London's lost venues – in pictures

[mx wcfc]

Or maybe just overpriced/club-priced alcohol, which I can believe!

I remember being horrified when I had to pay 60p for a pint in the Marquee.

 

[blossie33]

I remember The Ship -- it was my work local in my first (1-year) postgrad job in 1985/86 (pub was very close to a British Library department nearby)

But the above from you implies that The Marquee didn't serve alcohol?? -- surely that can't be
Or maybe just overpriced/club-priced alcohol, which I can believe!

Well, they certainly didn't serve alcohol when we went - we couldn't believe it!
May have changed later on ... I'm going back quite a few years

 

[William of Walworth]

The Dome at the Boston Arms in Tufnell Park had a cracking dub reggae night, weekly for quite a while in the (mid/late?) Nineties.

It was there that I saw Zion Train live for the first time.
They became one of my favourite festival bands as years went on .
They're even still going now, but with an almost completely different line-up!

 

[blossie33]

Loved Zion Train

 

[Voley]

The Dub Club. That was The Dome I think?

Was The Boston Arms a different part of the same building as The Dome then?

 

[mx wcfc]

The Dub Club. That was The Dome I think?

Was The Boston Arms a different part of the same building as The Dome then?

Yes, it's all one building.

 

[Voley]

I snogged a girl who promptly threw up in there. I often have this effect on women tbf.

 

[blossie33]

The Dub Club. That was The Dome I think?

Was The Boston Arms a different part of the same building as The Dome then?

I remember when the Dub Club used to be held in a little basement bar in Finsbury Park, building opposite the Robey - that was late 90s.

 

[Lurdan]

Well, they certainly didn't serve alcohol when we went - we couldn't believe it!
May have changed later on ... I'm going back quite a few years

One of my clearest memories about the Marquee was having to get there early and queue in Wardour Street if whoever was playing was likely to be popular. Since I was going after work and generally on my own there was thus no opportunity to get a drink in beforehand without losing my place. There was a bar inside as I recall but it was club prices for plastic glasses, and I really didn't find the place all that congenial. Whatever it had been in the 60s as a jazz and blues club by the 70s it had all the slightly shopworn institutional ambience of a student bar. I got little sense that the management were in any way into the music they were putting on. Saw some good gigs there over the years - Gong again, the Eric Burdon Band and Jimmy Witherspoon, John Cale, X-Ray Spex - but the place itself added nothing at all positive to an average or so-so gig of which I also saw a few.

 

[DJWrongspeed]

Whatever it had been in the 60s as a jazz and blues club by the 70s it had all the slightly shopworn institutional ambience of a student bar. I got little sense that the management were in any way into the music they were putting on.

Perhaps this is typical of venues worldwide but certainly in London you're right. Mgt of venues have little regard to their 'status' or the scene they create. Perhaps it's just economics and the fact that in the end the remote landlord doesn't care anyway. There are exceptions like Kilburn's Lumiere but they didn't last which tells you something.

Of course long live The Windmill on Brixton Hill

 

[Ground Elder]

The Marquee was the first venue I went to when I was fourteen, trailing along with slightly older mates to see the awful prog rock bands they were into. Great thing was Marquee gigs finished early enough to get the last train back home. Wish I could say my first gig was not Marillion

 

[klang]

I remember when the Dub Club used to be held in a little basement bar in Finsbury Park, building opposite the Robey - that was late 90s.

venue is still there. used to be ground floor and basement but the owner sold the ground floor at some point and made the basement look like a hotel bar.

 

[editor]

Some more here

London's Lost Music Venues: A Wistful Photographic Tour

The city's gone-but-not-forgotten gig venues.

londonist.com

 

[oryx]

Remember The Wag Club and The Limelight, and what was The Nashville as its subsequent incarnation as The Three Kings.

I used to go to the Three Kings in West Ken a lot when I first moved to London...without knowing anything about its heritage.

 

[MrSki]

I used to work at the Town & Country Club in Kentish Town & saw shed loads of bands but the majority were shite. Six gigs a week so what do you expect? I found Cameo & Trouble Funk surprisingly good & altered my taste in music or maybe live music. Both put on a good show.
Did anyone else ever go to The Diorama in Great Portland Street? It was all a bit blurry but I can remember seeing The Frank Chickens amongst others.
Saw a good few bands at the Rainbow in the late 70s early 80s & also a lot of bands of the piss sloshing George Robey.
The Clarendon Hotel or The Idiot Ballroom as it was known on certain nights was also somewhere I went a good few times but I think that was more Anarcho punk bands.

