It was not just the public houses that provided opportunities for the groups to play during the 60s, there was also a considerable number of local dance halls and hotels available. Some of those dance halls and hotels became very closely linked with the development of the group scene. In Wolverhampton itself it is possible to separate these venues into two chronological periods, pre-Beatles (1959-1963) and post-Beatles (1963-1969). The earlier period would definitely include the Scala in Worcester Street and the two Temple Street venues, the Dorchester and the Regent (Palais de Danse). The second period would include the Woolpack in Cleveland Street, the Connaught on Tettenhall Road, the Park Hall on Goldthorn Park. Perhaps the Civic and Wulfrun Halls and the Queen's ballroom could be included in both periods.

Further afield from Wolverhampton there were venues like the Plaza at Old Hill, the Ritz at King's Heath, the Plaza in Handsworth, Bilston Town Hall, the Pipe Hall in Bilston, Coven Memorial Hall, Brewood Jubilee Hall, the baths at Willenhall, Darlaston and Bloxwich, the Adelphi in West Bromwich, the Majestic in Wellington, the Rose Marie in Bridgnorth and the Queen Mary in Dudley. Each and every one of those listed played their individual part in the local music scene of the 1960s. It is impossible to cover all of those venues but I have chosen to concentrate on a few of them.

The Scala began life as a cinema in 1913 and continued showing films for over sixty years. Like so many other town centre cinemas however, it suffered during the general decline in cinema-going and so had to change its function. One of its new roles was as a dance hall and it was as such that it enters the story of the local music scene in the 60s.

While the Scala was never a venue for the beat groups which emerged during the mid-60s, it was very much a place to go if rock 'n' roll was the preferred taste. It was at the Scala that some of the area's earliest rock groups like Tommy Burton's Combo, Dixie Dean's Combo, Clive Lee & Phantoms and the original Black Diamonds regularly played. It was one of the first dance venues to have nationally known performers, like Billy Fury, Nelson Keen and Vince Eagar make live appearances. It still evokes interesting memories amongst some of its 'rocking' customers:

"It was regarded by me and mates of mine as a cut above the Dorchester. It was also less likely to have trouble there. It was the main rock venue as far as I was concerned. It was the first place I ever saw Tommy Burton, although it was not as the Combo. I think they were called the Beatniks or something like that."

"The Scala had been the nearest cinema to our house in Fisher Street in Pennfields, so when it became a dance hall, it was quite natural for me to go there. It used to have dances on most nights."

"I saw most of the early local groups at the Scala. I think there was one regular night when local groups played. It used to be advertised as the Rock Night. I saw Tommy Burton, Dixie Dean and the Black Diamonds there. Dixie Dean really thought he was an Elvis or a Little Richard. He wasn't too bad though to be honest."

"The stage at the Scala was at the same end as the cinema screen had been. It still had the arch over the stage. All the dressing rooms at the Scala were at the other end. Some of the early stars would have to cross over the dance floor to get to the stage so they must have almost taken their lives in their hands."

"One thing I don’t remember about the Scala was whether the floor sloped or not. I suppose it must have done if it had been a cinema. It didn’t make any difference when you danced there so perhaps it didn't slope at all."

The former Woolpack is now part of the Wolverhampton Market buildings but in the 60s it was definitely one of the most successful venues for groups. In fact, many of the group members look back on it as their favourite venue. Graham Corns worked for PMA (Perry/Maddocks/Allen) at the Woolpack, so he remembers it very well:

"I started there in about 1964, working for PMA which at that time was in direct competition with Astra. Later of course they were to work very closely together. The Woolpack was a very successful venue, starting as one night (Friday) per week and ultimately becoming almost a nightly venue for groups."

"I was responsible for the admission of customers, the security and paying the groups at the end of the night. Most of the groups would get about 12 quid, the better groups got 15."

"All the sessions started at 8.30 and groups had two fifty minute sessions. The bar closed at 10.30 and the place had to be empty by 11 o'clock. PMA leased it from the local Council."

