Sheffield's nightclubs - do you remember...?

[milmar 10]

I visited the Cavendish Club (Baileys) quite a lot in the late 60 and 70s. when I was in the CID at West Bar, got to know the management quite well, always used to give me and my mate a drink. (cup of tea) saw Dave Allen who was a big favourite. Des O'Connor and other similar artist. when on nights it was part of our duties to visit most of the night spots in the City Centre, always had a laugh when people were waiting to get into the Cavendish shouting hey big heads join the queue when all we did was show the bouncers our warrant cards. great place of entertainment and also sometimes trouble lol

[earthdragon 10]

Where was Tiffany's ?

Lost count of the number of times I went to the Fiesta.

Always seemed to get free tickets - but always for

days early in the week so getting up for work was rough.

From memory - best acts I saw at Fiesta -

Four Tops

Tommy Cooper

Roy Orbison

Gene Pitney

Edwin Starr

Sam & Dave

Stevie Wonder - brilliant !

 

Can anyone remember what the resident band were

called ?

 

Talking of Tony Christie - back in the 70's I was on a bus in

a remote area of Yugoslavia and Tony came on the bus radio

on a local station singing "Amarillo" and the whole bus started

singing along to it - unreal !!

 

Ah, Tiffany's (which was at the bottom of London Road), I remember it well. We used to chop and change between our choice of nightclubs in the 1970s and that was one of them. Full of married men on the look-out for single girls. The music was pretty good though and the dance floor wasn't too small a size. The only drawback was that there was an ornamental fountain of all things, that got in the way. After strutting our stuff, me and my mates would go up London Road to buy onion bhajis, the size of tennis balls, from a nearby Indian restaurant that also did take-aways (can't remember the name of the restaurant - it's probably not there now).

 

I was living in a bedsit on Oakbourne Road at the time, and when I wasn't in the mood for bhajis, on my way home I would stop off at the fish and chip shop on Ecclesall Road and buy deep-fried king prawn and chips. Sadly the fish and chip shop is no longer there and I have never found anywhere else that sells those divine deep fried prawns.

 

---------- Post added 13-02-2015 at 13:41 ----------

 

Heartbeat used to have a 14-18 years old Disco on a Sunday Afternoon. Probably around 1968 or 1970.

 

I was about in the 70s

 

When Josephines first opened there was a Guy in the Toilets who sold after shave and he could cut your hair.......why? I never really knew.

 

Crazy Daisy was formerly a BierKeller (Lowenbrau Haus) and there was another (Hofbrau Haus) on Eyre Street (behind the Moor)

 

I remember being stopped going into the Top Rank because I was under 18. It was my 18th Birthday and we had been going for years. When I told them I was informed that the minimum age was 21.

 

The Buccaneer on Leopold St was one of the places to be seen. Not a night club but opened late........plastic glasses awful.

 

Baileys used to have a regular "turn" Dickie and Dottie who were strippers but comedy strippers, or so Im told I never really saw them. Also Ronnie Duke and Ricky Lee were regulars, never saw them either. I can remember the adverts.

 

Saw some big names at the Fiesta though. For some reason we regularly got free tickets that included "Chicken in a Basket" meal. Freddie Starr and Bernard Manning were regulars.

 

Tiffanys used to have really violent Bouncers who used to smash people against the Lampost outside the front door. I think there was a bit of a battle one night and they were prosecuted.....I think

 

My goodness, this brings it all back. We went to the Buccaneer once, because my friend said the beer was cheap. I should think it was, because it was warm (yeucch) and served in a plastic glass which made it taste even worse, and it took forever to get served. Never again. I never came up against any violent bouncers at Tiffany's, although I've heard the rumours and I believe that someone got killed in a stabbing outside the club. Whether the bouncers were involved I don't know.

 

I remember the Lowenbrau (or Bier Keller) as that was where I drank my first stein of German beer. Lovely beer too, much nicer than ordinary lager. I didn't like the Bier Keller when it became the Crazy Daisy though, because it was a bit claustrophobic. We went to the Hoffenbrau both before and after it changed its name and became Baileys and then the Cavendish. Now that was a good club and was one of our more regular haunts because it was within easy walking distance to our favourite pubs, one of which was the Bluebell.

 

The Fiesta was one of the best clubs though, particularly because it had two dance floors. On one there was a live act, whilst the other was manned by a DJ. The Black Swan (or Mucky Duck as it became known) was our last port of call before we went there - and yes, I remember the chicken in a basket. It's amazing how hungry all that dancing and drinking makes you.

 

The Top Rank used to be a good club as well, with a massive dance floor. It was there I was introduced to the dubious delights of Newcastle Brown Ale. It's interesting that you had to be 21 to get through the door. The bouncers couldn't have been very alert when I used to go because I was only 19 at the time. Tuesdays at the Top Rank was Ladies' Night, when they could get in free. When I worked at Daniel Doncasters, they held their Christmas Do at the Top Rank. It's sad to see how shabby the place is looking now (if it's still there that is). The last I heard of it, I think it was being used as a bingo hall.

 

---------- Post added 13-02-2015 at 13:46 ----------

 

It was a private membership club when it first opened as Penny farthing ,I was a founder member.Joe Cocker used to come in after he'd done a gig and would sing Foggy foggy dewbest club ever.anyone remember Press Club, just off Division street?

