Sad sight The Lea Manor

Sad sight The Lea Manor

Thats a sad sight , what a top venue that was , so influential at the time , lot of the sounds broken there still popular now .....Best,Eddie

some good nights were had there

Sad sight The Lea Manor

just been told the manor is now just a pile of rubble ? the end of a legend

That thumpy thumpy music we played finally took its tole with the foundations sad day indeed loved the place and the people Lyn, Tait and Martin made it special

thepicture you see is how it stands at the moment. it is completely boarded up but if the pikeys have anything to do with it, it wont be for long. the green and gold billboard is still intact facing shifnal, whereas in the opposite direction, one half of it is missing. the carparks are visibly, falling into disrepair and the adjoining lodge which provided extra rooms when the manor was busy, is a sitting target for abuse as its windows are not boarded. "rode by the place" last saturday whilst visiting pete smith and it brings back the memories....just to cheer you up and remember how it was, check out soulfulkindamusic and the last all-nighter playlist.....its brill!

rob.h

Just to let any one who is interested , Shropshire Star tonight 14th feb ,POLICE HUNT ARSONISTS AFTER FIRE DESTROYS HOTEL. To cut it short someone broke it to the now empty Lea and set fire to it causing sever damage to the derelict Hotel , What a far cry from the great days of 'Behind closed doors '

I really liked the snug seats opposite the bar, very comfy, and you could wonder around which is always good in a venue...

sad to see it like this...

Mal.C.

was a regular when lynn n tate ran it

such a shame

so many good tunes came out of there

not to mention my big mate Tony H -- LOTS OF MEMORIES

thats a shame , was a great venue

how do it go from what it was to the above so quick ?

Sad to hear of its final demise.....Had some great times at Lea Manor!

That is so weird.

I was chatting with Julia and Pete yesterday about Lea Manor as that is where we had met properly and I told them about this thread and the sad picture.

Could I find this thread, or the picture and now it's popped up to haunt me...

At least I wasn't imagining it...

Sad indeed. Some great times there. Certainly dragged the travellers in - often used to bump into the Scottish lot who used to frequent 'The Griffin' all-nighters back in the 90s. In fact it always seemed to drag folk from all parts.

Some stonking records heard there for the first time - and the DJs always seemed to dig around in the oldies department just a bit beyond the norm. They were happy days indeed

thats a shame , was a great venue

how do it go from what it was to the above so quick ?

Mike the story of the venue as a soul venue will be told another time/ or has been. But the state of the building, as far as i'm aware is due to the last people who owned/ ran it. Not sure if they still do, but the place closed down and was in need of investment. As they'd ran it into the ground, and bad management when it was still open.

They closed it down after running out of customers and goodwill in the local village. It was then put up for sale, but as with everything they did they were incompetent and wanted far too much for the place. Hence the reason why it's now semi-derelict: no takers.

it also says in the shropshire star that who ever owns it now as, as got planing permission to turn it in to houses, so if there was any glimmer of hope ,that as gone by the way side for sure,

Its a road i dont go down that often,living in shrewsbury not that far away but 2 weeks ago i went to the olympics scooter night in wolves, and drove past the manor , with a car full and no one in the car could remember it ,i slowed right down to show them ,it did look a shambles ! so it was in my head the great night i had there and people no longer here TC , and the one and only Pedro ,blue max,to name but a few rest in peace

somebody please post the paper's story if you can, so people can get the gist of whats happened. it might be a rural county venue but it was loved and cherished with a reverence by all walks of life over 4 decades. the lea manor had as much popularity as the cats, connaught, ship & rainbow, laffayette, 2001 or octopus and thats despite its obvious non-conformity to the northern soul scene, fledgling as it was at the time. infact it catered for all types of disco and bands, usually of the rock substance, but a good many of wolverhampton's well known djs, cut their teeth there. i suppose its only now, in the aftermath of its demise and impending demolition that it will dawn on a good many people from far and wide, how big a part it played in their "growing up".

i for one, simply cant envisage an old people's home on the sight of what, with all due respect, should be deemed a sight of historical musical importance. there's no doubt it should have never been allowed to get to the sad and sorry state of affairs we view now. i feel for everyone who has such fond memories of tait, lynn and martin's monthly soiree that proved to be so educational in the manner of t.o.t.w, whose mantle, i personally believed, it took up. the manor was a torch of hope in a steadfast world of staple oldies nights.

the playlist was in everyway, reminiscent of what i later witnessed at t.s.o.p., terry & lynne davies employed the tactics of giving everybody "a go" behind the decks, so at the manor, the turnover of djs was phenomenal...it wasnt necessarily about reputations....it was more of "whats in your box" and indeed, a lot of tunes were broken there.......shades of t.o.t.w. again me thinks?.

so the lea manor hotel now enters the annals of "our musics" history. my personal rhetoric may be deemed as selfish when i say that the northern soul scene really gave the venue its identity back, but thats what i and many of you will take as our abiding memory, whilst in all honesty and truth, the reality is, it has been the soundtrack and springboard for generatoins who were just looking for a good time.....lea manor was there to fulfill that pledge.

well said ill try and put it on from paper if i can ,there is a photo of the main doors looking in not good,

well said ill try and put it on from paper if i can ,there is a photo of the main doors looking in not good,

A sad end to what was once a great place to go.

