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Croydon > The Greyhound
The Greyhound
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Date of photo: 1970s |
Picture source: Jill
Lane |
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The Greyhound was situated on Park
Lane. It was a set of function rooms with a bar on the ground floor and
closed in the 1980s.
Every Sunday, the "Croydon Blues Club" would hire a large function room
(with separate bar) and put on live music. The Greyhound was directly
opposite The Fairfield Halls, the town's theatre, which also put on live
music, albeit less frequently. I worked as a glass collector in the 1970s(
for a bit of work I was allowed in for free and, I think, paid a very small
amount of money) whilst other friends worked in the cloakroooms.
The venue attracted a lot of big names, mainly before they got really big.
The most famous line up was David Bowie supported by Roxy Music. Other acts
include Supertramp, Elton John, Status Quo (regular appearances), Curved
Air, Edgar Broughton, MC5, Stray and many, many others. Genesis for 50P? |
Source: John French |
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I worked at Greyhound pub in 1980 at
the age of 17 serving beer usually on the Sunday session mentioned, I was
kicked out 3 months earlier for being underaged, every now and then we
pulled down the bar shutters as the fighting began. 2 staff used to share
each till. If the money was down you had to put your wages in to cover the
difference. One time I was working with a new staff member and had to put in
nearly all my earnings. I left shortly after! |
Andrew HIghfield (October 2020) |
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I remember, that I visited a Rory
Gallagher concert in the Greyhound, Croydon – I think – in 1972. The music
was wonderful but what I liked as well was the atmosphere which was a very
special one. As we were late that evening we had to stay near the entrance
door and couldn't see the stage quite well. So we climbed up the radiator -
I was less heavy than I'm today - to watch the concert going on. After a
while the security guard came and asked us very friendly to come down what
we did. When they had passed we climbed the radiator again. And during their
next round the guards asked us again very friendly. This happened three
times that evening - we liked Rory so much and wanted to see him perform -
and every time we were asked in a very relaxed and respectful way to come
down. No stress, no threats what we as young Germans would have expected.
This was the night when I began to love the British people. Thanks so much.
I will never forget that. |
Paul Seck (February 2021) |
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Cant remember the exact year, probably
1969-71 but performing was Black Sabbath at the Greyhound, Croydon. Extremely
loud. Stood somewhere at the back and could only hear the guitars. Most
vivid memory was lots of blokes sitting on the floor cross legged right in
front of the stage shaking their heads to beat of Paranoid! |
Brian Cavill (May 2021) |
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