New book examines city nightlife in the 1970s

[dutchman]

Did you come of age in Coventry in the 1970s?



If so a book which charts the city’s vibrant nightlife of that era could be right up your street.

Ruth Cherrington’s Dirty Stop Out’s Guide to 1970s Coventry offers a fascinating step back in time to an era which spanned everything from disco to the ska revival - of which Coventry was the global epicentre.

Ruth’s book celebrates the city’s vibrant, varied and full-on nightlife of the 1970s.

It charts how Coventry’s music and entertainment scene provided something for everyone, from start to finish, and helped bring people together.

Ruth’s very personalised take on the city’s social history charts everything from the legendary Locarno Ballroom - where rookie DJ and future music mogul Pete Waterman spun the discs - to the 2 Tone revolution.

Coventry’s place in the history of popular music will be forever cemented through 2 Tone when bands like the Specials and the Selecter shook the existing musical order up.

However as well as creating an exiting new take on an old sound this revolution was about more than just music.

2 Tone challenged stereotypes and created new fashions - with sta-press trousers calling time on flares and platforms were replaced by ox-blood Dr Marten boots.

Ruth Cherrington said: “It was a fantastic era to grow up in. The sheer volume and variety of venues totally dwarves the number of today – everything from thriving working men’s clubs to legendary record shops like Jill Hanson’s.”

The book includes scores of interviews and rare photos and also revisits landmark gigs by David Bowie and Queen at the long gone Coventry Theatre.

Ruth, who also wrote Not Just Beer and Bingo! A Social History of Working Men’s Clubs, said researching the book was a labour of love.

“It was fantastic to revisit the era,” she said. “Venue’s like Mr George’s, The Bear Inn and The Walsgrave are brought vividly back to life.”

Looking back now from a cultural perspective the period was one of excitement and change for Coventry but it was also intertwined with the city’s economic decline.

The collapse of the car industry in what was once the UK’s ‘motor city’ dealt a crippling body blow.

But the 2 Tone explosion provided a welcome distraction with The Specials and the Selecter providing the soundtrack to a generation.

Ruth said: “It was the era of questionable fashion, go-go dancers, strikes and dancing round handbags. But Coventry was at the centre of much of was happening and it has been wonderful to compile a book that reminds people of what a great decade it was to grow up in.”

The Dirty Stop Out’s Guide to 1970s Coventry is out now and available from all good book shops. It is published by http://www.acmretro.com and costs £13.95

[rebbonk]

A few of my anecdotes are in there!

The F/B site that Ruth runs to do the research is quite interesting, little oddities often spring up.