It's Nearly Time at the Bar Again

The next meeting of the Hope History Club will be taking place on Zoom on Wednesday 29th September, 2-4pm.

Whilst we talked a lot previously about where the old pubs and clubs used to be in the townscape and their architectural merits or lack of them in some cases, the second session will be very much set inside our lost watering holes.

We'll be looking at the food and drinks served, the entertainment, the local characters and probably the fights that went on too. When we talked about Tiffany's in the first session, Rolly reminisced about his time working behind the bar there when he was eighteen and remembered a pint glass flying past his head on New Year's Eve. Jackie meanwhile recalled that everyone drank Babycham and a game that would be a health and safety no-no these days of trying to throw the empty bottles in a crate. There were "The Caves" upstairs where couples would go for a cuddle and lots of famous names appeared there, including Emile Ford, who had a number one hit in 1959 with "What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?" and Susan Maughan of "Bobby's Girl" fame.

Jenny remembered seeing Gene Vincent there in its previous life as the Gaiety and a chair collapsing under her after she was lifted onto it to get a better view, whilst Chris went to the venue when it was a dance hall.

There are so many memories out there and we'd like to capture as many as we can, so if you'd like to join us next week, please send us a message via our contact us page, or you can message us through the Hope Street Trust Facebook page.

You can also check out our Hope History Club page on our website, where we've published some of the research we've done so far.