The Moat House was on Bradford Street just down from the Drovers Arms, Birmingham.
The Moat House was a club, that was very important to the development of Brum Beat in the 60’s. In June of 1963, Cliff Richard & Shadows producer Norris Paramour came up to Birmingham to audition local beat groups at the Moat House Club on Bradford Street.
Of the 13 bands that had been recommended, five of them were signed-up by Paramour to the Columbia Records label.
Amongst them were:
Carl Barron and The Cheetahs.
Mike Sheridan & The Nightriders,
Keith Powell and The Valets, were two others.
The Moat House was also significant in the history of The Moody Blues
From Brum Beat
| A chance meeting with Ray Thomas and Mike Pinder at the Moat House Club resulted in the formation of a new group, although Danny King had by this time lost interest. A plan was put in place to gain sponsorship from the Mitchells & Butlers brewery, so the name M&B Five was adopted, but the company was not interested so the initials were adapted to represent “Moody” and “Blues |
Unfortunately, little or no images remain of this club, but below are some wonderful recollections from,
members of the Birmingham History Forum:
LencopsQuote:
| The Moat House, Moat Lane almost opposite the outdoor market, was run by Rob Pryke of Banana fame and was at the top of a very steep wooden staircase the width of 1 person if you looked dodgy, drunk etc no way would you be admitted, i saw the M&B`circa 1964/5 s later to be named The Moody Blues, i was`nt impressed but Rob was sure that they would become very good, was i wrong YES!. Len. |
LencopsQuote:
| Sorry no photos you did not carry cameras they were to big, not like the digital ones of now, we would go there after dancing else were and the bar closed, i saw other groups Denny Laine & The Diplomats, ? & The Pirates and others i can`t remember, it was always wall 2 wall with clubbers, beer price was reasonable you could have 2 pint jug to share with your friends, gambling went on in a back room illegal of course, i saw obvious bookies from the dog track racing on a Sat night pull out rolls of banknotes big enough to choke a horse!, Rob had a 2 am bar licence unless you got locked in, ooOPs! very pleased, any trouble was soon snuffed out nobody wanted to end up at the bottom of the stairs in a heap, the decoration was pop posters and beer adverts stuck on the walls, i will try and remember more but it was 46 yrs ago + or – a year or 2, hope a senior citizens memories are of help to you. Len. |
Judy39Quote:
| Len, I also used to go to the Moat House Club in Moat Lane, and remember very well the steep staircase up to it. I particularly remember this as my sister tripped up the stairs one night and landed in an embarrassing position. I still remind her of it to this day! |
StircherQuote:
| I have never been a card player but was paid good dough to look after a man who plyed Chemi De Fer in The Moathouse twice a week. He played Blackjack in the Rainbow on another two night per week. |
Compiled by Keith Law
With many thanks to the Birmingham History Forum, and particularly, Bob Summers, Lencops, Judy39 and Stircher, for their invaluable memories
i went to school with rob prykes son chris @ turves green went to his mums house in kings norton had a few scraps with chtis and when i was in town one night iwent to the club and was ignored by chris who ithought had got too big for his boots ..Anyways i never saw him again not long after chris was done for killing a cop so i heard .Chris was a nice guy i got along well with him ..bit crazy but cool ..is he stikk alive ?? If so say hi to the old bastard from his old pal len jukes i will give a number to reach me on 01299 879786 as of feb 14
i also knew ewan rose out of the cheetas from west heath ..the drummer …and the moody blues who i saw at the cedaR CLUB IN ASTION /////the futurals stomping ground ..now them was the boyz …great guys ..tough …merciless but kind too …i can relate many a story from the cedar …real gangsters ..eddy bomber etc used to knock around with ewan rose at the cedar …remember it well ..featured in a T/V series about brum s underworld ….damn them was good days len
when I was a lad of 12 / 13 . my dad worked as a cloakroom attendant at the moat house club in Bradford street , I used to go with him on a Saturday night to help out , it was very exciting for me coming from the back streets of Birmingham to see what a night club was all about . He used to send me to the kitchen for a sandwich , I got friendly with the chef who’s name was Stanley Smaletice , he asked me if I wanted to work in the kitchen as a cook of which I jumped at the opportunity . I worked there for 3 years on a fri sat and sun night and left when I got to 15 because I left school . I have fond memories of the place and I remember rob pryke very well . He always wore a bowler hat and a carnation in his buttonhole , he was actually known as the banana king because he was the city’s largest importer of them . I bet im the only person alive who even remembers the phone number . it was VIC 2176 , VIC stood for Victoria 2176 . I even remember the only female waitress who was named alma , and the head waiter was named john . Rob and his wife lived in a huge house in earlswood but I have just forgotten the name . The grounds were so big , he used to have a jazz festival there , the chef and myself ran the hotdog stall there the on year . They were simply fabulous days . If I remember the house where they lived I will post a comment . thank you for reading my post
Went to his house for the Jazz Festival about 1964 amazing great time and the Earlswood pub just down the road ,loved the Moat House.
(Uncle) Rob’s Pryke house was Fulford Hall, and the Jazz festival was the “Earlswood”.
I was too young to remember the club, but do remember vaguely Fulford Hall. Rob left there bankrupt in the late 60s and died early (compared to his siblings) around 1990. He had fallen out with my father and i understand his own family and was living a ‘wild’ life to the end. I last saw him still working well into his 70s at the wholesale fruit and veg market in 1981. I am in contact with one of his grandchildren which is nice.
A few more memories come on line every year which is great. Perhaps I might meet Bev Bevan or Steve Winwood one day who can tell me a lot more!
