1971 – Quintessence & East of Eden
2708/1971 – Faces
17/09/1971 – Curved Air
08/10/1971 – Wishbone Ash & Quiver
22/10/1971 – Quintessence & East of Eden
29/10/1971 – Stone The Crows
18/11/1971 – Edgar Broughton Band & Stray
17/12/1971 – Juicy Lucy & Fat Grapple
Newcastle’s Quay area has some of the finest waterside views in the north east of England, attracting tourists and photographers from all over the world. There are six splendidly engineered transport bridges over the Tyne linking Gateshead with Newcastle, all within three quarters of a mile of each other. Then there is the equally impressive Millennium pedestrian bridge. Situated on the Gateshead side of the river are the Sage music venue and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Arts, a stark contrast of old and new architectural styles. All of these structures double their impact on the observer by reflecting their striking images in the river Tyne, in particular when viewed from the north bank. Add lots of trendy bars, restaurants and water side apartments and you have today’s Quayside. Night or day it’s hard not to be impressed by the area.
Forty years earlier in the sixties, the area was much different, with run down or derelict buildings, bomb sites and ill lit thoroughfares. The most respectable places back then were the couple of restaurants housed in the Tudor buildings (still standing) on Sandhill just around the corner from the Quayside. Within a minute’s walking distance of these timber framed buildings was a very popular club, aptly named the Quay Club.
Sixties newspaper ads for the Quay Club
As far as I can remember, the Quay Club was opened around 1965 by a gentleman called Bill Keith who was the manager of the Newcastle band, the Chosen Few. The club was located near the swing bridge over the Tyne on a thoroughfare called ‘Side’ and was situated roughly opposite the Crown Posada pub. The building that housed the club has since been demolished and has been replaced by a new block containing offices and a pizza restaurant.
The Quay Club was much smaller than the Club a’Gogo. It had two main rooms; a lounge bar on ground level and a basement below where the bands played. The lounge was long and fairly narrow with a bar at one end near the entrance and a stair well at the other leading down to the basement. The stairs were quite steep and narrow and were very difficult to negotiate carrying amplifiers and drum kits. The basement was very dark and small – probably no more than about 15 metres in length and about 4 metres wide with a low ceiling. There was no stage and the bands would normally play at the end of the room furthest away from the stair well. The Quay club booked mainly local bands but some top names performed there over the years, including the Family and Ten Years After (with Alvin Lee).
The Quay Club became a recognised meeting place for local musicians. Before a visit to either Bowers restaurant (opposite the Central Station) or Barbecue Express (at the top of Pink Lane), a lot of local band members used to meet up at the Quay Club after their own gigs in the Newcastle area had finished. Amongst others, The Chosen Few, Alan Hull (Lindisfarne), The Gas Board (with Bryan Ferry) and drummer Alan White (from The Blue Caps and subsequently Yes) could regularly be seen at the club. And it wasn’t just local musicians who used the Quay Club as a watering hole after a night’s work. Other artists who were appearing elsewhere in Newcastle or just visiting the city frequently used to call in at the club. These included Eric Burdon, Pink Floyd and Geno Washington.
(The) Side in 2009. The site of the Quay Club was where the new red brick buildings on the right now stand
(The) Side in the beginning of the 20th Century. The Victorian building which housed the Quay Club is half way along the picture on the right hand side of the street. The buildings on the left are still standing
Glyn Sadler, vocalist with popular sixties Newcastle bands – the Elcort and the Sect, remembers an incident at the Quay Club when he was performing there with the Elcort. A well known, but possibly unwelcome, celebrity turned up at the club one night. This is Glyn’s account of the incident: -
“Tom Jones was in town at La Dolce Vita and was brought to The Quay Club when we (the Elcort) were playing, I think by Mike Jeffery from the Club A’Gogo. He stayed for a few numbers and then shook hands to leave. After a short while the barman came down and said that Tom was having a drink upstairs and had sent down a couple of drinks each for the lads. I went upstairs to thank him, and saw that he was at the door ready to leave. I walked over to say thanks and, as I did, a bottle flew through the door nearly hitting him. It had been thrown by Eric Burdon or one of his cronies in an open top car motoring down the street shouting “F*** off back to Wales”.
I have diaries showing that I played at the Quay Club a total of seventeen times between February 1966 and June 1969 in four different bands from the Jazzboard through to Sneeze. In all those times I can’t remember any violent incidents or fights at the club. Nor can I remember any menacing bouncers there like the notorious Finlay brothers from the Club A’Gogo. However, Glyn from the Elcort remembers one confrontation there involving the singer from a well known local band who tried very hard not to stick his nose in. Glyn says: -
(This singer) ” – had cosmetic surgery done on his nose. One night he came to the Quay Club having just had the bandages removed telling everyone to look at his new nose. The Elcort were playing and were in a jam session with Ronnie, John and Bob Sergeant from the Junco Partners. I don’t know how, but a fight started with some people – I think because the Junco lads were dancing around as they always did and accidentally bumped into someone. (The basement in the Quay Club didn’t have a very big stage area). Anyway, this guy who was in the middle of it ran for cover shouting ‘Stop the music – don’t let them hit my new nose I’ve only just got it!’”
Overall I remember the Quay Club as having a more intimate and certainly a less intimidating atmosphere than the Gogo and in spite of the odd fracas such as that mentioned in Glyn’s story the club was mostly trouble free.
