queens road
Pam Dor to Astral to Toffs Club 1976
Andre Palfrey-Martin Collection
Andre Palfrey-Martin Collection
Mick Knights…..Seem to recall it was the Astral first, which morfed into Toffs, which was an attempt to go up market, one question on the membership application form was “what car do you drive” I seem to remember putting Thomsons Taxis down!!!
Phil Gill….Toffs run by Margarite “Molly” Russell, the members only den of iniquity where I spent many happy late night hours in the late ’70s? Oooh, the stories I could tell…
Chris Meachen….. I remember ‘Toffs’ used to provide a ‘meal’ as a condition of their licence;- usually consisted of a kind of curried goo mostly filled with baked beans…
Andre Palfrey-martin…..Pamdor closed and the whole market changed it became Toffs in 1976
Danielle de Rijk….Does anyone know a dj who was working there sometimes with the name Bruce Furber? He must be about 54 years old now and he used to live on the Sedlescombe Road in St. Leonards. I’m a researcher for a Dutch television program who reunites friends all over the world, so please contact me if you have information about Bruce. mail: danielle.derijk@kro.nl
Pam Dor Coffee Bar – Early 60’s Hastings
supplied by Peter Millington
Peter Millington….Eric behind the counter at the Pam Dor Early 1960’s.
Mick Knights….That’s the ever popular Eric, the owner, serving. I, along with just about every teenage lad, was banned by him at one time or another!! The Pam Dor had the first Discotec in Hastings, which was on the second floor, a place I never entered, nor did very many, as it soon closed. its second incarnation was the Astral club, which morfed into Toff’s.
Peter Pursglove….i did the door up there for a few years until it closed Alan ,Mollly Russell ran it ,busy little club
Tom Boyer….Great times, we loved it, a fabulous place to meet. Tom & Lin Boyer (nee White)
Sue Bartholomew (Nee Finch)… I remember the Pam Dor, it was the best place to go, we paid a shilling entrance and that also got you a coffee or a frothy hot chocolate, and sit in there for as long as you wanted, it was always busy and behind in Middle Street was a long line of Lambrettas or Vespas belonging to some young lad who was in the Pam Dor.
Colin Bell… Love this photo Pete, met my first ‘proper’ girlfriend there…happy days…
Mick Mepham… Who were your ‘improper’ ones Colin and are you still in touch with them?
Nicola Dobson… Spent a lot of time in there…I remember that seating area..they should have coffee bars again Im sure they would be popular!
Flamingos Discotheque Queens Road Hastings – 1984
Who remembers Flamingo’s?
Matt Thomas… remember of it but was too young to go in. Was thinking about this place recently and thought that it couldn’t have been very big inside
Peter Thomson… I remember it being there but never went in.
Dennis Torrance… Was it called something else before flamingos
Tony Davis… Amongst other things it was the Astral Club
Karen Sweatman… Remember where it was but was a wee whipper snapper and too young
Harry Randall… The Pamdor springs to mind that was opposite the Disc Jockey
Terry Hardwick… Toffs
Max Marriott… Yep, remember it well, my cousin worked behind the bar! Sarah Marriott remember this? Blast from the past or what! I remember tottering up those bloody stairs in my stilettos!
Sarah Marriott… Oh my goodness yes. God those stairs were lethal in heels
Kev Perry… Went there a few times
Pauline Richards… Was that the Pam dor then? Before
David Edwards… The Pamdor was at the bottom end of Queens Road about where Thomas Cooks is but the Disc Jockey of Big Al fame was half way up Queens Road on the right hand side. Remember the name of the Astral club but not where it was.
Alan Esdaile… Both right. Yes Pauline it was the Pam Dor and the Astral. and David, Disc Jockey was further up Queens Road at one stage and moved to the bottom of Queens Road
Martin Richter… used to go there on Monday nights
The Deep Purple – Queens Road, Hastings and Battle photo around 1967
1st photo supplied by Janine Anne Hemsley, 2nd photo with Graham Bradley supplied by Len Benton.
Janine Anne Hemsley…..The girls are Carol Guyatt and Linda Upton.
Mick O’Dowd….Looks like early Whisky Mac. Think that is Pete Horton poking in right hand, Len Benton, Ian “Mac” McGilvary, Tich Turner,Tony “Tweet Tweet” Bird & Pete Horton.+ Girls.
John Wilde…..Wow this is a great photo……but where?
Robert Searle…Another great photo. I see Mac there with Tony Bird
Joe Knight….omg!!! tony LOL
Ian McGilvray….Yeah that’s me (Mac ) with Lenny Benton on My right hand side. I’m the one with the magazine and Tich is the one with the Birds as usual.
Andre Martin…..The reflection in this is the Fine Food Supermarket at the end of Queens Pde, you can tell that by the backward spelling of the name Minimarket and the design of the brickwork. Interesting the ” I’m Backing Britain ” posters can be clearly seen on the windows of the shop in Queens Road roughly where Gamleys or Helfords used to be located. Looks as if the group were on the east side of Queens Road, and the photographer on the West side..
