Back in the 1970s, the first nightclub in Liverpool dedicated to playing black music is considered instrumental in developing the profile of black music in the UK.
The Timepiece club on Fleet Street was the go to place in the city to hear the best R&B, Soul and Motown records. This year at the Liverpool International Music Festival (LIMF), The Timepiece will be resurrected at District on Jordan Street on Friday, July 29.
Back in 1970s Liverpool, there were still nightclubs considered to be no-go areas for non-white people. Speaking to the Liverpool Echo in 2011, Liverpool poet, activist and musician, Levi Tafari recalled: "We used to go to a place in Old Swan and it would be like running the gauntlet."
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"You'd take your life into your hands going there but the DJ played some good music. There'd be a whole host of skinheads waiting for you with knives and chains. It was rough."
Even in the city centre there were few places where the doormen wouldn't turn clubbers away for being black. Tafari, who was raised in Toxteth, said: "People don't realise sometimes what we went through and the way Britain was.
"There was still segregation in Liverpool at a level and it was worse when our parents first arrived. We got it a little bit easier because of the tribulations they went through."
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When The Timepiece club opened on Fleet Street in the '70s, for many non-white Liverpool residents it felt like a place where they could escape segregation and listen to great music. The club played black music but was renowned for welcoming everyone.
Now part of Liverpool's history, Toxteth-based Les Spaine was the club's resident DJ. Playing a mix of R&B, Soul, Reggae and Funk, the club and its resident DJ are widely recognised for developing the profile and access to black music in the UK.
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In 2011, The Timepiece was the subject of a documentary on the development of the thriving black music scene in Liverpool in the '70s. Liverpool International Music Festival will return to the city this year for the first time since 2019.
The festival is set to return from July 29 - 31. Les Spaine - who went on to work at Motown Records and artists such as Stevie Wonder and Lionel Richie - will be back DJing the Return To The Timepiece on July 29 at District.
Does The Timepiece nightclub awaken any memories for you? Let us know in the comments section below.
This year, the festival is making a move from its usual home at Sefton Park and will instead take place across multiple venues in the city centre. The move has been prompted in a bid to re-energise and support the city’s music sector which was severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