Still the best gig/s were the Stranglers 3rd & 4th of April 1980 at the Rainbow. Hugh Cornwell was banged up down the road in Pentonville but there were some great guest artists along with support from UB40 The Members & one of the last ever Joy Division gigs in London. Ian Dury forgetting the words for Peaches. Jake Burns, Toya Hazel O'Conner to name but a few.
Stranglers temporary line-up:
Vocals:
Toyah Wilcox - 'Peaches', 'Duchess', 'Bear Cage' and 'Something Better Change'
Hazel O'Connor - 'Get A Grip', 'Hanging Around', 'Peaches' and 'Bear Cage'
Nicky Tesco (The Members) - 'Nice 'N' Sleazy'
Phil Daniels - 'Toiler' and 'Dead Loss Angeles'
Peter Hammill (Van Der Graaf Generator) - 'Tank' and 'The Raven'
Jake Burns (Stiff Little Fingers) - 'Down In The Sewer'
Ian Dury (Blockheads) - 'Peaches' and 'Bear Cage'
Richard Jobson (The Skids) - 'Bring On The Nubiles'
Guitar:
Wilko Johnson (Dr. Feelgood)
Robert Fripp (King Crimson)
Robert Smith (Cure & The Banshees)
Steve Hillage
Basil Gabbidon (Steel Pulse)
Larry Wallace
John Turnball (Blockheads)
Keyboards:
Matthieu Hartley (The Cure)
Sax:
Nick Turner (Hawkwind)
Davey Payne (Blockheads)
Rhythms:
Steel Pulse

I sacrificed buying a t-shirt to get a ticket for the 2nd night. £3.50 T-shirt was £3. I was 14 at the time but it was fucking great!

 

[MrSki]

Remember The Wag Club and The Limelight, and what was The Nashville as its subsequent incarnation as The Three Kings.

I used to go to the Three Kings in West Ken a lot when I first moved to London...without knowing anything about its heritage.

I went to the Wag club a few times. Above The Ladbrokes I used to pop into during the day when I worked in Wardour Street in the late 80s. Saw the Damned at the Limelight when they were just doing R&R covers. I was a bit pissed off at the time but don't really blame them for changing their set.

 

[MrSki]

My days at the T&C included David Bowie but it was his Tin Machine time & was crap.

Still if anyone is interested then here is a recording from The Rainbow Stranglers gig with various artists.

 

[MrSki]

Above The Ladbrokes I used to pop into during the day when I worked in Wardour Street in the late 80s.

I had an afternoon where I won a shed load of cash but being a bit of a dodgy area I kept stuffing my winnings in a pocket. It was only later when I went to the Bear & Staff & unloaded my pockets that I realised I had won about £400 which in the late 80s would probably be about 2K today. Had a few large brandies & fucked off back to Bethnal Green. It was mental to look in every pocket & find notes! It was a right dodgy bookies apart from the Chinese from China town who seemed to understand betting.

 

[William of Walworth]

Ruskin Arms, hello!
I went there once and once only, ever -- most likely late 1982 or possibly early 1983.

That was the night Iron Maiden were on at the Ruskin though -- definitely in their early, pre-'biggest rock band in the world'** days! .... the one and only time I've seen them live!

**or thereabouts

 

[nino_savatte]

The Bass Clef in Hoxton. Great little jazz club now sadly gone.

 

[Johnny Doe]

Early 90s rave days, there was a Saturday night triple header, where you paid £15 (I think?) to go to The Marquee, then The Astoria and then Busby's 'Breakfast Club' (Under The Astoria) on Sunday Morning.

Scenes.

 

[May Kasahara]

I love love loved the George Robey, used to go to Night of the Living Dub there all the time. Spandex I also had more than one acid-fuelled adventure at those nights

My dad saw Jimi Hendrix at the Marquee So incredibly jealous.

 

[oryx]

The Bass Clef in Hoxton. Great little jazz club now sadly gone.
View attachment 273612

Used to love The Bass Clef. Happy memories of the crowded and hot basement, also the more mellow jazz club upstairs which was called The Treble Clef IIRC.