The Sheffield Esquire was the first club to play R&B type sounds in the North of England. It started life as a Jazz club in the 40’s and is still going as some sort of dance club to this day. The heyday for the Mojo is considered to have been 1960-1966/7 and was long considered a rival to the Esquire.
Artists like Champion Jack Dupree, Screaming Jay Hawkins and the ‘Steam Packet were weekend regulars. I personally remember humping bloody great big speakers and amplifiers for THE WHO, THE SMALL FACES and THE STONES up the two flights of very steep stairs into the club (got in free that way). Just about every ‘Original Mod’ in Sheffield started out there but later vehemently denied it when the MOJO became Sheffield’s No.1 Soul a go-go (yes, we actually used that word) I still have my lifetime membership card and a sweat stained satin shirt given to me there one all Nighter by Levi Stubbs (actually we swapped shirts during the Tops third set, his was so drenched) I often wonder if he kept mine too 🙂
It was located in downtown Sheffield just around the corner from the main bus terminal for the whole city. Actually, the buses did not stop near the corner of the street the Esquire was on so it was considered extremely cool and somewhat necessary to jump off the moving bus as it slowed to take the corner. Friday and Saturday nights that corner was like DD day during the Normandy invasion with kids leaping in the dozens from passing buses.
Important note – Scooters were still too expensive to be commonplace so it was the buses or nothing. Unfortunately, the buses stopped running at 10:50. This bus was the fabled ‘last bus’ out of Sheffield city centre. A bus to be loathed, feared and only ridden by the city hard boys or the truly desperate. Talk about Gladiator training.
Which now brings me to a fact of Northern Soul that you might like to know, have probably always taken as a given but have never know why. It was this very fact of there being no public transportation after 11:00 PM that brought the ‘All-Nighter’ into being. Terry, the owner of the Esquire, shocked the local constabulary and licensing authority by hosting the North’s first ‘all night dance night’ on Saturday February 11th 1961. I was there and it was truly amazing to see the sun come up through the downstairs toilet windows onto to a dank grey Sheffield Sunday morning. About 30 kids staggered out of the Esquire at 7:00 AM and walked in a daze around to the only place open at that time – the Wimpy bar in the local bowling alley. We sat around talking, laughing and drinking tepid tea waiting for the buses to start running. Yes, we done it but we were truly knackered and not many of us thought all-nighters would last. After all, how could ‘anyone’ stay up all night long dancing! That particular problem was solved by a very helpful kid from Nottingham the very next All Nighter. Ah – but that’s another story.
Friday nights was disco night. The resident DJ had about -wait for this- 5 records in total. He relied on the kids bringing in their own discs and loaning them to him for the night. Actually, it worked out really well. It was the BIG thing to get in super early, bring in a new hot US soul/R&B disc and stick it on the turntable to an empty dance floor and just wait for the in-crowd to start arriving, walking up and asking ‘who the hell is this’ ‘Christ where ya get it’ ‘hey – can I borrow it for my party tomorrow night ‘ NO YOU FUCKING CAN’T.
I particularly attribute having at least four great sexual encounters with hot mod chicks (full length leathers and Mary Quant hairstyles still turn me on) in the downstairs cloakroom of the Esquire to the fact that my school pal worked part time at the local EMI warehouse and would always let me get a look at new arrivals on Thursdays before they went on sale Saturday mornings. Ah, the power of being the first to own ‘Saturday night at the Movies’ or ‘Chain Gang’
So the next time you want to ‘one up’ your dance floor pal – ask him so why is it Northern Soulies do it all night long? Now you know!
Where you there circa ’65 to ’67, when The Esquire closes? Things had changed a lot once I started DJing. Terry threw me behind the decks one night when one of the residents was ill. I recall more than a mere handfull of records. So where do you get that from?
