The Sixties Club Scene

An Affectionate Look At the Best London Clubs of The Sixties!
As a departure from the various singles I have been writing about, I asked Mark Simons, formerly of The Quiet, to tell me about some of the best clubs he remembers from the Swinging Sixties.

JUPITER'S CRATER
Old Sluice Street, Camden Town
"I remember the Crater. Mad place. The first big night, called 'Melting Flower', everyone in London was there. Literally everyone. On the bill were Church Gathering, Tiny Universe, Furious Melon and His Majesty's Royal Artillery. I asked the manager if our band could play but he was quite rude. I sneaked in through a window. It was amazing. Some guy from the Royal College of Art was mixing oil with various paints in front of a gas lamp to create this amazing light show.

"It was about quarter to twelve when the explosion happened. Gas light was maybe not the best medium for a light show. I remember everyone running for the exits, kaftans smouldering. They closed it down after one night and it became a refuge for the homeless. I've slept there a few times".


THE TRADESMAN'S
Berwick Street, Soho
"The Trademan's was above a tailor's shop owned by Sidney Tuft who made suits for all the bands on the Beat scene in the early sixties: The Jumpnuts, The Beatjacks, The Silent Sound...
It was the busiest club in London - when Cheeky Charles wasn't on the door.

It was a big hangout for the managers. Any musician looking for management had to go up The Tradesman's. The inside was done out like a circus, with a stuffed leopard in a cage and the waitresses dressed like clowns. I woke up in the doorway once, covered in all sorts of mess".

THE MURKY TAVERN
Stump Passage, Waterloo
"This was the place to be if you were a Mod. I think I first realised I had a problem with drugs when I woke up naked and painted purple in The Murky Tavern".

EL MOSCO ROJO
Carcass Mews, W1
"This was a Spanish bar. The owner managed Pink Flamenco, a gay Spanish pop group.
The Rock aristocracy hung out at El Mosco Rojo. I don't know, I never got in. I was spending most of my time shouting at cars by then, anyway. The owner had very eclectic taste in music: folk, psychedelic, modern jazz so you'd get Fingal's Cave on there a lot. They were bloody awful. Apparently".

THE STINKY MULE
Old Fellow's Lane, Brentford, Middlesex
"More drugs came out of there than the Beyer factory up the road. Leapers, bennies, purple hearts, yorkshire puddings, penny whistles, jumping beans...The bands? Who cares? I still itch thinking about the day it closed down and the drugs ran out. I think it was probably around that time that I became addicted to strong alcohol".