"The fire limit was 257 and most of the groups would easily get in that number, especially the 'N Betweens who were probably the most popular of all the groups who played at the Woolpack. Other popular groups were the Californians, Finders Keepers, Montanas and Jam Sandwich."

"Noise was a constant issue at the venue, despite the Woolpack being nowhere near a residential area. The problem was that as the site was Council-controlled, it was even more necessary for vigilance. It was very much part of my responsibility to determine the level of sound otherwise PMA would lose their lease on the venue."

"Most of the punters who came to the venues were there to both dance and listen. If the group was something like the 'N Betweens then the music was more to listen to, while the Montanas or the Californians played dancing music."

Many group members fondly remember the Woolpack, as shown by the following examples:

Bill Hayward of the Montanas:

"It was my personal favourite. It had a little stage in the corner. You had to run through the crowd to get out of the Woolpack. It was actually where I met my wife so it has very good memories for me."

Jake Elcock of the Montanas:

"It was possibly the next most successful venue for the Montanas after the Cleveland Arms. We always went down really well there. It was a curious place in a way because you had to go downstairs to the dance floor and come back through the audience to get out again."

John O'Hara of the Californians:

"It was my favourite venue because of the very receptive audience. We always went down well with the crowd. They loved the Beach Boys stuff and always wanted more. That’s a really great feeling when people like you enough to ask for more."

John Howells of the ‘N Betweens:

"We used to go down well at the Woolpack. We started to play there and some of the other more popular venues once we joined Astra. I think we were one of the more successful groups at the Woolpack. We certainly played there regularly. I think it was mainly on a Tuesday or Friday night."

Paul King of the Ides of March:

"Our style of music did not really gel with the audience at the Woolpack. We were blues and the audience at the Woolpack was mainly pop oriented. In fact, one night we played there and my future wife asked for her money back because she was just not into the sound we were making."

Tony Perry of the Strollers:

"When I was with the Strollers we used to play the Woolpack on a Tuesday night for a feller called Vic Kendrick. It was always a good night and I though the Woolpack was the ideal venue because of its central position so when the group broke up and I went into promotion, I asked the Council if I could organise a Friday night session. They agreed and so it became one of PMA's first promotions."

One memory, which is shared by many of the regular customers who went to the Woolpack, was the intense heat of the place, especially in the summer when the hall was full. One story, which is told by a number of people, is of an evening when:

"It was so hot that all the windows had to be opened and the drummer with the group (unknown) got a little carried away and started to play like Keith Moon. Anyway, he disappeared because he had fallen out of the window, followed by a fair amount of his Premier drum kit."

Another successful PMA venture was the Monday evenings at the Park Hall Hotel on Goldthorn Park. It became one of the town's most celebrated venues, mainly as a result of the many exceptional performers who appeared at the hotel during the period.

"The hotel was an ideal venue for dances, especially if we had arranged for a big name to appear. It had the sort of room we needed and could offer much better changing facilities than most any of the other leading venues. It was similar to the Connaught in size but we had more big names there than at the Connaught, although the Connaught used to have a good blues night on a Sunday with people like John Mayall, John Hiseman and Chicken Shack."

"If you consider the names we had at the Park Hall it reads rather like a who’s who of the 60s. We had David Bowie do an acoustic set there, the Moody Blues played there and we had to remove the side windows to allow them to get their mellotron in. Others who were there included John Mayall, the Searchers, Fortunes, Status Quo etc."

"Some of the most exciting nights at the Park Hall were when the Freddie Mack Showband played there. They had about a dozen fellers in the group but they were tremendous. They travelled around in a double-decker bus. We seldom broke even with them but they were an incredible act."

"When the Showstoppers played there they did not arrive until about 11.30. Of course in those days there was no way that you could get an extension for the bar beyond 11 o'clock, so we had about 400 people waiting for the group but there was absolutely no trouble. They did not get on stage until after midnight since they had to pray in their dressing room first. When they did get on they were great."