Mick O’Dowd….Confirmation from Pete Horton that this is in fact Deep Purple. He reckons it was taken in Canterbury where they used to play at The Beehive Club.
Tich Turner….Hi All, this photo was taken in Queen’s Rd. We had a bunch of photos taken that day, but I’m only aware of three that have surfaced. One is a great pic of us all in a line, hunched up against the cold, in front of some glass doors somewhere. The other one, is of us standing on the steps of the public toilets that used to be in the town centre, near the Carlisle and we’re poking our heads over the wall. This is definitely Deep Purple. we didn’t actually become Whisky Mac after Pete Horton left and Graham joined, as I wrote. It was later than that. It was directly after Len Benton, our Bass player left and we recruited Tim Duke on Bass. Happy Days, Tich.
Ian McGilvray….I agree Tich
Pete Horton…..Hi from Pete Horton. Sorry about thinking that the pic was taken in Canterbury. I seem to be the odd one out. I cannot remember this being taken in Queens Road, but we were all in the nearby cricket ground with a Hastings Observer photographer on Sunday 4th February, 1968.
Ken Copsey… Great picture.
The Disc Jockey Press Ads – from Andre Palfrey-Martin Collection
Andre Palfrey-martin collection
Phil Gill….My grandfather bought me my first electric guitar from the Disc Jockey in 1969 – a Vox Super Ac, 27 guineas…wish I still had it.
Pete Fisher….bought my first singles here, later albums, sheet music, and my first decent acoustc, a 12-string, which was pretty hard to play.
Alan Esdaile ….I used to ring up all the time and see if any jobs were going but was unsuccessful, as Alan mainly wanted girls working in the shop. Mind you thinking about it now I was also turned down by Woolworth and The Green Shield Stamp shop!
Jim Breeds….Some of my vinyl LPs still have their plastic zip lock sleeves with “The Disc Jockey” printed on them.
Pete Fairless….I used to go to Woolies record dept. to buy singles from Louise (Illman?) but with the Disc Jockey, Stylus, Record Shop, Smiths aand Boots all selling records, there was usually never a problem getting a new release. For albums, The Disc Jockey and Stylus were best but with the back up that Jack would always be able to track down anything obscure. Remember this guy?
Andre Martin…..Having looked back in archive – I think this Big Al character did not appear until 1974, that’s the earliest record that I have, round about Christmas that year. I am sure if I had come across [him] it before I would have saved.
Jim Breeds… I was at school with Tony Harris. I used to ask him in the shop what he thought I should buy this week 🙂
Dave Luck… Us oldies certainly remember the Disc Jockey, a proper record shop, and always packed on a Saturday.
Philip Meston… I used to work with Tony Harris, not seen him for ages!
Andre Martin… It would be good to he a Blue Plaque on the site of the Disc Jockey shop at the Memorial end of Queens Road to remember Alan and all that he did for young people in the 1960s & 1970s. I know he was a business man, but a very generous man as I am sure we have all experienced.
Mick O’Dowd…. Totally agree
John Storer… Remember going in there and asking for “Sticky Fingers” and everyone bursting out laughing! Also remember buying “New Rose” by The Damned in late 76 … Alan had heard of “punk” but had decided to keep the 3 or 4 punk singles he had in a tupperware box behind the counter for some reason. However, once he realised there was a market for this stuff, he would get in just about any single you wanted, even though most were being released on obscure indie labels. Most Saturdays I would leave with 3-4 singles and bought classics from Slaughter & The Dogs, Ed Banger & The Nosebleeds as well as the more “established” punk bands. Bought “Anarchy In The UK” there the day it came out (I do hope my sister still has it … an acquaintance recently sold his copy for an astonishing£12,000) and remember playing the Buzzcocks “Spiral Scratch EP” pretty much non-stop for 48 hours 🙂 Tony Harris became a good mate around that time. Last heard, he was living in Cambridge.
Peter Gladwish… As well as going to the Disc Jockey on a regular basis, to listen to all the latest records, I bought my first 12-string guitar from Big Al (c.1968) and I’ve still got it. Yes, he started selling a few musical instruments to supplement the lack of income from record sales!!!
Jack & Sonia London – The Record Shop Photos from Tony May
all photos Tony May
Tony May… I’ve managed to find the photos of Jack & Sonia London I promised to look for. With LP’s coming back I wonder what Jack & Sonia would have to say. Such a nice couple and they gave us 44 years of faithful service…
Phil Gill… Wonderful couple, lovely photos. Always a joy to visit their shop.
Peter Fairless… Brilliant, Tony! Brings back many memories, as Phil just said, it was – never knew what Jack was going to suggest I listen to next!
Andrew Clifton… Very nice Tony. Shame they never had children to carry on with the shop.
Phil Gill… Always remember going into the booth with a couple of 13 year old friends to listen to Thunderclap Newman’s Something in the Air. He knew we didn’t have any money to buy it, but he still played it for us. And when Hey Jude was released as the first single on Apple, he had a box of apples and gave away a free one with every copy he sold. Diamond geezer.