 

---------- Post added 11-01-2015 at 19:41 ----------

 

 

My 3 daughters worked there,Abbie andLise,when Norma Collier was on there, they said he used to come in round lunchtime with his invisible dog and had everyone in stitches

 

Was Norman Collier the comedian who used to do the chicken jokes and deliberately miss words out when he was talking?

 

The name Penny Farthing is familiar, although I can't remember if I ever went there. Mind you, there was a fair selection of clubs to go to in the 1970s, so you were a bit spoilt for choice.

 

---------- Post added 13-02-2015 at 13:59 ----------

 

Thanks for the info. Do you have any idea exactly when it changed it's name from the Locarno to Tiffanys. My era was the 70's and I always thought it was called Tiffanys then. Don't particularly remember it as the Locarno, but I could be wrong. Long time ago, and many dead brain cells now!!

 

It was the Locarno in the early 1960s, when I was still too young to go clubbing. I think Peter Stringfellow was DJ at the time. It became Tiffany's in the late 1960s and remained so up until the 1980s.

 

---------- Post added 13-02-2015 at 14:09 ----------

 

I joined the cavendish in 1967, after the Locarno closed for refurbishment ,to re-open as Tiffany's,It had a casino and the Latino Lounge which hosted up and coming acts, then there was the go-go room ( a small disco) happy days. I saw the Love Affair,LesDawson,Marmalade, and does anyone remember Tiny Tim?

 

Yes, I remember Tiny Tim, holding a flower in his hand and singing in an extremely high falsetto voice about tulips. I never (thankfully) saw him live but remember him being on Top of the Pops. He was so odd, he made Boy George look positively humdrum.

 

---------- Post added 13-02-2015 at 14:40 ----------

 

Is he still alive?

 

I'm sure he was on "Come Dine With Me" either in 2013 or 2014, when it was held in Sheffield.

 

---------- Post added 13-02-2015 at 14:49 ----------

 

while we're on memory lane,doe's any-one remember "the classic" cinema in fitzallen squre,proper little flea pit ?, watched my first all night movie there as a callow youth

 

Yes, I do remember The Classic. I suppose you could call it a "flea pit" and the screen wasn't very big either, but I was rather fond of it and thought it was cosy, rather than claustrophobic. I was really sorry that it was destroyed by a fire.

Edited February 13, 2015 by earthdragon

[dodger23 10]

Hi Everyone,

 

I wrote a new blog piece about the Blitz club, which ran upstairs at the George IV pub on Infirmary Road from November 1979 to May 1980 -

 

http://www.mylifeinthemoshofghosts.com/2015/11/28/im-so-hollow-blitz-club-at-the-george-iv-tuesday-27th-november-1979/

 

Enjoy.

 

Dodger

[Grappler 12]

Hi Everyone,

 

I wrote a new blog piece about the Blitz club, which ran upstairs at the George IV pub on Infirmary Road from November 1979 to May 1980 -

 

http://www.mylifeinthemoshofghosts.com/2015/11/28/im-so-hollow-blitz-club-at-the-george-iv-tuesday-27th-november-1979/

 

Enjoy.

 

Dodger

 

I went to Blitz a few times and also saw I'm So Hollow at The Penthouse (which from memory was renamed "The Basement Club" on Monday nights by Marcus). Good write up, as always.

[TORONTONY 10]

I went to Blitz a few times and also saw I'm So Hollow at The Penthouse (which from memory was renamed "The Basement Club" on Monday nights by Marcus). Good write up, as always.

 

From Penthouse to Basement, quite a drop lol. Were Burton's compromised in the drop in floors or were they the piggy in the middle, at ground level?

[cookingfat50 10]

the biggest name I remember was bob monkhouse he was the bluest comedian I've ever seen I saw others but can't recall their names, I also remember dusty all glambed up with thick make up and glittery dress she was fantastic

[dodger23 10]

Hello Everyone,

 

I wrote a new blog about seeing bands at The Broadfield, Nowsoc in Bar 2 at the University and the Blitz club at the George IV.

 

http://www.mylifeinthemoshofghosts.com/2016/01/23/salon-graph-nowsoc-22nd-october-1979-the-broadfield-30th-november-1979-blitz-club-11th-december-1979/

 

Enjoy.

 

Dodger

[Asaw 10]

Went to landlady's birthday party at Durham Ox. Melvin was there in a cape with a jif lemon in his pants, squirting everybody. The landlady's cake had a female sexual organ on it made out of icing. I was scarred for life.

He also appeared at Samantha's dressed as a bunny girl with Kathy wa dressed the same only she pulled down her top and dropped straight into a guys lap. They were not very happy it was a private 18th birthday party. The guy did not know which one of the friends to help her to her feet with first.

[crookedspire 10]

I seem to recall their was a nightclub or pub on Charles Street briefly a gay venue . The name Charles Street Club I seem to think it may have called been closed for years?

Edited April 19, 2016 by crookedspire

[LLAN 10]

Any one remember a place called the Silver Slipper, I think it was on Sunderland Street, just of Cemetery Road, I replaced a thermocouple on a boiler,must have been about 50 years ago so don't remember much about the place, it was in the middle of a terrace of house's I can remember that much.

[lindad993 10]

What about "The Buccaneer" it was a great pub under the Grand Hotel, I met a great guy there but let him slip through my fingers because I was stupid, then someone else snapped him up.

[178 Patricia 10]

I had my Hen Night at the Locarno at the bottom of the moor, and my Wedding Reception at the Top Rank Suite on Arundle Gate.

 

178 Patricia