A Tuesday night that made music history in Torbay

This is the first in a series of articles reflecting on the birth of rock’n’roll in the South West – and how it all began in Torbay.

The roots of British rock’n’roll can be traced back to the 2i’s Coffee Bar in Soho, London – a modest basement venue that launched some of the UK’s earliest rock’n’roll stars. Artists like Tommy Steele, Cliff Richard and the Shadows, Adam Faith, Joe Brown, Screaming Lord Sutch and Wee Willie Harris all got their start there in the mid-1950s.

Rock’n’roll came to Torbay in 1957. I had just returned from National Service with the Life Guards in London, where I’d experienced this exciting new sound for the first time in the capital’s coffee bar scene. Back home in Torquay, however, there was nothing like it. Local dance venues were still booking traditional dance bands – not a hint of rock’n’roll in sight.

That changed when I met Johnny Aris from Brixham, who had just formed a band with a few friends: Johnny on vibraphone, Brian Waldron on piano and saxophone, John Hawkins on double bass, Derek Dembo on drums, and Ken Buridge as lead vocalist. They had been rehearsing American rock’n’roll numbers but had nowhere to play.

So I went looking. I found the Co-op Hall behind Union Street, Torquay – a space that held around 200 people. The only available night was a Tuesday, not a recognised dance night at the time. Still, I booked it and opened on the first Tuesday of February 1957. We called it the Tuesday Rock Club – and it was the first live rock’n’roll club in the South West.

It was packed on opening night. Word had clearly spread, and people were eager to hear something new. This wasn’t a polite foxtrot or a waltz – this was something else entirely. The response was electric.

Later that month, I booked the Badminton Hall in Paignton, which also drew a crowd. Then came the Scala Hall in Brixham. It was the start of something much bigger. Over the next few years, I began running dance nights across Devon and Cornwall. When Saturday nights became available at the Co-op Hall, I booked those too – and the Tuesday Rock Club ran twice a week until the early 1960s, when the building sadly closed due to a fire. After that, I moved the Tuesday night dances to the 400 Ballroom on the harbourside.

Within months of launching the club, word had spread across the region. I began getting calls from newly formed bands in Exeter and Plymouth looking for somewhere to play. The first I booked was The Tornadoes – a skiffle group from Exeter. They were followed by the Hepcats and the Blackjacks from Plymouth, who brought pure American rock’n’roll to the stage.

As demand for rock’n’roll grew, so did the number of bands. Dance halls across the West Country started to change their tune, replacing traditional dance music with the sounds of rock’n’roll to attract the teenage crowd. I began acting as an agent and manager, helping to book bands into new venues across Devon and Cornwall – and launching dance nights in halls across the region.

In the next article, I’ll tell you more about the local bands and musicians who shaped the early rock scene – some of whom went on to national success – and how we brought big-name artists to Torbay.

Until then – enjoy your music, and long live rock’n’roll.