Alan Esdaile… Wonderful. Thanks for posting Tony.
Jon McCallion… Brilliant place so many hours spent there
Alan Esdaile… Great to see Abrahams in the background and the rack of Steam records.
Alan Pepper… Yes what a great man he was always time for any customer ! Thought I knew a lot but he was something else . He would reel off the catalogue number and everything. Jazz in particular. Fab memories. Thank you. TAKE ME BACK TO THAT SHOP!!
Mick O’Dowd… The real Gent of record shop owners. Never be able to replace these.
Cliff Wootton… Fantastic. So nice to have pictures of Jack & Sonia. They were close friends of Mum & Dad and always had time for their customers. Happy memories of hours spent chatting to Jack about records.
Eugene Hughes… Omg. I remember The Record Shop so well and the Fab Boutique over the road. Then it became Two Plus One in Havelock Rd. I understand Brian Fisher is still going well and living in Westfield.
supplied by Andre Martin
The Record Shop Queens Road – Jack & Sonia London – Video by Andrew Clifton.
A great video from Andrew Clifton.
Alan Esdaile…..I can remember buying my first album from Jack. It was the ‘Bee Gees First’ and I paid 6d a week and he wrote the amount on the back of the sleeve until it was paid in full. I’ve still got it. As a kid ,I used to love looking in the window at all the record sleeves.
Jim Breeds….Lovely memories of the man. And I think the video I saw before didn’t have the memorial tribute tagged onto the end, though I had heard that elsewhere. Nice to see it again.
Graham Burfield….first album I got there was Cockney Rebel
Pete Fairless….I used to love the story of how he tracked down the album and went to collect it for you!
Chris Meachen…..Dear old Jack, He would occasionally come out with peculiar questions, like ‘Were you breast-fed?’ he was such a character
Jim Breeds….I mostly used record vouchers and birthday/christmas money when I was a kid and then when I was working from age 17 onwards I used to save up in my post office book 🙂 I particularly remember on one occasion I pre-ordered (as we now call it – I don’t remember that term being used in the ’70s?) a copy of the upcoming limited edition release of The Free Story LP, a best of compilation. I went to the shop on release day and you would have thought his Mum had just died. He was emotionally upset that he had been unable to source a copy due to overwhelming demand. He said he had tried everything, including phoning around to other record shops. He was still apologising for that some weeks late. What a character.
Mick O’Dowd….Jack &Sonia were one of life’s best. He actually sold me my first Dansette record player and knocked 2/6 off the price for my Mum ( God bless Her) as he suddenley found that a bit of the leather cloth was loose! it was precisely 1/8th inches wide. Great couple. He would always call me “Chiefy”. Did he call anyone else this?
Andrew Clifton…..Hello Jim, I’m Andrew’s brother, Steve. We knew Jack and Sonia for many years. We’d go to the Record Shop searching for nostalgic recordings. Unfortunately we missed his retirement in December 2006 and then of course his sad demise in June 2007. I took the video camera to the funeral to chronicle the event as he, Sonia, and The Record Shop became a significant part of Hastings social history. Fortunately the proceedings were light-hearted and sprinkled with anecdotes, so it became a ‘watchable’ record…so much that Sonia asked for several copies for friends and family.
Chris Russel…..Great to see this film of Jack and Son, but so sad to hear that they are both gone. When I worked at Swift in Bexhill in the 80’s and 90’s Jack would come in every Wednesday and buy stock. At first he used to arrive in an orange Morris Marina that was 90% rust but later would get the train over. As far as I know they never had any children but had several cats that Jack would refer to as ‘the kids’, the most famous of which was Monty. Occasionally I would pop into the shop on a Saturday and knew I would be in there at least an hour as Son would insist that I had at least one cup of tea and usually at least one cheese sandwich.
Lauren Gower….The best kind of record shop,along with Alans of course!just before they close they got me a copy of ‘songs for drella’-Lou reed,John cale…when i tried to order it in Hmv(of maybe it was virgin at the time),they asked me who Lou reed was!!! There are no words for that!
Andrew Clifton… Unfortunately Jack and Sonia. Didn’t have any children as for the railway films Jack took. I think a family friend has got them. We got a lot of records through Jack. Also from The Disc Jockey. Both Jack and Al were great people to know.
Sid Saunders… I got all my music from Jack, a true gentleman sadly missed.
Town Crier Pub – Queens Road Hastings 1979
Joe Knight… Miss old Ray a proper town cryer 
John Otway – The Fountain Queens Road Hastings – 9th March 2017
Sarah Harvey… This will bring back memories….. as Hat Trick, along with Roger Carey and Dennis Wootton, we used John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett’s studios near Aylesbury to record some songs back in 1980. Even remember having a play on Barrattt’s home-made guitar he used on TOTP. 
Peter Thomson… Shame it’s such a limited capacity. I saw John Otway in Cambridge a few years back, touring with The Hamsters. Probably the funniest, musically-driven comedy act ever. Highly recommended to all!