The link with Nottingham is almost non existent but in the interest of the historical record here is their story. John Fozard was in this Harrogate based soul group. He would later join Junkyard Angel who for a while had Harry Stephenson in their ranks. Harry is the Nottingham link. He came to Nottingham in 1969 and became well known as the front man with Plummet Airlines.

The Tropical Boot Company are mentioned by Bob Thomas on Pete Bradley’s rollbacktheyears website.

Here are 2 photos of the 1st line up of ‘The Tropical Boot Company’, a Harrogate based professional soul band (1966/67?) ……. John Fozard (guitar), Mike Barber (bass), Geoff Stead (drums), Willy Booth (tenor sax) & Alex ? (one of the 2 lead vocalists). Sorry but I don’t know the names of any of the others. John Fozard will though.
Regards
Bob

(thanks to Bob Thomas for this fantastic archive material)

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An ad for a gig in Matlock.
28 January 1967 – Matlock Bath Pavilion, Matlock, Derbyshire with Tropical Boot Company (Derby Evening Telegraph). From Garage Hangover. A double bill with Julien Covey and the Machine who do have a connection to Nottingham. Julien Covey was Robert Anson from Sherwood, Nottingham. His story is here.

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A group with the same name is talked about on the CoventryBandsBlogspot. They are described as a soul band in the early seventies so is it possible that someone from the original Harrogate group took the name and relocated to Coventry. Here is the image and text:

A band that Ray Barrie (Borkowski) joined in 1971, from Leamington and with Tony King in the band.
Ray says “Had a great brass section and gave a very full sound for classic numbers such as “knock on Wood” and “Midnight Hour“