See if you remember some of these local bands that played at the Quay club in the mid to late sixties: -
The Rex Hotel, an impressive looking Victorian building on the sea front at Whitley Bay, was a popular venue for both local and national bands from around 1967 through to the late seventies. I first played there in 1968 with a band called the Village and for the next three years or so it became one of my favourite venues, both as a performer and a punter. I remember seeing the late great Robert Palmer singing at the Rex sometime in 1969 with the Alan Bown Set just after he had replaced Jess Roden.
Local bands were booked at the Rex for a weekend or for one night only. Sometimes you got to support a named band. I recall supporting a couple of chart bands there in 1969 – Love Affair and Simon Dupree and the Big Sound who had charted a couple of years earlier with ‘Kites’.
Cutting from October 1969
A 1969 Rex ticket
In his memoirs “Beats Working”, Keith Fisher, the drummer with 70’s band Beckett describes what it was like to gig at the Rex: -
“……it was an unusual and attractive booking for bands in more ways than one: the principal oddity being that you could be booked to play the weekend as residents, or purely on the Monday night, as the guests. This is how it worked…
If you were booked to play the weekend you started on the Saturday night. The dance floor, which was huge (a proper ballroom), was cleared of tables and chairs which were set up around the perimeter. The stage was overhung by a balcony above, right in the middle at the back, just where the drummer set up; a nightmare for me, sat up high behind my over-indulgent kit and grossly elevated cymbals. The bar was immediately ‘stage-left’ and amounted to little more than a walk-through closet which you entered by the stage and bought your Dog (Newcastle Brown Ale) from the bottle-juggling-barman: Don. Forget ‘Cocktail’, Tom Cruise wouldn’t have lasted five minutes keeping up with the pace that Don achieved. Then you exited through the other door out into the ballroom. If you were a musician, you stood in a line by the side of the stage to better scrutinise the competition; your bottle tucked under your arm, ready to top-up your half pint glass.
Mr Poobah’s Chcago Line at the Rex in 1969. The downstairs bar (mentioned above) is on the right of the picture
Sneeze on stage at the Rex in 1970.
“The dressing-room (a supreme euphemism) was stage-right and was the kitchens for the ballroom. Big, shiny, stainless-steel benches in abundance, but no mirrors or chairs, and certainly no gratis drinks or nibbles to fortify the body and soul. You played two hour-long sets and left your gear set up for the following night’s show. The Sunday show differed in that the dance floor was set-out with all the tables and chairs to produce what was essentially a concert room. Again, you played for two hours, and again you got to walk away from your gear, which stayed for the Monday night show. Monday nights were the best in some respects: namely that you shared the bill with another group, who were booked for just the one night. I do remember the confusion as one band attempted to shift all their gear off the stage and into the dressing room, as the other band tried to do the opposite. Finally: and I am sure we were all guilty… it is human nature… but we never played The Rex without striving to “play-off” the other band; either as guests or residents. It was good natured competition, and it promoted a hearty determination to be as good as possible: which is never a bad thing.”
The Rex in sixties
Another person who remembers playing at the Rex is Eddie Martin, who was the vocalist with both Mr Poobahs Chigago Line and The Sect: -
“I used to love playing at the Rex, sometimes we would do the Saturday, Sunday and Monday off the belt and sometimes just the Monday. I remember playing with the band – the Downtown Faction from who a couple of players went on to form Lindisfarne. We played on the stage and they set up at the opposite end of the ball room.”
1969 advert for the Rex
Eddie Martin from Mr Poobah’s Chicago Line (on the right)
Steve Thompson, the bass player from seventies band Bullfrog also has memories of the Rex: –
“A regular gig was the Rex Hotel in Whitley Bay. This was in a large ballroom and quite a big gig, always with TWO local bands. The first band to arrive was told to set up on one stage and that they would be performing first. The next to arrive was told to set up on the other stage at the opposite end of the ballroom. They would perform last. This meant that if you arrived last you had the appearance of being top of the bill. You can be sure that we always tried to arrive last and if we got to the venue and did not see another van unloading, we drove round a bit to delay even more. The embarrassing thing that was we often saw other Transit vans (looking potentially like the other band) also driving aimlessly around the streets of Whitley Bay.”
Brethren, an early incarnation of Lindisfarne (before Alan Hull) were regular performers at the Rex in 1969. Around this time Alan Hull had left his full-time job in nursing to concentrate on performing at a folk club which he organised at the Rex. Artists that are said to have performed at the folk club early in their careers are – Gerry Rafferty, Billy Connolly and Ralph McTell. After Brethren teamed up with Alan Hull they performed for the first time as LIndisfarne at the Rex in December 1969. They returned to perform at the folk club a year later with their first album ‘Nicely Out Of Tune’ under their belt.
More photos of Sneeze and Mr Poobah’s Chicago Line at the Rex: -
Mike Jeffery went on to manage many rock performers. Most notable are the Animals and Jimi Hendrix. He also owned night clubs in Majorca and met an untimely death in 1973 when a plane bringing him back from a trip to Majorca collided with another plane over Nantes in western France. The accident occurred not long after Jimi Hendrix died in London. Jeffery was on his way back to a Court hearing in London concerning Hendrix when he died along with 60 other passengers when the DC-9 crashed,
The climax of the Nice’s set was their electrifying instrumental version of 