When I started working, part time, at the Moat House club in the Autumn of 1962 it was the only night club allowed to be open in Birmingham, it was said that Robbie Pryke had ‘something over members of the Council who therefore allowed him his licence’. The Prykes were a family of four, Robbie, Mrs Pryke ( who was definitely the ‘boss’) Chris and Robin who both had the most beautiful black girl friends you can imagine. One of them went on to play Oliver Tobias’s girl friend in the film ‘The Stud’. The man who employed me was the head barman, a deminutive dark ‘Brylcreamed’ haired man called Albert who had a ‘pencil moustache’ and a gambling habit which led him to pay an unbelievable £50 for a taxi to take him to gamble in London in the early hours of Sunday each week, he was a good man who ‘disappeared’ after a few months to be replaced by two young mohair suited blond men who spent their Summers ‘chasing talent’ on the English Riviera and their winters at the Moat House. My job initially was to collect glasses from around the room and wash them up behind the bar, I remember that beer was only sold in half pint jugs at 1/3d (6p) a time when the same beer cost 11 pence ( 4 and a half new pence ) a pint elsewhere, which the 17 year old ‘me’ found outrageous. The club was full to bursting every Friday and Saturday night which meant that I had to collect glasses ‘crab fashion’, walking backwards to stop them being broken, one one occasion this caused me to be knocked out by the then British heavyweight boxer Johnny Prescott who I bumped into and therefore spilt his drink over a girl friend whilst collecting my glasses on the night he fought and lost the title fight to Henry Cooper, he was very apologetic afterwards and I had a sore nose!. The bands were very loud and often not very good at ‘blaring out’ the popular tunes of the day, the customers seemed to prefer the previous eras American music ( especially Sinatra ) coming from the duke box. Denny Lane and the Diplomats were the resident group and ‘Nuf Sed’, even the lowly glass washer looked down on them!. After a while I was ‘promoted’ to kitchen assistant where I cooked mainly steaks and scampi which were served by a delightful Irish ‘couple’ ( I don’t think they were married or pretended to be ) she looked like Old Mother Riley’s ‘Kitty’ and he like a three week old corpse in a dinner suit with ‘John Lennon’ round specs!. I think it was them being ‘in situ’ which led to the near invasion of gigantic Irish policemen from, across the road, Digbeth Police Station every weekend in the ‘early hours’ I used to fetch them drinks and listen to how they dealt with ‘the bad ‘uns’ using their fists and truncheons rather than diplomacy!. Chris Pryke was jailed, so I was told, for carrying one of these policemen half way up Bradford Street on the bonnet of his dad’s Jensen ROB 1, whilst drunk, it was a shame as he was not a bad bloke when sober!. I was once given a lift to Moseley in the Jensen but, normally, I got the ‘night service’ bus 13 or 24 opposite the ‘skinning factory’ just up the road from the Moat House. Quite often literally hundreds of rats would be spilling from under the skinners doors, I was so happy to get on the bus upon arrival!.
I have lots more ‘Moat House’ stories but will relate another time. CB.
Good afternoon,
I am trying to track down the copyright holder for archive material from the Earlswood Jazz Festival – perhaps David Pryce or one of the other respondents may be able to help?
Many thanks,
Emma
I really don’t recognise a lot of what is being said here. I worked at the Moat House as a 15 and 16 year old – taking coats up until its closure in 1966 or thereabouts. The two sons, Robin and Chris were generally on the scene but the club was managed by a relative (by marriage) of mine. Bob Pryke rarely visited, but his wife was always on the scene but generally left around midnight – it was her that drove the Jensen, not her son
In those days, to get a night club licence you had to offer food, live entertainment as well as gamling and entrance was limited to members or guests. Of course, no one took any notice of this so guests were signed in at 10 shillings each. Robin’s girlfriend, Pru, was a meeter and greeter and also led people who wanted to gamble upstairs into the right area.
Some time in the mid sixties, the family opened Midnight City in the basement below the night club. This had a relatively successful but short life showcasing major pop groups – with an initial idea of selling clothes around the clock, hence the name.
It was during this time that I got my nickname ‘Brains’ when a roadie for some group looked at me as he was lugging equipment up the stairs and shouted down to his mates – ‘Fuck me it’s Brains’ – just because I wore brown specs., and looked like Brains out of Thunderbirds. After that, Mrs Pryke always called me that and even put it as my name on the payroll.
From memory, I think the club lost its license following an incident where a customer nearly died after being cut with a broken glass. I’m pretty sure it was Denny Lane who wrapped a towel round his neck and made a compress until an ambulance arrived. The poor guy had lost so much blood that I’m sure this saved his life.
I have this very vague memory as a five yr old going to the Moat House Club (in the day time) with my auntie JoJo, don’t know if anyone recalls the name, remember the duke box being played, Nancy Sinatra, These boots were made for walking. Someone made scampy& chips for me, even recall going to the Prykes home fulford Hall, for a bonefire. My dad & mom used to have a club called Noel court, in Monument Road in the early 60’s, may be our paths crossed? We used to have photos, think some are still around. Sorrry can’t be more helpful, but would love to know if anyone remembers JoJo, or Noel Court.
I loved the Moat house and have some great memories. Wonder what happened to Jo she worked the cloak room and did lots more. She was my pal Jeff Hoods sister. Remember Scampi in a basket about 1am.
I ran a group called The Midlanders operating out of Mosely in the early ’60’s. As others have said, the Moat House was the only night club in Brum at the time.
We used to play at Ma Regan’s joints like Handsworth Plaza evening, and then go on to play at the Moat House late night.
I’m sure I remember Mandy Rice Davies being there one time.
The stairs were awful to lug up our heavy guitar amps and drum kit.
It was always very busy, and vibrant atmosphere.
…fond memories….