THE BEACHCOMBER CLUB WAS NOT THE AD-LIB CLUB. THEY WERE TWO DIFFERENT CLUBS.

There were a few clubs up and down the country called the “Beachcomber” and here in Nottingham we had one too. It opened on October 30th 1965 and was situated at 47 St. Mary’s-Gate in the Lace Market, Nottingham.

It was predominantly a live music venue with some of the major acts of the mid sixties RnB, Soul, Blues, Mod and Rock scene playing there. Keith Symons booked the bands and they were top notch.

You can hear a recording of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers at the Beachcomber, Nottingham from November 1967 on youtube here.

The Artwoods, Georgie Fame, John Mayall, Cream, Herbie Goins, Graham Bond Organisation, Richard Kent Style, Wynder. K. Frog, Ike and Tina Turner and Jimi Hendrix are just a few. You can hear broadcaster John Holmes talk about the “Beach” and hear an archival interview with Keith Symons at Fragments of Rock.

With the passage of time it has become confused that the Beachcomber club was the Ad-Lib club. In fact they were two separate clubs running parallel to each other for a number of years, although they were physically next door to each other and part of the same overall building.

The Ad-Lib club opened a year later on Friday October 14th 1966. It was situated at 41 St. Mary’s-gate in the Lace Market, Nottingham. It was next door to the Beachcomber club which was numbered 47.

Sometimes, after a gig at the Beachcomber, people would go to the Ad-Lib for a drink. When the Beachcomber club closed in 1970 that space was acquired by the Ad-Lib club to expand its size and that’s where some of the confusion might be.

Gerrard Gibson was the manager at the Beachcomber club. He was also a majority shareholder in the Ad-Lib club next door. He had formally changed his name from Gerrard Sisson to Gerrard Gibson after some domestic upheaval some years before. So, again, it could be easy to think the Beachcomber and the Ad-lib were the same club, but they were two separate clubs.

They were two very different types of club as well. The Beachcomber was a live music venue with up to the minute acts and the Ad-Lib club was a wine and dine night with dancing and gaming tables.

In December 1968 Gerrard also made application to Leicester courts to open a club called “Gerrards Club” at 28-30 Belgrave Road but he was turned down as “not a fit and proper person”, the domestic upheaval being brought to notice.
Gerrard had found a need for a new club in Leicester providing the fact that 148 of the members of the Beachcomber club had Leicestershire addresses and 44 members of the Ad-Lib club as well.

The Beachcomber came to end in 1970 but the Ad-lib carried into the seventies and eighties before becoming The Garage and later the Koolkat.

1965 and the opening

The opening night at the Beachcomber was on Saturday 30th October 1965 and jazz blues group “Loose Ends” were the opening act. Read about them at Garage Hangover. It was a safe bet to try some jazz nights. Nottingham had a reputation for jazz groups which had faired relatively well during the genre’s decline in the sixties so Keith Symons tried it out.

However, the “Beach” soon settled into getting the groups of the moment. The mod keyboard sounds of The Artwoods featuring Ron Woods brother Art and Jon Lord later of Deep Purple could be heard, Graham Bond and Wynder K. Frog also played the Hammond organ. Regular visitors The Dickens Set were a Nottingham mod soul group who would eventually become Robert Hirst and the Big Taste. American soul singers Martha and the Vandellas, Mae Mercer, Doris Troy, Geno Washington and Herbie Goins could be seen as well as home grown talent like Chris Farlowe and Zoot Money and on a Saturday you could be treated to 12 hours of entertainment with a evening show 7pm to 11.30pm and then an all nighter from midnight to 7am the next morning.

Beachcomber Club Bands List

1965

October 1965
30.10.65. (Sat) – Loose Ends
31.10.65. (Sun) – Gerry L. Thompson’s Sidewinders

November 1965
03.11.65. (Wed) – R-A-T-S Blues
05.11.65. (Fri) – Ronnie Jones and the Blue-Jays
06.11.65. (Sat) – The Somer-Set (From the Cider country)
07.11.65. (Sun) – The Stormsville Shakers replaced Boz & the Boz People (originally The Tea Time 4) who couldn’t make it.
10.11.65. (Wed) – Watt The Dickens, The Mansfields (Both Nottingham groups)
12.11.65. (Fri) – Herbie Goins and the Nightimers
13.11.65. (Sat) – Soul Executives
14.11.65. (Sun) – Tony Knights Chessmen
17.11.65. (Wed) – Watt The Dickens (Nottingham group)
19.11.65. (Fri) – Dave Anthony Mood
20.11.65. (Sat) – Felders Orioles
21.11.65. (Sun) – Graham Bond Organisation
24.11.65. (Wed) – St Louis Union
26.11.65. (Fri) – Chris Farlowe and the Thunderbirds
27.11.65. (Sat) – Ronnie Jones and the Blue-Jays
28.11.65. (Sun) – Zoot Money Big Roll Band

