The Nite Owl/ The Burlesque/ The Chameleon / Oodly Boodly/ Chicane memories

[JustDan]

I am a local historian researching the clubs/ coffee bars in Leicester in the 1960s.

Would love to speak to anyone who frequented these places. There is very little recorded information of them and without the memory their histories may fade away!

If anyone has any photos as well I would love to see them.

Many thanks,

Dan

University of Leicester

[Barry Pole]

Dan I am sure you will get lots of replies. What I will add is in 60s, the County Arms had a disco this was a  place to be very popular. We also  drove to Nottingham I know your asking for Leicester but its interesting that Leicester boys were very aware of outer areas , the disco at Notts seemed huge around 4 floors, Lacarno springs to mind. Leicester had Adam & Eve, Grannys on London  Rd. The pubs were numerous, big thing in 60s to hit leicester Bernie Inns, Wimpys, no Maccers in 60s in Leicester.

[JustDan]

Hi Barry,

Thanks for your reply. Yes the county arms has been mentioned (where duffys is now I think). Leicester had quite a nightlife back then.

I also heard that the Leicester 'mods' ventured to London occasionally to the flamingo and the the scene. I also want to find out if Leicesters mod scene was particularly big? I've heard some say yes it spawned the all nighters and others say mods and rockers passed the city by so it may only have been noticed if  you were part of it.

Yeah it will be interesting to compare Leicester with Notts as Notts still has a big music scene whereas Leicester has dwindled over the years.

[Barry Pole]

Very interesting Dan, yep Leicester was very big in the Mod department. I was one , scooter and all the trimmings, silver arcade for all the trendy clothes.


Skegness was the local for Leicester Mods. Its very amusing for me to see a come back in Scooters in NZ. They just don't look right without , fur seats, chrome racks, spotlights, union jack on side panels. What a comical sight we must have looked to the older generation in those days, twenty something years after the war.

[lynneconnolly]

There was one that began with I, I think, on the site of the old Beehive, where you went if you didn't have any money for the others. It was a bit hippie.

[Barry Pole]

OLD BEEHIVE ?

[lynneconnolly]

The Beehive was a department store at the top of Silver Street, I think, just before it curves around to meet High Street. It was knocked down and a building put in its place, and the disco was there. I used to go there after the pub closed on Saturday nights, if I couldn't afford to go anywhere else. Close to Broughton's and the Irish, and Silver Arcade.

[lynneconnolly]

I think it was called Trevinos

[Barry Pole]

ok, never heard of this place, what year approx. I do remember the Irish though, Ben Sherman shirts, saw some in a shop the other day, obviously they still make , around 125 pounds each in Wellington.


Yates wine lodge was always good, for a few drinks before going on.

[lynneconnolly]

Early 70s. I left Leicester in 1976, and never went back, except to visit relatives, so it must have been before that.

[CWLeicester]

My great uncle owned the Nite Owl and a few cafes in the area, Forest Road, The White Cat Coffee Club. My Grandma, known to all as Irish Norah, ran the White Cat for him and lived there with my Mum, Aunts & Uncle.

My Aunts worked the bar at the Nite Owl, which served only soft drinks - the bar was so busy they strapped a ruler to the soda pumps with elastic bands so they could pour three drinks at once.

[lynneconnolly]

Leicester was at one time the "end" of the M1, and with a far wind and light traffic, you could easily make it to London in an hour. The communities were somewhat linked, and not just for fun reasons. This was the time when gangs were rife, the Krays and Richardsons in London, and Leicester was an easy place to expand their interests. The clubs and coffee bars weren't just places to pass the time.
I used to go to the imaginatively titled The Coffee Bar in Welford Road, just before the New Street turnoff. Upstairs the local folk clubs and blues clubs met.

[boblin]

A pal of mine Dave Makin [size=78%]in the late 60's/early 70's dad used to own The Nite Owl. Would be good to get in touch again.[/size]

[Ravs]

We used to go to the Chameleon on Saturday nights to drink Coffee and listen to a jazz guitarist and singer (Maurice Coleman, I think). Occasionally there would be a girl singer/waitress too. My girlfriend and I worked there for a few weeks in the late 60s