Looe has always been quite an insular little fishing village, it was so in the 60s and to an extent still is today. It has however, always been a popular tourist destination and as with similar towns in Cornwall, like St Ives and Newquay it’s population swells massively during the Summer months.
In the 60s Cornwall had an influx of beatniks, freewheelin’ into the county, busking their way from Plymouth to Penzance. The crowd would stop off at certain points on their journey, Looe, Newquay and St Ives being three of them. All (relatively) sleepy little seaside towns that drew those interested in the bohemian lifestyle.
The influx of creative types into the town brought much needed excitement for the youngsters in the town, who didn’t want part of the small fishing town mentality, where you sleep>fish>eat>pub>repeat ad infinitum. While never quite as artistic a community as St Ives the town often acted as a stop-off point for those, often rich drop-out’s, on their way through. By 1966 there were plenty of bodies crashed out around town, sleeping bags taking up parks and hillsides.
While the town never had a drug problem, there were still plenty of stimulants around to keep the hippies happy. Sadly in the early 1970s Looe and Penarth in South Wales were named in some official document as the two towns outside of the big cities with the biggest drug problem. Looe had its own drugs squad in the form of Sgt. Brian Richards (known as Brian even to the people he was nicking) who was held in some affection by the local hippy ne’er do wells. Brian passed away around December 2009.
With an abundance of teens in the town it was only a matter of time before a club opened. The town did have the Looe Public Hall, with bands such as Just Four Men (pre-Wimple Winch), (Fabulous Flyovers), Blenders (Callington) and Roadrunners (Liskeard). Early gigs also took place at the Nailzee Point Hotel, with gigs from the likes of The Roadrunners and Kenny Salmon & The Jesters. The hotel had its own jukebox and around December 1963 you couldn’t visit the venue without hearing “I Want To Hold Your Hold”, which was being played to death as Beatlemania began to sweep the country.
Nailzee Hotel, Looe
Located on to the main bridge in the town what would become the Blue Shark Club started life in 1933 as the Regent Cinema. After the war in the late 40s, the building was modified to also include community use spaces. This included the introduction of a staged area, allowing for plays to be put on in the venue. Around 1960 the cinema ceased showing films and with the remaining seating removed the venue became the Casino Club. The owners clearly had delusions of Looe as the next Cornish Riviera, offering “Roulette du la champagne” (as the Cornish Times spelt it), along with other gaming delights.
The Casino Club continued for a while, before being renamed The Blue Shark Club, offering live music for the local teens, rather than champagne and gambling to non-existent Looe playboys.
The club was owned by Tony Mitchell. Tony also owned the Cromwellian Club in South Kensington, London. The Cromwellian was an exclusive private members club, showbiz hangout and right at the centre of swinging London. Tony himself was rumoured to have underworld connections, which was of course not uncommon at the time! The club was run by the father of Nirmal Pheasant who's band Onset regular played at the venue, keeping their equipment stored under the stage.
From the outset the club was able to bring in big names, due to Tony’s London connections. It was often part of a band’s deal that if they were given a residency at the Cromwellian they would also repeat that residency at the Blue Shark Club. This of course brought some big names down to a town many bands would simply never have visited otherwise. Indeed the clubs opening night featured Eden Kane & The Downbeats, an artist who already had several top ten singles under his belt, including a number one hit.
The London connection would also bring in big names such as The Zombies, The Birds (featuring Ronnie Wood), Heinz & The Wild Boys and the Mike Cotton Sound. All big club names in the swinging capitol.
Gigs would take place on a Saturday night, billed as “Dancing to top groups every night”. The venue later tried unsuccessfully putting on mid-week bands, shortly afterwards reverting back to Saturday night gigs.
As well as the big star names the venue was a thriving venue for the many local bands that were popping up all over the place. Looe was well placed to bring in bands from all over the South West, and also had excellent connections with the local promoters. BCD Entertainments of Bodmin would supply the Cornish bands, bands from Exeter would come through Starline Entertainments, LMD would supply bands from Torquay and a Fred Rees would bring down many of the Plymouth bands.
Tony Cousins remembers the other forms of entertainment that took place at the venue;
I really can't remember the band I was in when we played the Blue Shark but I do remember there was A STRIPPER for "cabaret". Very poor attendance but the bit I always remember was that there were 4 or 5 very young lads down the front all huddled together watching the stripper and she stripped right down to just a big pom-pom which she held in front of her thighs. Her last act was to whip it away for a couple of seconds and she leant over to the lads at the front and said "Did you see it, boys?"
The venue continued to thrive throughout the sixties, but as with many venues as the 70s come along it began to wind down. Many blame the introduction of the ‘disco’ as killing off live music and many sites wouldn’t last until the resurgence of live music brought about by punk in the late 70s. The club closed in the early 70s, with Mr Pheasant going on to run the Old Barn Club in Penzance.
The building still remains and is now part indoor market and amusement arcade. An additional floor has been added as well as a walkway bridge to allow access to the upper areas. The old rooms have now been knocked through to create one large space, but there is still a step around ¾ of the way towards the back of the arcade, which is all that remains of the stage.
Thanks to the incredible memory of regular patron Andy Brice below is a list of some of the bands who played the venue. Andy played with The Onset and often played the venue himself with his band.
Acoustics (Cornwall)
Phydeaux Lyme (South Brent)
Adolphus Rebirth (Torquay)
Spartans (Exeter)
Graded Grains (Exeter)
Drifters (Plymouth)
Inner Circle (Plymouth)
Sum Kynde (Plymouth?)
Hoe-nutts (Plymouth)
Hoboes (Plymouth?)
Backboards (Plymouth?)
Fire Brigade (Plymouth)
Chaos (Devon?)
Couriers (Devon?)
Patchwork Quilt (Devon?)
Clockwork Orange (Plymouth)
Danny's Passion (Cornwall)
Other Five (Cornwall)
New Circuit (Cornwall)
Cousin Jacks (Cornwall)
Confusion (Devon?)
Fire (Devon?)
Anglo-Stax (Devon)
Indiana Highway (Torquay)
Royals (Devon)
Time, Soul and Motion (Devon?)
Empty Vessels (Torquay)
Hunters (Torquay)
Mood (Holdsworthy?)
In-Sect (Exeter?)
A Collexion (Exeter)
Best Remains (Exeter)
Great Expectations (Devon?)
Modesty Blues (Cornwall
Sam's Brother's Band (Cornwall)
Howard Stephen Shape (Torquay)
Las-Tik Band (Torquay)
Hip Hooray Good Time Band (Devon)
Peter and the Wolves (Torquay)
Made in England (Torquay?)
Package Deal (Torquay)
Sixth Sense (Torquay)
Phaze (Torquay)
Chimera (Plymouth)
Sandy Wilson's Big Dole Band (Torquay)
Buccaneers (Totnes)
Lucas with the Mike Cotton Sound (London)
The Birds (London)
Zoo (Plymouth?)
Actuals (Plymouth?)
Objects (London?)
Prophets (London?)
Mob (London?)
Zombies (London)
Heinz and the Wild Boys (London)
Eden Kane and the Downbeats (London)
Blood and Sand (Cornwall)
Midnight Confession (Devon)
Travellers Express (Devon?)
Croaky Jones (Exeter)
Bystanders (London)
Site of the Blue Shark Club in 2009 |