December 1965
01.12.65. (Wed) – The Blues Fix
03.12.65. (Fri) – Caroline Hester, The Habits (Blues and Folk night)
04.12.65. (Sat) – Richard Kent Style
05.12.65. (Sun) – The Artwoods
08.12.65. (Wed) – The Dickens Set (formerly Watt The Dickens) (Nottingham group), The Rondos (maybe the Newark group)
10.12.65. (Fri) – Tony Knight’s Chessmen, Jazz Contemporaries
11.12.65. (Sat) – Herbie Goins and the Nightimers
12.12.65. (Sun) – Robbie Gray Soul Band. Seven piece group who replaced Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band who was ill
15.12.65. (Wed) – Wynder K. Frog
17.12.65. (Fri) – The Riots / Jazz Contemporaries
18.12.65. (Sat) – The Persuasions
19.12.65. (Sun) – Graham Bond Organisation
22.12.65. (Wed) – Disco (Big Record Rave)
24.12.65. (Fri) – The Dickens Set (Nottingham group), The Tribe (from London)
25.12.65. (Sat) – CLOSED
26.12.65. (Sun) – The Artwoods (first session 7.30 to 11.30pm / Hipster Image, The Dickens Set (second session 11.50 to 7am) (Nottingham group)
27.12.66. (Mon) – Soul of Linton Grae
29.12.65. (Wed) – Disco (Big Record Rave)
31.12.65. (Fri) – Stormsville Shakers (featured Phillip Goodhand-Tait)

1966

January 1966
01.01.66. (Sat) – Dave Anthony Mood
02.01.66. (Sun) – Hipster Image
05.01.66. (Wed) – The Dickens Set (Nottingham group)
07.01.66. (Fri) – The Summer Set, Jazz Contemporaries
08.01.66. (Sat) – Ronnie Jones and the Blue-Jays, Soul of Lynton Grae
09.01.66. (Sun) – John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers
12.01.66. (Wed) – Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames
14.01.66. (Fri) – Dave Anthony’s Moods / Jazz Contemporaries
15.01.66. (Sat) – Chris Farlowe and the Thunderbirds
16.01.66. (Sun) – Zoot Money
19.01.66. (Wed) – Disco: Record session
21.01.66. (Fri) – The Dickens Set (Nottingham group)
22.01.66. (Sat) – John Lees Groundhogs / Tony Knight’s Chessmen, The Dickens Set (Nottingham group)
23.01.66. (Sun) – Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band
26.01.66. (Wed) – Graham Bond Organisation
28.01.66. (Fri) – St Louis Union
29.01.66. (Sat) – Felders Orioles
30.01.66. (Sun) – Five Proud Walkers

February 1966
02.02.66. (Wed) – Ronnie Jones and the Blue-Jays
04.02.66. (Fri) – Dave Anthony’s Moods
05.02.66. (Sat) – The Rising Sons (London surf band)
06.02.66. (Sun) – Herbie Goins and the Nightimers
09.02.66. (Wed) – Doris Troy, Julien Covey and the Machine (Nottingham’s Robert Anson)
11.02.66. (Fri) – Disco: Record session
12.02.66. (Sat) – Zoot Money
13.02.66. (Sun) – John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (featuring Eric Clapton)
16.02.66. (Wed) – Herbie Goins and the Nightimers
18.02.66. (Fri) – The Dickens Set (Nottingham group)
19.02.66. (Sat) – Ray King Soul Pact / Rockhouse Soul Band featuring Ralph Denyer, The Habits
20.02.66. (Sun) – Alexis Korner Blues Inc
23.02.66. (Wed) – The Herd
25.02.66. (Fri) – Chris Farlowe and the Thunderbirds
26.02.66. (Sat) – Bluesology
27.02.66. (Sun) – The Artwoods

March 1966
02.03.66. (Wed) – The Overlanders
04.03.66. (Fri) – Tony Knight’s Chessmen replaced The Dickens Set (Nottingham group)
05.03.66. (Sat) – Soul of Lynton Grae
06.03.66. (Sun) – Graham Bond Organisation
09.03.66. (Wed) – The Silkie
11.03.66. (Fri) – Ray King Soul Pact
12.03.66. (Sat) – The Summer Set
13.03.66. (Sun) – Zoot Money
16.03.66. (Wed) – Jimmy James and the Vagabonds
18.03.66. (Fri) – The Soul of Lynton Grae
19.03.66. (Sat) – The Farinas replaced The Soul Movers
20.03.66. (Sun) – D. D. Whatson and the Big Crowd
23.03.66. (Wed) – Downliners Sect
25.03.66. (Fri) – The Dickens Set (Nottingham group)
26.03.66. (Sat) – Mae Mercer with her Five Proud Walkers
27.03.66. (Sun) – Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band
30.03.66. (Wed) – The Dave Curtiss Sound

April
01.04.66. (Fri) – Ray King Soul Pact
02.04.66. (Sat) – Tony Knight’s Chessmen / Martha and the Vandellas
03.04.66. (Sun) – Lucas York with the Mike Cotton Sound
06.04.66. (Wed) – Lou Christie, The Time Box
08.04.66. (Fri) – Cop ‘n’ Robbers, The Dickens Set (Nottingham group)
09.04.66. (Sat) – The Artwoods / Di Di Warwickand the Excels, The Dickens Set (Nottingham group)
10.04.66. (Sun) – Arthur Alexander

Much more coming later …….