Another member of PMA was George Maddocks and he has his own special memories of the Park Hall:

"I used to go round at the end of the night to collect the takings from the various venues but I would often stay throughout the Monday sessions at the Park Hall because they were so good. We had so many great acts on. It's quite amazing to think of the Park Hall Hotel in Wolverhampton being the venue for some of the biggest names of the decade."

"One thing I always remember was that on a Saturday night at the Park Hall we would often have members of the Wolves team here and we would watch Match of the Day with them in one of the hotel’s rooms, Players like Mike Bailey and Dave Wagstaffe were quite regularly up at the Park Hall on the Saturday."

"The night that David Bowie played the Park Hall, his band did not turn up so he did an acoustic set. He sat on a stool and played guitar and sang to the audience. Tony ran that gig on his own because I was away on holiday and Roger was out of town. It was an incredible success considering that David was a virtual unknown at the time."

"I pulled Robert Plant and the Band of Joy off the stage one night because I thought he was awful. I remember telling him that there was no way he would make it with that sound. That must be one of the greatest mistakes of all time. He actually pulled the aerial off my car that night because he was so incensed."

Graham Corns was often on the door at the Park Hall and he remembers some of the nights at the hotel:

"The Searchers played there at the time of the sugar shortage and I remember John McNally telling me that he could not get hold of any sugar. I went down to our house on the Goldthorn Park estate and took him two bags. It was quite funny when you consider that the Searchers came from Liverpool, the home of Tate & Lyle."

"Other really good acts who played the Park Hall were the Moodies, Hot Chocolate, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, Status Quo, Johnny Johnson and the Bandwagon and my personal favourites, the Fortunes."

"The Park Hall had some great nights with super acts on, but you must never forget that some of the local groups were often in support and often better than the main act. The Montanas and the Californians for instance always put on an excellent show at the Park Hall."

"The noise level was a particular problem at the Park Hall because of its proximity to housing. In fact, it was probably the noise that ultimately closed the Park Hall as a venue for groups and live entertainment.

In my experience the noisiest group we had at the Park Hall was definitely the Band of Joy. Robert Plant had to be warned a couple of times for the level of sound.

Imagine telling the future lead singer of Led Zeppelin to keep it down."

The Park Hall also became one of the most successful disco venues. When the 60s were coming to an end, and discotheques were becoming the 'in' thing, the Park Hall became possible the most important 'disco in town'. It was at the Park Hall that many of the local DJs made their name. Some of the regulars at the Park Hall discos remember:

"I was never really that keen on the local groups but the disco scene in the town was very much my cup of tea. I remember going to the Park Hall and the Connaught particularly well. It was at those places that I best remember seeing Barmy Barry, Sheiky and the General. They were great nights."

"Some of the earlier discos were on in support to some of the local groups and others. I must admit as the time went on, it was the disco which I went for, rather than the groups."

"The Park Hall had a disco every week and we used to go up there on the 26 bus. We would get off in Ednam Road or at the top of Villiers Street and walk up to the ballroom at the hotel. It was a great night there. I first met my husband there."

"Barmy Barry was the best of the DJs, no argument. He was head and shoulders above the rest. I loved his humour and he was so outrageous. Every time you went up to the Park Hall or the Lafayette, later, you never knew what he would do next."

While the venues which we have so far considered were located in the town of Wolverhampton, there were some which were as influential but which were located a distance away from the town. Probably the most important of venues was the Plaza in Old Hill. Not one of the local groups who achieved any success in the 60s failed to appear at least once at the Plaza and for its legendary promoter, Ma Regan.

Like the Scala in Wolverhampton, the Plaza had been a cinema and had stopped showing films when the decline in cinema-going occurred in the late 50's. It had been a ballroom for a time before Mrs. Regan took over, but once she moved in, the ballroom became one of the most famous live venues of the 'beat years'. If we were to consider the acts that performed at the Plaza, we would be looking at a virtual 'roll of honour' in British popular music of the 1960s.

