Outside of The Torch , 1967 ......

Pictured sitting in the car is owner Chris Burton , and to his right , original DJ Barmy Barry ......

Do not know who the guy to the extreme right of Chris is / was , but I would not have liked to pee him off ......

Malc Burton

Edited October 6, 200717 yr by Malc Burton

and now one from the inside circa 1966..love the little boy mooning near the cake?

and now one from the inside circa 1966..love the little boy mooning near the cake?

As I have stated before in respect of this photograph ......

In the bottom left hand corner , is that Keith Minshull sat at the side of the woman in the white hat ?

The stage area is behind the top table of the wedding party .....

Malc Burton

Edited October 6, 200717 yr by Malc Burton

As I have stated before in respect of this photograph ......

In the bottom left hand corner , is that Keith Minshull sat at the side of the woman in the white hat ?

The stage area is behind the top table of the wedding party .....

Malc Burton

is that a hat? I always thought it was a blemish on the photograph and whoever she or he is had fallen asleep.

is that a hat? I always thought it was a blemish on the photograph and whoever she or he is had fallen asleep.

No , definately a hat ......

I can remember my late Mum having one like that ......

The lady is not asleep : she is just waiting for Major Lance to come on .....

Malc Burton

Great pictures , got to say , not having been to the Torch , must say how small it looks inside ? Best Wishes ,Eddie

Great pictures , got to say , not having been to the Torch , must say how small it looks inside ? Best Wishes ,Eddie

As I look back in rememberence , yes it was .....

How the amount of people managed to get in - and the majority of them dance - is now amazing .....

If you look at the photograph below ( taken a couple of months ago of the site where it was ) , the car park belonging to the joinery firm that owns the site , now covers the area where it once stood ......

From the trees at the LHS of the picture ( which are behind the front wall of the car park ) , to the wall and bushes behind the vans , that was the depth of the building .....

It was strange to see just how small the whole area was .....

Malc Burton

Edited October 6, 200717 yr by Malc Burton

I;M

I'm sure Jackie Clowes told me one night it had a reg capacity of 540

Malc ..we visited Hose street about 4 years ago and took some photos, all that was laft was the front facade, we brook in and you could make out a few things but not much.

I'm not sure id I guess they must have demolished it for saftey reasons.

Malc ..we visited Hose street about 4 years ago and took some photos, all that was laft was the front facade, we brook in and you could make out a few things but not much.

I'm not sure id I guess they must have demolished it for saftey reasons.

The walls of the building were there until they were ready to clear the rubble after the demolition of the building .....

The white boards covered what was the main entrance .....

If you look at the photograph below , you will see that the car park wall goes down to the building ( situated after the canopy in yours ) , which is the now the joinery firm ( previously the hay merchants that occupied the building in the 70s ) ....

Malc Burton

As I look back in rememberence , yes it was .....

How the amount of people managed to get in - and the majority of them dance - is now amazing .....

If you look at the photograph below ( taken a couple of months ago of the site where it was ) , the car park belonging to the joinery firm that owns the site , now covers the area where it once stood ......

From the trees at the LHS of the picture ( which are behind the front wall of the car park ) , to the wall and bushes behind the vans , that was the depth of the building .....

It was strange to see just how small the whole area was .....

Malc Burton

Thanks for that Malc , I guess being quite small would have helped create an unbelievable atmosphere at the venue , did the balcony go round most of the building ? On another note , although the Casino was a huge building , I always thought that the dancefloor didn't look that big when the venue was empty ,but took on another dimension when it was packed to the rafters .Best ,Eddie

Thanks for that Malc , I guess being quite small would have helped create an unbelievable atmosphere at the venue , did the balcony go round most of the building ? On another note , although the Casino was a huge building , I always thought that the dancefloor didn't look that big when the venue was empty ,but took on another dimension when it was packed to the rafters .Best ,Eddie

[/quote

Yes , because of the size , it was a brilliant venue in respect of atmosphere ......

Just as a footnote , the photograph below shows how close The Torch was from the houses opposite in Hose Street .....

Whilst I was taking the photographs , an old chap came out of one of the houses , and asked me what I was doing .....

