Saturday night at The Regent
Reading the pages here has brought back so many memories of my teen years. I lived in Holmes Avenue, Hove, but with my sister Pat and friends we would catch the bus into Brighton. We used to go into the Paris Lounge, which was inside where the ice rink was in West Street. Opposite was the roller rink where we would go on a Saturday morning. Saturday evening was spent in The Regent, the grand ballroom of the time. We would call in The Quadrant and The Galleon before for a drink then into the dance hall; where I met my husband Tom.
Tin Hut youth club
Sunday was a great day. We would go to the Tin Hut. If my memory is correct John who ran the Tin Hut also ran a youth club at a school near the Grenadier in Hove, which we also used to visit. After the Tin Hut we went to The Lounge in North Street for a coffee. After that it was on to the pictures and when we came out up to the Whisky a Go Go. Thursday was an evening not to miss in The Regent, 2/6d to get in and dance to all the latest records.
Have any memories of these places? If you can share with us, please leave a comment below
Such wonderful times
I was born and lived in Hove until I got married in 1965, when we moved to Leicester. I now live in Hampshire and I often visit Brighton; it always brings back so many happy memories. I feel very honoured to have been a teenager in the 1960s and to have enjoyed the good times in Brighton. Such wonderful times we all had and I will never forget them.
Comments about this page
I was a “Green Jacket” (Bouncer) at the Regent about 1964 and remember walking around the dance floor when the March of the Mods was playing, the floor was heaving up and down, trying to walk in a straight line was funny. I remember Bill Longstaff the boss who was a tall handsome Irishman, he was plied with Guinness during the evening to relax him enough to get up and sing backed by Sid Dean’s Orchestra. Each corner of the Ballroom had emergency exits, if someone stupid enough to annoy us, they would be taken down the stairs head first… Also we had great scissor gates that had to be drawn before the Quadrant pub opposite the Regent closed and all the drunks tried to force their way into the Dance Hall. We were paid 17 shillings and six pence a week, about 87 pence. If there was a “bundle” in the ladies all the Bouncers disappeared as they would fight with sharpened steel pin combs.
Despite all this, we had a great time. Are there any of the other Green Jackets still around that remember these days?
Add a comment about this page