The original disco?

quiksilver · 06-05-2003, 18:03

Does anyone out there remember 'The Disco'?
It was a club above a shoe shop near Broadway. It was all fluorescent lighting which was handy for dandruff and capped teeth and had a pass out stamp of three cicles on the back of the hand. Many happy nights spent in there, lets go down memory lane...............................

ASFC1951 · 07-05-2003, 12:49

Remember it well. When it opened in the Summer of '67 it was a welcome alternative to Accy Con - a huge ballroom which seemed to have a high proportion of rockers and ten-years-too-late teddyboys prowling the floor looking for trouble and where huge punchups seemed to erupt on a regular basis.

The Disco was a much cooler place than that - guys in mohair suits and good-looking girls all dancing to the fantastic music they played - Motown, Stax/Atlantic and loads of other great soul records.

Remember the DJ - a big guy called Mick? And how all the scooters used to be parked up in rows on the bank carpark opposite? Great days!

quiksilver · 07-05-2003, 13:52

THE SUITS!!
I remember ordering one of those mad numbers from Burtons, centre vent up to the shoulder blades, a dozen or so buttons on the cuffs and four front pockets with flaps on them and the whole outfit shone in the dark!!!.....'two tone tonic' I think we called it.

Wasn't Mick the DJ called Ward, a bus driver?

I was once kicked out of there for taking a bottle of fluorescent paint, used for painting fishing floats, in there and daubing it on girls and various other places, much to the annoyance of the management...

ASFC1951 · 07-05-2003, 14:53

Yeah, that's right, he was called Mick Ward and he did work on the buses. He certainly had a great collection of records.

Got my suit made at Ernie McKno's on Blackburn Road near the railway arch. Always wore it with the top button fastened. Looked great with a Ben Sherman and a pair of highly polished brown brogues.

I don't know if you remember, but they occasionally had live groups at the Disco. I recall one called the Pityful Souls (their spelling) - a group of black guys who did great versions of Temptations and Four Tops songs.

Remember the Blue Dahlia in Dutton Street? A real cool coffee bar run by a Greek guy called Chris with a brilliant jukebox. It's called the Blue Lagoon now and it's an amusement arcade.  Sacrilege!

quiksilver · 08-05-2003, 08:25

The Blue Dahlia...........great place to hang out, make a coke last two hours, excellent pinball machine, got my heart broken many times as a lad in there.

Spent too much of my teenage life  there when I should have been studying for O levels up at the library, Either the Blue Dahlia or the Elite snooker club, I can still smell those meat pies in that display cabinet!!. Saw Alex Higgins in there taking money off punters who fancied their chances against him.

I think our next port of call shold be The New Era........................over to you..........

ASFC1951 · 08-05-2003, 12:46

Sorry, I'll have to pass on that one, as by time the New Era opened (1969?) I was too old for youth clubs and had graduated to the Derby, the Blockade and the Jazz Club.

I remember the Elite (pronounced "ee-light&quot

well, though. It was the epitome of the shady, disreputable billiards hall and seemed to be the haunt of all the most notorious ne'er-do-wells in town. I loved it!

Caz · 21-05-2003, 02:12

Yes, I remember the disco, fell down the stairs more than once. Remember the Blue Dahlia, but what about the Old Bank Cafe on the corner of Peel Street where the jewellers is now? Loads of folk used to sit around in there.

On the nostalgia front, anyone remember the Warriors?

I lived round the corner from one of them, Tony, I think, on Croft Street, Church. All the girls used to hang about round there when they were on telly.

littlemo · 22-05-2003, 02:54

The EE-Lite is now gone, ka-put! my mum used to work there. Couple of famous snooker players were know to hanging out there as well, Alex Higgins and the guy from blackburn with the big glasses! left Accy in the '80's. Just wasn't what I remembered when I returned a couple of years ago! I seem to be a little younger than the rest of you poster, anyone on here from Lard-de-dars when it first opened?

ASFC1951 · 22-05-2003, 07:10

I'd forgotten all about the Old Bank! It was a great place for keeping an eye on what was going on on the "Deck". (I wonder if they still call it that?). Another favourite hang-out was the Grill Bar opposite the town hall. I've frittered away many a Saturday afternoon in there. And then there was the Olympus in Union Street which still seems to pretty much the same as it was in the sixties. I wonder if they still do frothy coffee? Probably call it cappuchino these days!

quiksilver · 26-05-2003, 06:29

Cazzer........
I remember the Warriors, didn't they had an old Bedford? van with a pair of cows horns on the roof, at the front, god knows why! Too young to actually see them live but remember that vehicle.

cooinda · 08-07-2003, 20:52

;D Its been interesting reading all your memories, but I can go back further, having just returned to live in Accrington after being away for 50 years, who out there remembers Jo Morts  dance hall and fish suppers at the Tower Fish and chip shop both by the railway bridge on blackburn Road, and what about Knowlmere Street dance hall, who remembers the Odeon cinema which is now the Arndale Centre,  how about the The Kings Picture House known as the "bug hut" with the Snooker Hall underneath, and of course the Palace Cinema on the corner of Abbey Steet near the post office, which is now a clothing store, we also had the Empire and the Princes cinema's both in Edgar street, of course this was in the 50's, when we had a fairground called the Tenement, a hippodrome for pantomimes every Christmas, but no TV. no Telephone and few cars, we walked to school, I am sure we were much happier than the bored youngsters of today.

ASFC1951 · 09-07-2003, 07:49

Well, as I was only a kid in the 50's I don't remember Morts. Remember the cinemas, though. I was always fascinated by the lurid posters displayed outside to advertise forthcoming attractions. Better value for money in those days too as you got two films - and I often enjoyed the "B" movie better than the main feature! I always loved those sunken gardens on Broadway too - a little oasis of calm in the middle of town.

So what do you think of the old place now you're back? Sad to see the old blue-and-red corporation boxes gone and the once-thriving railway station reduced to a practically bare platform isn't it? Still, if you're interested in football, you've returned at just the right time with Stanley playing back at national level for the first time since '62!

ASFC1951 · 09-07-2003, 07:54

Boxes? I meant buses, of course! Must start checking my posts before I send them!

Caz · 04-08-2003, 12:55

[quote author=ASFC1951 link=board=general;num=1052244203;start=0#8 date=05/22/03 at 08:10:27]I'd forgotten all about the Old Bank! It was a great place for keeping an eye on what was going on on the "Deck". (I wonder if they still call it that?). Another favourite hang-out was the Grill Bar opposite the town hall. I've frittered away many a Saturday afternoon in there. And then there was the Olympus in Union Street which still seems to pretty much the same as it was in the sixties. I wonder if they still do frothy coffee? Probably call it cappuchino these days![/quote]
Which bit did you call the the deck? Can't remember that saying.

ASFC1951 · 05-08-2003, 13:44

It was all the deck, but it was divided into two "tribes". The mods used to hang around at the bus station/street map end and the hairies used to hang around at the town hall end.