Did you know Barrie Campbell relied on my eyes and skill setting up each track? Without his specs, the tall sod was like a bat! Trust me, it’s true. He’ll admit it. Anyhow, we formed this idea for a show, where I’d do the warm-up, then he’d come on. Nobody, during my time, ever brought their own records along for any DJ to play. Actually, I brought in loads of US only tracks that became our own exclusives. Just as Pedro, who used to come over from The Crystal Club, Glossop. We traded loads of 45s.
Do you really remember anything at all? Like…. How did Barrie intro songs? If you knew, you’d recall. He used to fire in his punchline (Barrie was the most corny joke intro specialist you could ever meet), in came the next track, spot on (courtesy of me).
I’ll clear up yet another myth. Dick West, when he moved over to warm-up for Stringy, spread the word about me being Steve Marriott’s cousin. That was his parting shot from the Esquire. In fact, I was never any form of relative to Steve. Dick’s mind was on some other planet.
That’s enough rant from me!
Seems a little harsh Willie 🙂
Steve’s recollections bring the era vividly alive for those unlucky enough not to be around at the time. I’m sure after what is a considerable amount of time some detail may be open to dispute. You were at the heart of it and so clearly your views have viability and command respect. Steve’s own personal experiences appear to differ. If all of his articles are taken in the round, I think they provide a highly insightful, if personal, account of the time.
Just because he hasn’t detailed some of your own personal highlights (or urban myths) doesn’t nullify the experience. As for the “bring your own records” argument, anyone else remember ever doing this, or has Steve’s memory simply played fast and loose with the truth, as Willie suggests.
When I started DJing at The Esquire, the first thing you did was collect a tray of records which were kept current by Barrie Campbell. The next job was sorting them into an order to play. Also, I had cousins in Connecticut who used to send me the happening sounds which kept us (The Esquire) as up-to-date as Stringy (at The Mojo). It used to be a regular thing that Barrie bought records from WIlson Pecks or Bradleys. I know for fact there was an account at Bradleys, because the son of the shop-owner was one of my mates. Plus, I was there while Barrie picked out which to buy, he’d ask my opinion on what felt good.
Added to this, Barrie and myself (probably Babs too) used to buy our own floor fillers, mostly to stop the other pinching something they missed.
Now, I have heard of another club, which was really an extension of a youth club, that depended on kids taking along records. That was certainly not, The Esquire. Some used to come down after being there.
Could it be there’s a cross-threading of stories?
Bands mostly played Saturdays, with some occasional changes, like when The Who played. Other nights were records only, with at least 2 DJs. When Pedro came over from Glossop, with some from The Crystal Club, he’d have a small singles case with him. He never went anywhere with that less than half full.
Does Steve recall the back of the stage? It was the hotspot for snogging lasses, behind the curtains.
Can Steve remember what the DJ booth was on? It was something most unusual considering it was part of the stage.
Was his mate at EMI called Spud? I knew him from a time working in a record shop years later.
Another club was named after a description of Spud. That moves us into other parts of Sheffield’s music history.
BTW – After The Esquire closed in 1967 (include the short time renamed as Stiles), a few years later, the space was taken over as offices for another musical venture. The Leadmill Club was on the ground floor below the old Esquire. It had a completely different vibe but, they never got rid of the ghosts from the old back stairs leading up behind the Esquire’s stage.
A while back, someone published a book about The Esquire & Club 60 that missed chunks of specifically memorable events. Tubby Hayes playing ‘Wade In The Water’, and the stage being flooded at the high point of his solo. There’s tons of stuff like that. All things that added legend to The Esquire.
I bet Steve remembers them, particularly as he lugged gear up the stairs.
I meant to ask before – Which school did you go to Steve? Were you ever on the door at The Wap?
For some strange reason, I think we’ve already met, and on more than one occasion.
Willie
I fear Steve is long gone.
He posted his articles in a flurry of activity around five years ago, kept in touch for a while after and then disappeared. I’ll be surprised (if delighted) if he resurfaces now……