I explained , to which he replied " so you were one of them bastards were you that kept us awake ; it was a disgrace all the noise , especially when you were trying to get a lie-in on a sunday morning ..... best thing they did when they shut it down "

Malc Burton

Edited October 7, 200717 yr by Malc Burton

Malc and Paul------on the way back from Keele All Nighter about 1989, about 6 of us were in my car and we said to Swish(York) --"would you like to go and see where the Torch was?"--as we all had never been ,but i,d been to look at the ruins about 1987, as we pulled up in Hose Street 00Swish looked up from the sunday paper and said ,something like--"you.re taking the piss it was a lot bigger than that!!!" Trevor Thomas then got out of the car and asked an old guy walkiing his dog(maybe the same one you met!!) and asked him what had stood on that waste ground(as it was then--no joinery firm)--He looked at our car and said something like--"Not more of you ,it was a bloody noisy,dirty den of eniquity(or similar) and thank god it,s gone".About 2 hrs. later at Hartshead Moor services we asked Swish if he was coming in for a cup of tea--and his reply was "I don,t know i went to a different Torch to every bugger else"---PRICELESS!!!

Thanks for the memories---wish i,d been born about 5 yrs earlier

Tony Coleby.

Wow! it looks so different, must have been the mind of a youth, but I don't remember the street as it is now to what it was then. I though that the opposite side of the street was wasteland? Saying that it was some 30 years ago. All I remember is that I have never again experienced the rush of atmosphere when I first walked through the doors and I remember that it was 50p (10 bob) to get in. What a place and what amazing memories. Thank you very much.

Steve

ps - are you any relation to Chris Burton the owner? If so, it's a great pleasure to talk to the son of a person who changed many lives for the better.

Respect.

Edited December 11, 200717 yr by steveluigi

ps - are you any relation to Chris Burton the owner? If so, it's a great pleasure to talk to the son of a person who changed many lives for the better.

Respect.

PRICELESS!

Sorry Steve but that's the funniest thing I've read on here for ages.

And Malc is old enough to be Chris Burton's Father!

PRICELESS!

Sorry Steve but that's the funniest thing I've read on here for ages.

And Malc is old enough to be Chris Burton's Father!

Blaggard ! How very dare you .......

Malc Burton

Edited December 11, 200717 yr by Malc Burton

Haha!! pretty funny though, must be nearly as old as me then :-)

IT WAS A SHITHOLE ...........BUT OUR SHITHOLE ............... I REMEMBER GOIN IN THE LITTLE PUB IN THE SQUAREI THINK, BY THE PUBLIC BOGS AND THE LOCALS BEIN VERY ANTI TORCH!!!!!!!!!!! FIRST RECORD I HEARD IN THERE WAS CHUBBY CHECKER JUST DONT NO....I GOT THAT RUSH TOO>>>STILL GOT IT.........CATS ONLY PLACE TO COME NEAR IT FOR ME!!!!

Edited December 11, 200717 yr by ezzie brown

IT WAS A SHITHOLE ...........BUT OUR SHITHOLE ............... I REMEMBER GOIN IN THE LITTLE PUB IN THE SQUAREI THINK, BY THE PUBLIC BOGS AND THE LOCALS BEIN VERY ANTI TORCH!!!!!!!!!!! FIRST RECORD I HEARD IN THERE WAS CHUBBY CHECKER JUST DONT NO....I GOT THAT RUSH TOO>>>STILL GOT IT.........CATS ONLY PLACE TO COME NEAR IT FOR ME!!!!

Nice one Ezzie, Like I say above, nothing has ever matched the rush of atmosphere that greeted you when you walked through the door. AMAZING!!!!!

Outside of The Torch , 1967 ......

Pictured sitting in the car is owner Chris Burton , and to his right , original DJ Barmy Barry ......

Do not know who the guy to the extreme right of Chris is / was , but I would not have liked to pee him off ......

Malc Burton

wow, WHO'S THE DUDE WITH THE BLONDE HAIR? TOP MOP!!

Edited December 11, 200717 yr by steveluigi

wow, WHO'S THE DUDE WITH THE BLONDE HAIR? TOP MOP!!

Barmy Barry ......

As I stated in the original posting " to Chris' right " , which in the picture , is to the left as you look at it .....

According to people I have spoken to , who used to frequent Hose Street in those days , BB was Stoke's answer to Jimmy Saville .....

Judging by the photograph , checked trousers must have been the " in - thing " in Stoke in 1967 .......

Malc Burton

Edited December 12, 200717 yr by Malc Burton

Do not know who the guy to the extreme right of Chris is / was , but I would not have liked to pee him off ......

Malc Burton

Edited December 12, 200717 yr by steveluigi

Outside of The Torch , 1967 ......

Pictured sitting in the car is owner Chris Burton , and to his right , original DJ Barmy Barry ......

Do not know who the guy to the extreme right of Chris is / was , but I would not have liked to pee him off ......

Malc Burton

Hi Malc, Love the photo. I'm really surprised to hear that Barmy Barry was the original Torch dj and that he lived in the SOT area. I'm just a bit too young to have seen him but I have friends who used to know of him when he performed all over the Black Country notably at Parkes Hall Hotel on the Wolves - Dudley border They thought he lived in the local area but probably assumed this.

