The Ashby Road Sports Club

The Ashby Road Sports Club has long been a successful venue for discos and private parties in Hinckley. A large room, with a capacity of around 200, it has a large, wood block dance floor, and a raised stage.

One of the things that makes the venue popular is that the club is on the edge of town, surrounded by large playing fields, effectively isolating the neighbours from any noise made by late night revellers.

The Hinckley Soul Club used the Ashby Road Sports Club as a venue for a few months in 1978, attracting a good turnout due to the improved facilities... it had a proper bar!. The music had improved since the beginnings, as DJs were beginning to locate better quality, more current material.

One record I will always associate with the Hinckley Soul Club is the instrumental version of Joey Dee and the New Starlighters - "How Can I Forget" - it was such a simple record, but you could not get the tune out of your head!

It was about this time that a lot of early sounds started to be revived, and "Better Use Your Head" - Little Anthony and the Imperials, "Destination Unknown" - Del-Reys Incorporated, "You Didn't Say A Word" - Yvonne Baker, "That's What I Want To Know" - James Carr etc. were duly dug out and played again, to the great approval of old and new soul fans alike.

At this point, the Hinckley Soul Club pooled some cash, and managed to have an EMIdisc (that's what we used to call acetates then) cut, featuring some of the monster sounds of the day, including "Soul Step" - The Dogs and "Of Hopes and Dreams and Tombstones" - Jimmy Frazer, at the huge cost of 22 quid - that's £116 in 2024. We just couldn't afford the original records - the Hinckley Soul Club wasn't about making money, it was about the music.