For six years during the Swinging '60s, the Club a'Gogo lit up Newcastle's vibrant after-dark scene and earned a legendary reputation.
Now, nearly 60 years on from its hey day, the famous nightspot is the subject of a new book - Club a'Gogo and the Mod scene of 1960s Newcastle - outlining its rise, fall and lasting legacy. It is written by the husband and wife team, Paul and Jools Donnelly from Gateshead, who have done much in recent years to keep the name of the Club a'Gogo alive - from successfully campaigning for a blue heritage plaque to be installed at the venue's former site, to publishing a number of well-received magazine titles - and from hosting live music, social and retail events, to establishing a dedicated Facebook page.
Opening upstairs from the Handyside Arcade on Newcastle's Percy Street in July 1962, the Club a'Gogo offered “dancing in the Latin Quarter” and was a place where you could “listen to England’s prime jazz groups in the luxurious jazz lounge”. The club’s owner Mike Jeffery (who would go on to make quite a name for himself as ‘Mr Newcastle’ and a man with ‘connections’) told a Chronicle reporter how a “record hostess would play discs” in one room, while the other was “strictly for jazz devotees”.
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Customers could also play roulette and, if they fancied something to eat, enjoy “light snacks in the continental fashion, including hamburgers and infrared steaks” into the early hours. It was new, exciting, and perfect for a new decade when the hard-working young men and women of Tyneside increasingly wanted to go out and enjoy themselves after the grey austerity of the post-war years.
The club soon switched its attention from jazz towards the new sounds of soul, R’n’B and rock music. A talented Newcastle blues outfit called The Animals were an early house band, while some of the notable up-and-coming acts who performed at the venue included The Who, the Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, Pink Floyd, Cream, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, The Spencer Davis Group, Long John Baldry (featuring Rod Stewart), Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix.
Speaking about the book, Jools Donnelly says: "Using extensive interviews with original mods and club goers of the North East, we tell their story - a story of what it was really like to be young during those halcyon days in Newcastle. We walk through the streets of the city in the 1960s, entering the clubs, coffee bars and popular hang-outs.
"Newcastle in the '60s was a cultural and literary hot spot. The ‘father of pop art’ Richard Hamilton was teaching such luminaries as Bryan Ferry and the artist Mark Hamilton at Newcastle University, while at Morden Tower, Tom Pickard was hosting readings attended by great poets such as Ted Hughes, Basil Bunting and Allen Ginsberg.
"And as for music, Newcastle was a city where the great American blues artists would beat a path to its door from London. At the Club a'Gogo, you could rub shoulders with the Rolling Stones, Chris Farlowe, Eric Clapton, a young David Bowie and John Lee Hooker, to name but a few. This book is for anyone who has an interest in the mod scene and the cultural and social history of 1950s and '60s Newcastle."
The Club a’Gogo shone brightly but briefly, closing its doors after just six years in 1968, before becoming a prize bingo for a while. The whole 1906-built building, including the Handyside Arcade, was, to the despair of many, demolished in the late 1980s to make way for the Eldon Garden shopping mall.
Club a'Gogo and the Mod scene of 1960s Newcastle, by Jools and Paul Donnelly is published by Handyside Arcade Publishing. The book is priced £30 and can be bought online at this link: https://www.clubagogo.co.uk/product-page/club-a-gogo-the-mod-scene-of-1960s-newcastle
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