A good connection with soul music and Barmy Barry is this... I used to go to a club just outside Bridgnorth called the 86 club. It was run by a fella named John Venn who everyone called Esher and Esher really did have a record collection to die for...it was stunning. Talking to him one day he told me the source of his records and this is the Barmy Barry bit. BB used to go out with Eshers sister and as BB was such a prominent dj lots of record companies used to send him the latest promotional records. Now as BB wasn't a soul dj, mainly pop and chart stuff, so anything 'black' or different he used to give to his girlfriend who passed them onto Esher.

Esher didn't really know what he was getting until later when he was old enough to get into soul himself. I know Esher sold most of his records (only 45s, kept 33s) and got over 10k and this was years before the prices went silly, at least ten years ago. Hope it's of some interest - Regards Ade

IT WAS A SHITHOLE ...........BUT OUR SHITHOLE ............... I REMEMBER GOIN IN THE LITTLE PUB IN THE SQUAREI THINK, BY THE PUBLIC BOGS AND THE LOCALS BEIN VERY ANTI TORCH!!!!!!!!!!! FIRST RECORD I HEARD IN THERE WAS CHUBBY CHECKER JUST DONT NO....I GOT THAT RUSH TOO>>>STILL GOT IT.........CATS ONLY PLACE TO COME NEAR IT FOR ME!!!!

You should have gone in the Crown and Anchor(the barrel) or up the road to the Windmill EZZ...northern soul on the Juke Box in both

The Odd Fellows...was for shall we say...Odd OLD Fellows The Sneyd was a bit more upmarket and a few soulies used to get in there too....here endeth Tunstall pub crawl (70's) lesson 1

My mum saved me this from the Sentinel last Saturday.

Opening night of the Torch as a ballroom in the 1960's

My mum saved me this from the Sentinel last Saturday.

Opening night of the Torch as a ballroom in the 1960's

I had missed this posting / picture , until I had a e-mail last night telling me to have a look ........

A great picture , and very evocotive of the style / decor of clubs in the 1960s .......

The place did not alter much up until its' closure , except for Chris giving it a lick of paint now and then ......

Just to confirm again to the person who sent me the e-mail , and before others start , that is NOT yours truly stood near the door behind the railing in the picture , with a glass in my hand ........

Malc Burton

As I look back in rememberence , yes it was .....

How the amount of people managed to get in - and the majority of them dance - is now amazing .....

If you look at the photograph below ( taken a couple of months ago of the site where it was ) , the car park belonging to the joinery firm that owns the site , now covers the area where it once stood ......

From the trees at the LHS of the picture ( which are behind the front wall of the car park ) , to the wall and bushes behind the vans , that was the depth of the building .....

It was strange to see just how small the whole area was .....

Malc Burton

at the time it did seem a lot bigger even packed to the rafters ie when major lance was on and so on. but then my memory remembers wagon wheels 6 inch across or they seemed....

at the time it did seem a lot bigger even packed to the rafters ie when major lance was on and so on. but then my memory remembers wagon wheels 6 inch across or they seemed....

You had me freaked out for a minute ......

I thought you meant they sold WW in The Torch .......

WW , at one time , were indeed 6" in diameter , and had a good coating of chocolate on them : the ones that are sold these days - 4" , with a transparent coating of chocolate , are a pitiful reflection of a once good biscuit ......

Malc Burton

Edited February 29, 200817 yr by Malc Burton

is that you Mr Burton walking up the stairs to the balcony?

Great photo. alas everytime I see one the old shit hole it seems to get smaller...we must have been thinner in them days...

is that you Mr Burton walking up the stairs to the balcony?

Great photo. alas everytime I see one the old shit hole it seems to get smaller...we must have been thinner in them days...

........

Walking up them ? I usually fell down them .......

I used to stand - when not dancing - behing the railing , hanging on for dear life ........

As for being thinner " during the war " , I will agree ; I was 8 stone and 26 " waist ........

I wish that was the case now .......

Malc Burton

Edited February 29, 200817 yr by Malc Burton

is that you Mr Burton walking up the stairs to the balcony?

Great photo. alas everytime I see one the old shit hole it seems to get smaller...we must have been thinner in them days...

Good point matey. It does seem smaller--- it used to take yonks to get from one side to the other but maybe that was because it was rammed

just looking at the photo does anyone remember them introducing the morning breakfast thingy downstairs just round the side from, the stairs, memory fades now but I don't think it lasted long (wonder why!). A trick they copied from the junction I think and that went down like a lead balloon as well

A bloody outstanding venue that just came along right time right place.....................