Nights out in Brighton on the Late 70s - Early 80s

[Seagull58]

i beg to differ on this one. before buzbys became buzby's it used to be called the metro. it was still the best nightclub i can ever remember going in. it became buzbys in early 1981 - over 20s, and i had the claim to fame that i was one of only 4 kids from my school who got in on the opening saturday, even though i was only 16! it became oceania after it was buzby's sometime in the 90s, i think.

coasters used to be jenkinsons (i can't put a year on when it changed) - a massive bar-nightclub that regularly had good bands (in both venues). i was big into reggae at the time, and both jenkinsons and top rank used to get some great names including black slate, black uhuru, steel pulse etc etc. i also saw boy george in there sometime.....

Before Metro it was called Tramps for a year or two.

 

[Seagull58]

Was buzby's previously The Revolution? this was a dingy, dark disco, the entrance was on the seafront side of Kingswest and you went downstairs. Played lots of disco & funk. Plastic glasses, flashing lighs, smell of plastic. All very tacky but it was the venue for a Friday night.

I'm sure it was The Revolutions, then Tramps, then Metro, then Busbys. Might be wrong of course.

 

[Seagull58]

I used to go in the Revolution and you are 100% correct, again I am going back to the early / mid 70s.

Anyone remember a coloured guy who used to dance in the Revolution,on the podiums, ofton wore a white suit, his name was Mark Abraham, he was a big mate of mine in that era, ofton wondered whatever became of him.

I remember the guy with the white suit in the revolution. He was wearing that suit when Saturday Night Fever came out. He fancied himself as John Travolta.

 

[Seagull58]

Theres one club that seems to be off everyones nightclub radar, that was popular with many of the Brighton team in the early 80's, invaribly led by Steve Foster.

'Scottys' started I think in the Kingsway Hove, what is now or was called Bombay Bar, but either transfered or was added with Scottys in one of the arches on the seafront.

The guy who owned it was ermmm called Scotty and was mates with many of the players of the time.

That was in the Kingsway Court. Saw the Albion in there many times led by Fossie and sometimes with Jimmy Melia and his ex-model wife/gf. That was before he got fired obviously.

 

[Seagull58]

Haven't been on here in a while - mate of mine put me onto the thread and couldn't resist.....
The Inn Place - where the big hotel thing is now on the sea front near the Queens Hotel. Used to have a live band upstairs and the drummer used to sit in the window.

Papillon, The Abinger, Revolution under the Kingswest and the Top Rank Suite (Saw aTriple bill of Slade, Suzi Quatro and Thin Lizzy in there for about £1.25 entrance fee - just after decimalisation I think it was). Also saw Heatwave in there as I recall...

I still go occasionally to the Pump House, lads I used to play football and work with still meet up there every few months to talk tosh and relive the old memories. I'm sure the Druids Head and The Pump House are about the only ones left that still have the same name as they did back then! That's why we go there, everyone still knows what it's called!

Remember Jubilee Day? 1977. My mate kept getting stopped for photos as he had a Union Jack painted on his face. We started off at the Pump House (Tuborg Red Label!) as the Pav Tav didn't open until 11, lightweights! ("We All Love Price Phillip, He's The Man...........")

The Queen Anne at the bottom of West Street and Sherrys (The Showplace of the South!). What time did we get kicked out of there? About 1 am?? Used to have a rubberburger and chips thrown in for the entrance fee if you wanted to have a bar after about 12 I think I recall.

Bus down to town and then start in the Lamb and Flag for a quick one before heading down to Deryck Carver, Heneckeys, Druids, Sussex and occasionally the Pickwick.
Blimey, If I had as much to drink in a week now what I'd go through in a night out I'd be off work for, well, the rest of me life, probably!

f*** me sideways! I was at the Slade, Susi Quattro, Thin Lizzy triple bill! It was the first gig I ever went to. Thin Lizzy had just released Whisky in the Jar and nobody had ever heard of Susi Quattro. 1972 it was.

 

[Taybha]

i wonder how many on this very thread have stood toe to toe and windmilled at each other across the dance floor together all those years ago , prob most going by what sherrys used to be like

 

[somerset]

Someone mentioned The Vault, top of North Road, that was a seriously skanky place, I got a good shoeing from a load of Hastings Mods because I slagged off the Jam-a-like band they were over supporting, hairy times.....

 

[somerset]

i wonder how many on this very thread have stood toe to toe and windmilled at each other across the dance floor together all those years ago , prob most going by what sherrys used to be like

Sherry's always went off, but they always calmed it down by firing up the laser on the mirror ball show, it was all so high tech to us then we just stood their gawping.

 

[Lady Gull]

This has been a real trip down memory lane for me!!!