We had some great times there in the past.

Sad to hear of its final demise.....Had some great times at Lea Manor!

yes had some great times and may i say pick up some great tunes at great prices,ho how i wish now gone but not forgotten ....... johno

So sad to hear this....WONDERFUL memories ...such sounds that laid down the playlists of today........ Lea Manor RIP.

Could write loads about this once brilliant soul venue even though I have done so in 2 or 3 magazine articles and mentions on this site so best keep it to a minimum. It is sad indeed to see the final nail going in so to speak, even though the thought of it ever making a comeback was remote but a wee glimmer of hope always remained - until now. To say I loved this place would be a massive understatement, the 'Albrighton Family', 'Albrighton Allstars' (DJ's and one of my biggest honours), 'The Breakfast Club' and 'Afternoon Crew', many, many friends who I don't see anymore but think of all the time and the local DJ's who impressed, inspired and encouraged, to those who have now gone, Blue Max, T.C. and all the 'Albrighton Family', love on ya and keep the memories alive.

David Miller.

Some great posts here guys.

I DJ`d at the very first Lea Manor...and the very last one...something i am extremely proud of.

It was a very special place where some of todays big names got their break. But...it was much more than that...I guess you had to attend to understand.

Not a week goes by when i dont discuss memories of Albrighton with somebody.

Chris

loads of people took pics there.......would be nice to a see a representative selection in soulsource gallery........JUST TO JOG PEOPLE'S MEMORIES.....can we get it together brothers and sisiters?......oh, and dont forget you can all still view the very last all-nighter playlist on dave rimmer's SOULFULKINDAMUSIC

Hi

Martin Dixon mentioned this thread to me so thought I'd have a little look..

We've seen the pics in the press too and I have to drive past on occasions and agree its very upsetting,but

it was a very long time ago now and nothing lasts forever.

I think the Behind Closed Doors events were pioneering and Martyn's passion to give the stage to lesser known avid and enthusiastic

collectors to complement and play alongside "named" DJ's was innovtive and resulted in a sense of 'family' and like minded community spirit

both behind and in front of the decks .The guys who played for us had no agenda ,it wasn't about them, they just wanted to share their music

and it was a joy to see the pleasure they got from actually being given a chance to do that ,they had nothing to prove and they played out of their

skins when the opportunity arose.

We had some amazing times there ,some sad times too ..I dont think any of us will ever forget the loss of TC in particular .

Hopefully Lea Manor left a great legacy behind and it paved the way for progressive venues up and down the country..reading your comments

on here tonight is really heartwarming..I think its about 20 years now since the final events there ..maybe we should have a proper reunion,I know Tait would

love that

Lin

..I think its about 20 years now since the final events there ..maybe we should have a proper reunion,I know Tait would

love that

Lin

Hi Lin

It's actually less then ten years since the last allnighter, cos that was 1st December 2001.

Great days though

Lol @ Dave ... still as dizzy as ever then .. sorry Dave ..I was obviously thinking it must be getting on for 20 years since it started ..

I knew it closed 10 years ago because Soul Underground is in its 10th year and I think it must have gone on for around a decade

didn't it ??

Lin

think so, aint sure?

A proper re-union, wow!! wouldn't that be a special event?

Apologies for reviving an old thread, but I just found a couple of tapes I had in storage from the 4th Anniversary and can't play them until next week and wanted to see if any of the posters in this thread could confirm some details. From memory I think it was around May/June 98? and looking at the records played on the tape  most likely Guy,(lots of Stafford biggies) Butch and Soul Sam were Djing, does that ring any bells?

I hope to be able to transfer them to MP3 and upload them to Mixcloud soonish and given the high regard people had for it always wondered why this venue didn't get a themed CD release like many other Venues have (bit like Yate I guess).

Cheers

Steve

 

11 hours ago, Stevecee said:

Apologies for reviving an old thread, but I just found a couple of tapes I had in storage from the 4th Anniversary and can't play them until next week and wanted to see if any of the posters in this thread could confirm some details. From memory I think it was around May/June 98? and looking at the records played on the tape  most likely Guy,(lots of Stafford biggies) Butch and Soul Sam were Djing, does that ring any bells?

I hope to be able to transfer them to MP3 and upload them to Mixcloud soonish and given the high regard people had for it always wondered why this venue didn't get a themed CD release like many other Venues have (bit like Yate I guess).

Cheers

Steve

 

Steve, I will dig out my old fanzine as there is most likely a review as I was at that (and many, many more) night, all the best.

David.