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railton road... the frontline etc

Jonti said:
St Paul's in Bristol (the first of that tranche of riots) was almost a disorderly street party.
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The Bristol Radical History Group is doing excellent research on this, the subsequent Southmead riot, and other local uprisings, which I think will at last provide some excellent analysis (based on primary evidence and eyewitness accounts rather than clippings file titbits and police reports) on important events which until now have not had the sort of analysis that they deserve.
 
Stoat Boy said:
:)

I am pleased it was as sleazy as I remember and I was slightly worried that perhaps my memory of exagerating it but its all flooding back now.

Many a good night spent in there and not a single memory of any hassle or trouble either inside or out.

I hate to think how long such an establishment would last these days.
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I think there's always somewhere ... but anyway, we never did sleaze! :mad:

Squalor was our thing :D
 
Some great times at 121, and a helpful bunch for squatting.
I lived at the 99 cafe/gallery space for a while in 1988, and there were some great parties/gig there too after we had dug the floor in the basement so people could stand up, and some pretty amazing murals painted by an american IIRC, lots of nuttiness, 7 kevins, Toital Disaster and a lot more.
 
Jonti said:
Quite a few "Garage Bands" played in the Frontline Theatre (also known as "The Arch"), usually on a Thursday night, as I recall.


The Frontline Theatre was open and providing unlicensed refreshments to the folks on the streets all through the '81 riots. We kept going for years afterwards as well, until the two main guys had a serious falling out ("blood on the walls, teeth on the floor" style falling out) and the arch was recovered by its legal owners
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Before we all got to nostalgic for the old days I remember this and it wasnt funny at all.

The Frontline Theatre was supposed to become an arts centre and had some Council support and support from local businesses. It ended up as usual as a profitable drinking establishment.

The falling out was that between the one who wanted to make it arts centre and the other one who wanted ,as per usual, to make it a profitable (for him) drinking establishment.

Or maybe i have got the timescale wrong and it was the second big parting of the ways. Think its that one you are talking about. In which case they were as bad as each other then

Not every squatter or exponent of "Alternative living" was somehow good.
 
wemakeyousoundb said:
Some great times at 121, and a helpful bunch for squatting.
I lived at the 99 cafe/gallery space for a while in 1988, and there were some great parties/gig there too after we had dug the floor in the basement so people could stand up, and some pretty amazing murals painted by an american IIRC, lots of nuttiness, 7 kevins, Toital Disaster and a lot more.
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Ah, the cafe@99!

I remember that well although I wasn't involved at all, either in gaining possession, or in running the venue. Had some good times there, though.
 
Jonti said:
You are talking here about the Frontline Theatre, as featured in some of Sam the Wheel's videos (recently shown at the 198 Gallery).

Back in the day, I was barman, bookkeeper and doorman for that establishment. We probably met!
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I bumped into a fella in anjuna yesterday who said he used to own the frontline theatre. Said the press used the upstairs of his club as a telephone office during the riots! Anyone know him? I forgot his name though - oops!
 
Oh and he also told me a mate of his is getting brady's back up and running as a live/arts venue, with a grant from the prince's trust.
goa's full of chancers and bullshitters though.
 
Orang Utan said:
Oh and he also told me a mate of his is getting brady's back up and running as a live/arts venue, with a grant from the prince's trust.
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Well, that's what's happening. Whether or not he actually knew the guy, I dunno
 
he did know a lot about the old drinking establishments and squats. twas like listening to an old seadog spinning yarns
 
I was in a (rubbish) band in 1981 and we used to practice in a friend's flat in Chaucer Road. Before the riots you could buy grass easily on Railton Road and it never felt that threatening to go down there, although my friend did once have the stuff he'd just bought nicked from him a couple of yards further up the road.

Just after the riots we had a copper come and tell us to keep the noise down because there'd been complaints, someone downstairs had let him in and he came right up to the room we were playing in. He smiled, was overly polite and comletely ignored the fact that the air was thick with smoke and there was a big pile of grass, torn rizlas etc on a table right in front of him.
 
boohoo said:
Didn't think I could find it....

But I cracked it:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Uprising-Police-People-Britains-Cities/dp/0330268457

I wouldn't mind reading it again. :)
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i managed to get a copy of that book about 6 months ago off Amazon - it's a great read. It was a couple of quid iirc. The ironic thing was I was just finishing it on the plane on the way back from holiday in croatia when i heard about the recent London riots. Got back to Brixton and saw the high street smouldering. So much of the background in that book was so similar to what's happening today that it was pretty depressing
 
Spion said:
I used to know someone who helped torch the Dogstar in a mini riot in the early 90s. He said it was down to resentment that it'd been transformed from an old black geezer's pub into a fashionable white kids' hangout
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BS it was over kickbacks.
 
I remember the bookies on Railton Road (the demolished bit by Mayall Rd) being very important to the area - almost all the frontline draw came in betting slips. And a big nostalgic nod to Mr. Johnson and his all night shop.

Something about the '85 riots seem to push the good-natured older guys off the Front Line and bring in a more aggressive/scamming new breed. About that time, the only 'indoor' dealing place down there (that this 15yr old white boy knew about) shut up too - was a guy called George who had a popular room behing one of the shops next to what was Dexter Sq. Lots of old folk, clouds of smoke and a telly up on the wall - kind of ganja old peoples centre. Nice weed and hash and you could haggle - the etiquette was say "touch it" no more than twice.
 
Mrs Magpie said:
The pub opposite The Coach & Horses (now Living) that was rebuilt as an opticians was also burnt out and was somewhere that wasn't welcoming unless you were white.
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I regulary went to the Coach and Horses to buy weed in the early 80's and it's clientèle were mainly black.
 
Spion said:
I used to know someone who helped torch the Dogstar in a mini riot in the early 90s. He said it was down to resentment that it'd been transformed from an old black geezer's pub into a fashionable white kids' hangout
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It wasn't the Dogstar then. It was called the Atlantic. IIRC the conversion to the Dogstar happened after it was burnt out in the riot in around 95.
 
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