Dancing at the Locarno


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This could have been one night at the 'Locarno''..back in 1960..Teenbeat for 14 to 16 year olds. .........................................Eu up Mavis............on yer own ? Might be........(chew

Wish it was still going........could have our next 'Meet up' there....on a Tuesday night...smoking and drinking 'Coke' Collar up and wearing me 'Winkle Pickers'' waiting for Margie.to come o

Anyway not long after Mavis had reunited with ''Big Ron'' i was back down the 'Locarno' on Tuesday ''Teenbeat nights'' Looking for a bit of a 'dance' and 'Romance'...Was working for Marsdens now

1 hour ago, FLY2 said:

OH God Ben, spare us the A to Z !  LOL

 

Reckon i could nearly do it...........using the girls from school i had a crush on.........just my school-boy dreams.......lol

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3 hours ago, MargieH said:

CT. I think the Locarno was PREVIOUSLY called the Vic...   not the other way round.   We knew it was called the Locarno when we went there in 1959 - 61 but many people, including me and my friends, still referred to it as the Vic.

 

You're right ;).  I didn't know the place, so I looked at various sources to check and they gave the correct sequence of names, but I still got it back-to-front.

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My mum had arranged to meet a female colleague from the office at The Victoria Ballroom. The colleague didn't turn up. My dad was there that night, asked my mum to dance...and the rest is history. He forever after teased her that she hadn't really been stood up but was on the prowl for a chap!

 

They got engaged six months later. Married in 1949. Reached their 57th wedding anniversary.  Good old Victoria Ballroom!

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The building to the left was an electricity generating station and there is still some 33kV switchgear operating there today.

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Jill, the place was built and opened in the late 1920s, and looking at the surrounding scenery and fashions, the photo must've been taken around that time. Before then, the site was back-to-back housing so there was no predecessor.

 

I agree it looks a bit un-subtle, but I think it's partly due to a slightly damaged, faded photo.

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I think all members who went dancing at the  "  THE VICTORIA "    or   "LOCARNO"   should have 2 minuets silence for the old lady. Bless Her she saw a lot of lovers, boy's trying it on, girls putting on there stockings, makeup, backcombing there hair, changing shoe,s to dance and much much more, but never, never, said a word.

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It was the first place for me, and I bet many other teens, where I socialized. As a raw, just out of school and into the big world of Work, teenager, it was Mecca. All the latest songs played, you could dress up a bit as best you could on your meagre wages, and have a laugh. Everyone was slim, and to me, looking good!

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I don't know if there was a connection other than the name, but the building which is now Rock City was known as Victoria Hall from 1880s to late 1920s.

 

That coincides with the 'New' place opening in the late 20s.

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A brief timeline of the planning and opening of the New Victoria Hall in 1929 .
 
 
"......that a committee of the City Council was considering whether it would possible convert the boiler house at the electricity power station, St. Ann's Well-road, Into a hall, at a moderate cost ."
01 May 1928 - Nottingham Journal
 
"DANCE HALL
Scheme Approved by the Council. Definite official arrangements are now going on for the conversion of the cld electricity station in St. Ann's Wellroad, Nottingham, into a dance-hall on somewhat similar lines to the old Victoria Halls.  
05 October 1928 - Nottingham Journal "
 
"NEW ‘VIC HALLS’ OPEN. GREAT WHIST DRIVE FOR HOSPITAL.
1.600 AT JOYOUS EVENT.
The eagerly-awaiten opening of the New Victoria Hall* In King Edward-street, Nottingham, took place last night, when, through the generosity of the proprietor (Mr. H. Winterbottom) the Nottingham General Hospital Whist Shield Competition was given free use of the building......"
15 January 1929 - Nottingham Journal
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12 minutes ago, DAVIDW said:
... arrangements are now going on for the conversion of the cld electricity station in St. Ann's Wellroad, Nottingham, into a dance-hall on somewhat similar lines to the old Victoria Halls.  

 

So it seems there was some kind of link with the previous name on Talbot Street (Rock City).

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Cliff can,t remember it being the Victora Hall  as i'm far too young .

, but before   the  Victoria  ballroom it also was "The Heart of the Midlands, 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Great to see the good bricks being palletised in readiness for recycling. Brilliant !

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Phil, I think you must have gone on the wrong night!    The Palais was never a patch on the Vic, but ....barn dances?

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 Can't remember any "Barn Dancers" at the "Palais de' Dance" . I remember the revolving dance floor, and  the Glen Miller big band sound. Friday was grab a ganny night. Plus one l  Friday unch time the Beatle's came Friday   did a dinner time show we went down to see them we were in our school uniforms.

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  • Cliff Ton changed the title to Dancing at the Locarno

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