I used to go down Shades a lot, Pink Coconut and the Top Rank - all the pubs in the Lanes were always good before a night out clubbing.

Also remember going to Midnight Blues under the Grand Hotel and used to go to the wine bar that was under Kingsway Court in Hove.

Rafter's was a nightclub on top of the Norfolk Hotel which is now the Mercure on Brighton seafront - but my brother was the dj in there so I had to behave if I went in there so didn't go in much x

 

[hitony]

I remember the guy with the white suit in the revolution. He was wearing that suit when Saturday Night Fever came out. He fancied himself as John Travolta.

Yeah he always danced on the podiums they had in the revolution, god i used to get up there with him and dance

f*** me sideways! I was at the Slade, Susi Quattro, Thin Lizzy triple bill! It was the first gig I ever went to. Thin Lizzy had just released Whisky in the Jar and nobody had ever heard of Susi Quattro. 1972 it was.

I to was at that gig, amazing!

 

[Lady Gull]

Yeah he always danced on the podiums they had in the revolution, god i used to get up there with him and dance

 

[hitony]

Yeah he always danced on the podiums they had in the revolution, god i used to get up there with him and dance

Ha Bloody Ha!!!

 

[daveinprague]

I still call whatever that place is called now 'Sherries' so im guessing thats my era there....
Saw the 2nd biggest fight in there ive ever seen, only beaten by a navy international in the Texas club in Lisbon, involving British, Canadian, and Dutch beating the crap of the Americans). Me and mate walked in, got a beer and started to walk along the balcony..halfway along, a beer glass hit the wall just in front of us, and we looked over the balcony and realised all of Sherries was fighting, it was everywhere....saw a bouncer sitting on the floor...eyes open, but obviously unconcious, and a bloke walked up, picked up a chair, smashed him in the face with it, and then went behind the bar and did all the optics...made a hasty out...no idea what it was about.
Used to there every week as you were pretty much guaranteed to go home with something haha...and that something was never something that needed medical treatment.
I heard that Jeremy Beadle used to work behind the bar there, and when I think about it, I do remember a withered hand...dont remember the face but remember somebody having some sort of problem with his hand.
Finnish girls..yep...
In the same place...Sherries, I bought a beer, and then headed for the stairs to go to the dance floor...walking down the stairs the heel of my shoe just fell off!!... I went over, and so did my beer, onto the DJ below.. a bit heavy handedly, dragged out by bouncers and thown into the street...
Hobbling up west st.. a Finnish girl asked me if I had change for the phone...got chatting...headed to the Iron Duke for afters, and next door to my flat... when home, taking her coat of, she revealed the most staggering pair of earthas id seen in my then young life. she pretty much lived with me till she went home..

2 years later, im with my mate, walking along Western Road heading for..yeah..sherries...we chat up a bunch of scandinavian girls, and one of them kept talking to me, and as I was already a bit pissed as we started in the Iron Duken didnt realise she was talking to me and using my name...happy days...another two weeks of those beautiful things...

Our reggae dances with KTL were on thursdays...we were poor and couldnt afford friday club rents, but we did hundreds of blues parties over the years in Brighton on fridays, saturdays, and sometimes both... especially those days when all the clubs closed at 2..!!!...imagine that....clubs closing at 2?? The best one here doesnt open till 3!! haha

They were great shagging days thru the 70s and early 80s...

King Jerry... I seem to remember before his dj years, he was the leader of the Brighton skins...

 

[Lady Gull]

Ha Bloody Ha!!!

 

[hitony]

You have seen me dance, you know its quality!!!

 

[Lady Gull]

You have seen me dance, you know its quality!!!

LOLOL mmmmmmm

 

[Super Steve Earle]

Fascinating thread. Frequented most of the above during 70's and early 80's. Bullion Balls because I worked at NatWest in North Street in the mid 70's where we got free tickets. Sully used to hang around the foreign till because he took a shine to one of the staff. Also the odd disco night at the Greyhound Stadium, a particular night at The Hungry Years which seemed to revolve around a rubber chicken, occasional late drinks at The Royal Albion bar where a mate was a cocktail barman. Don't recall the Table Tennis table at the Bath Arms despite still playing in the Brighton League, but played Bar Billiards there. And Pong at The Cliftonville.

 

[osgood]

Deep front to back, but I don't remember any wagon wheels! Long bar, dance floor and stage at the back. Space Invaders round the corner. This would have been 78/79. Happy days...

I can remember the wheels, and see_ing wrekless eric there, great gig, circa 78

 

[geoff2021]

king gerry was "king of the mods"

 

[osgood]

Anyone remember the name of the D.J. who played in the Suite for donkey's years late seventies/eighties , also played saturdays at Top Man western road! Bit of a boring fart if i remember rightly.

kenny lynn ?