New Brighton Tower Ballroom

Desmond Barnes painted this image that was used by British Railways in the 1950s to attract visitors to New Brighton by train. I won this particular example at GW Railwayana Auctions a few years ago, and it now adorns the wall in our lounge. Unusually, it was stuck down onto board by a previous owner and so I had it professionally framed, board and all. The view is up river towards Liverpool Pier Head and Seacombe Ferry. New Brighton Tower is visible behind the greenery to the right. 

My grandfather took this picture of New Brighton Pier in 1931. It shows the Tower building in the background. The tower itself, which was higher than Blackpool’s, was removed just after the First World War.

In the early to mid-60s, my friend Ian Hughes and I went down to New Brighton Tower, usually on a Friday night, and waited outside the stage door to ask performers for their autographs on their way in. It was an important venue for up and coming groups, particularly those associated with the “Mersey Scene.” The Beatles had played the venue 27 times by 1963, but we were just a bit late to see them there.

We were usually the only youngsters around. We met The Searchers, The Big Three, Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas, The Four Most, The Pretty Things, Wayne Fontana and The Mindbenders and The Merseybeats, amongst others. Ian was brave enough to go into the neighbouring bar on the Tower grounds site, to ask Keith Relf of the Yardbirds for his signature. Ian has reminded me that he ended up giving Keith 3d change as he was short of cash for a drink. I think that Jeff Beck must have been there, too, as he had taken over as guitarist from Eric Clapton earlier in 1965. We also missed a few, either because we were too late getting there, or perhaps because they had entered by another route, including Jet [Harris] and Tony [Meehan] and the Rolling Stones, who we reckoned we could see from outside later in the evening, lounging against a window in a room on an upper floor.

Billy J. Kramer was particularly friendly, greeting us with a cheery “Hello, lads,” the second time we saw him. When we just missed Freddy and the Dreamers’ arrival at the stage door, Freddy’s girlfriend took our autograph books in with her and sent them back to us through the post, with the all the band signed up. How nice was that?

The only time we ventured inside ourselves was for the Radio Caroline Club Ball, an extravaganza called Zowie 1 that took place on 8 December 1965. This was attended by Tony Blackburn and Ugli Ray Terret, who were well-known Caroline DJs at the time. On the bill were the Yardbirds, the Four Pennies, Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, The Honeycombs, Twinkle, Paul and Barrie Ryan, Garry Farr and the T Bones, Mark Leeman Five, Billie Davis, Ronnie Jones and the Blue Jays, the VIPS and the Vagabonds. The Tower building was gutted by fire in August 1969 and subsequently pulled down.