Coalville Tiffanys All-nighters and All-dayers
Location: Coalville, Leicestershire
Date: 1975 - 1978
became Coalville Tiffanys
Northern soul in Coalville actually occurred in two different time periods. In 1975, Coalville Tiffanys ran an all-dayer and an all-nighter, which closed and re-opened, only to close again. On both occasions, the closure was the result of the local authorities objecting to the licence due to alleged drug abuse.
During the first season, Coalville Tiffanys was only partially successful. Never a major venue, it attracted mediocre crowds. A two room venue, the main room played current sounds, and the 'Bali Hai' room (did every Mecca establishment have a Bali Hai room?) served as a sort of Mr. Ms. The music was heavily influenced by the Wigan Casino playlist, and they sold chicken in a basket as well. Not many takers though (I wonder why?).
Newspaper Cutting
During the second season, it became a major commercial success. Largely due to the promotional skills of a certain Mr. Chris King, the all-nighter soon began to pull in large crowds.
However, the quality of the music sometimes left something to be desired. Tracks like Tim Tam and the Turn-Ons "Wait A Minute" and Wynder K. Frogg "Green Door" were being played to death, and most soul lovers were praying for Soul Sam to come on, only then to be treated to The Camp "Marching" (Mummy's little soldier... URGH!).
There seemed to be a bit of a shortage of quality new material at the time, and a lot of classic oldies like "Trampoline" by The Spencer Davis Group, "Tightrope" by Inez And Charlie Foxx and "Dust My Broom" by Ike and Tina Turner were being recycled. It was a bit of a rough patch for northern soul.
Coalville Tiffanys was always on a loser though, as the authorities were seemingly obsessed with shutting it down. Here's another news article reporting the refusal of a licence.
Everyone was searched on entry, and I remember a mate of mine being whisked away (at an all-dayer!!!) to be treated to "a few questions" behind closed doors. He emerged about an hour later, white as a sheet, having been interrogated heavily. He was not found with anything illegal in his possession, but had been suspected of being a drug dealer. It appears that the only thing he could have done that might have aroused the suspicions of the Drugs Squad was the receipt of money for seats on a coach trip to an up-and-coming soul event.
Due to the close proximity of Coalville to Hinckley (about 13 miles) you can imagine that Coalville Tiffanys was very popular with the Hinckley locals. Here's a few photos from back in the day.
The second season of Coalville Tiffanys all-nighters ended in August 1978. By a quirk of fate, a recording of the last night of Coalville Tiffanys still exists, featuring the aforementioned Chris King at the decks, playing a monster tune of the time "Village Of Tears" by Ben Zine. Click "play" on the audio player to listen. There is some more audio from Coalville Tiffanys on the Live Venues page.
There are still occasional northern soul events in Coalville, all-nighters having been run over the years at the West End Club. These seemed sporadic in occurance, so check Soul Source for more event information.