The Plaza opened as a beat venue in late 1962, in direct competition with the Civic Hall in Old Hill. The Civic's promoter was Reg Payton who apparently felt that the Plaza did not present a really significant threat. Within two weeks the Civic had abandoned its dance nights because of the immediate success of the Plaza. Within a few months Ma Regan was not just promoting at the Plaza in Old Hill but also at the Plaza in Handsworth, the Ritz in King's Heath and the Brum Kavern. She was able to hire some of the biggest names from the period and managed several Birmingham groups. It is not surprising therefore that our own local groups were extremely anxious to get on to the 'Regan circuit' and play at one or other of the venues, especially the Old Hill Plaza, as the following group members testify:

Roger Bromley of the Soul Seekers:

"We actually got on to the Regan circuit as Dane Tempest and the Atoms. We were so intent on performing at the Plaza because it had such an incredible reputation. It was the place where every group who made it seemed to appear first, around this part of the Midlands anyway."

"The first time we appeared there it lived up to all of our expectations. It had the revolving stage and so you could make the big entrance and it had the knowledgeable audience. It was a class above so many of the other local venues, despite being in a virtual backwater "

"We played one or other of the Regan venues several times but the Plaza was always our favourite."

John Howells of the 'N Betweens:

"We did an audition for Ma Regan and got to play on her circuit of halls. The most important to us and most every other group was the Plaza at Old Hill because it had achieved an almost legendary status because it had had almost all of the big groups of the period on."

When you consider the size of Old Hill, it is amazing how important that dance hall was in the whole story of the group scene in the West Midlands."

Jake Elcock of the Montanas:

"I played at the Plaza as a member of the Strangers and Finders Keepers. At that time there were very few local venues with more clout than the Plaza. If a group was thought to be heading for success, then they had to play at the Plaza. Ma Regan had a lot of influence at that time and used it on behalf of several of the locally based acts, especially those that she managed"

"The revolving stage helped to give the Plaza that something extra. No other venue had such a feature so if you came round on that stage you felt that you were someone important, or at least the group was important and on their way, after all so many of the top groups had played there."

''If you talk to anyone who was directly involved with the music business during the 60s, they will always mention the Plaza. It had something which made it stand out for everyone."

The Plaza may have been in Old Hill and there may not have been anywhere near as many cars available in the 1960s as there is nowadays but many Wulfrunians were quite regular visitors to the ballroom:

"I went over there quite often on a Monday or on a Saturday. It was definitely the big names which attracted me. I saw people like Jerry Lee Lewis and Del Shannon there and it was relatively cheap."

"The night the Beatles played at the Plaza has almost become apocryphal with many people claiming to have seen them who just could not have done. I was there and I can honestly say that they were excellent and did present a sound which no other group could achieve at the time."

"Old Hill Plaza was my favourite dance hall. It was the friendliness of the place and the fact that Mrs. Regan was able to get virtually everybody who was anybody in pop music to play there. I saw groups like the Moodies, Kinks and Manfred Mann there and it was relatively cheap to get in."

"If you played your cards right you could get to see some of the groups twice in one night since most of them would play at more than one of the venues. If you had a car you could follow the group from the Plaza to the Ritz or the other Plaza on the night."

"The Plaza may not have appeared much from the outside, in fact it was a fairly typical cinema frontage but once you got inside you knew you were going to get a really good show because the groups who were booked there were always top quality."

"I remember seeing Mrs. Regan numerous times at the Plaza, she appeared to be something of a dragon but she could certainly get some outstanding performers to play at the hall. I reckon I saw the vast majority of the top acts of the mid-60s upstairs at the Plaza."

"That revolving stage was probably the most outstanding thing about the Plaza. It had elements of the Sunday Night at the Palladium about it. You know what I mean, the way the acts used to go round on that stage at the end of the Sunday night programme. When I think about those days I find it hard to believe that I saw the Beatles, Kinks, Jerry Lee Lewis and so many others at the Plaza. How Ma Regan could get so many great acts on is amazing. She certainly managed to make the Plaza at Old Hill a very special place."