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BRISTOL'S LEGENDARY
HOME OF ROCK
1968 to 1988
Welcome to the official Granary Club web site
which commemorates the 20 year history of the
celebrated venue and the musicians, groups
and disc jockeys who appeared there
2008 is GRANARY ANNIVERSARY YEAR
27th AUGUST 2008 is the 20th anniversary of
the club's closure - its last night of rock.
6th October 2008 is the 40th anniversary of
the Granary Club's opening night.
30th December 2008 is the 40th anniversary of
the Granary Club's first rock gig organised by
Plastic Dog
(Al Read, Ed Newsom, Mike Tobin and Terry Brace)
LAST UPDATED - 19th October 2008
Scroll to the bottom of the page for the GRANARY NOTICEBOARD
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The Granary Club, Welsh Back, Bristol
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Explore the club, its history, the people involved
and the bands that played there including
YES : KING CRIMSON : MOTT THE HOOPLE :
CURVED AIR : ARGENT : SLADE : SUPERTRAMP :
ATOMIC ROOSTER : GARY MOORE : THIN LIZZY :
ROBERT PLANT : DEF LEPPARD : FOCUS :
BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST : STATUS QUO : GENESIS :
URIAH HEEP : ROBERT PALMER : JUDAS PRIEST :
MANFRED MANN : BEBOP DELUXE : SQUEEZE :
AVERAGE WHITE BAND : MUNGO JERRY :
ALEX HARVEY : IAN DURY : DIRE STRAITS :
JOHNNY COUGAR : PAUL YOUNG : GINGER BAKER :
BLUES BAND : BILLY IDOL: CARAVAN :
STRANGLERS : MOTORHEAD : UFO
IRON MAIDEN : GRAHAM BOND
GO
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The Granary is also the subject of a
book by former club disc jockey and
entertainments manager Al Read
Look inside, read the reviews,
even buy it
GO
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You are visitor number
(darn it! That's the second time the numerator has set
itself back to nought. Just add 10,000 to the number below).
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To comment on the Granary book, add your memories of the times you had at the club, to pass on messages to other Gran fans or just to say hello, please visit the Guest Book. You can, of course, browse the book to read what others have written.
Browse Guestbook
Leave a Memory
Please note: Entries are checked before being shown so leaving Spam messages is a waste of your time.
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NOTICEBOARD
Keeping you up to date with Granary related news and information
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THE GRANARY on a SHOESTRING 1979
The digital TV channel "ALIBI" is currently showing the classic "SHOESTRING"
series 1 from 1979. Trevor Eve is the detective "private ear" on the fictional
radio station "Radio West" which is situated just around the corner from the
Granary building. Virtually every time Shoestring makes his way to the radio
Station's entrance there is a clear shot of the Granary as it was in 1979. As all
episodes were filmed in and around Bristol, it is a facinating window on the
city 30 years ago.
Watch out for "Script Editor...Bob Baker" on the credits.
During the Sixties Bob played saxophone, with Al Read on guitar, in
"The Statesmen". They both then went on to play with the Franklyn Big
Six along with Terry Brace and Mike Tobin. Al and Terry, at the end of
the Sixties, joined East of Eden, played far out prog rock and then
went on to form Plastic Dog and start rock at the Granary.
Bob Baker however took a different route to TV and script writing.
For 10 years, amongst other things, he wrote episodes
of "Doctor Who" and is revered by Doctor Who fans for his role in
creating "K9". 23 episodes of Shoestring followed during which
he wrote one, was script editor for all and also used his exceptional
knowledge of the city for scene locations. In recent years he
has been responsible for the "Wallace and Grommit" scripts
"The Wrong Trousers", "A Close Shave" and "The Curse of the
Were-Rabbit".
Both series of "Shoestring" are available on DVD. Search the internet.
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You've got to be quick to catch the Duracell Bunny!
The latest Duracell TV advertisement has the bunny
free-running over rooftops. The ads info page gives the location
as "various; centre of Bristol, UK" and if you're quick you will see
the Granary building in the background of one shot. It also looks
like the Granary roof in another shot. Check it out yourself by going
to www.visit4info.com/brand/Duracell-Batteries/4307
the type into the ISADN no space 63889.
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GRANARY DJ SUPER-ED NEWSOM has resurrected PLASTIC DOG
PROMOTIONS to present a concert many in the area have been
looking forward to for ages. This event should not be missed.
The link between STACKRIDGE and the Granary Club is a strong one.
The first group to appear at the first Plastic Dog night at the Gran
on Monday 30th December 1968 was GRIPTIGHT THYNN which
contained several musicians who went on to form STACKRIDGE.
Their first appearance as STACKRIDGE was on Thursday 19th
February 1970 and over those early Granary years they played
nine times. The first Granary reunion night was on Saturday 11th
December 1998 at Fiddlers in Bristol and the top of the bill was,
of course, STACKRIDGE!
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Gran Fan Tony Callas has set up a Facebook site for everyone to indulge
in some Granary styled digital socialising. He is inviting all those who
worked at the club, visited the club, were club members or who wish
they had been part of of the Granary scene to join him. Go to Facebook.com
and join up or log in and go to "The Granary-Bristol". Good on ya Tony!
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Granary fans who frequented the top bar at the club back in the glory days
may well remember barmaid Anna. She became close friends with
one-time doorman, then manager and finally club owner Les Pearce.
Anna now lives in Oklahoma USA and says that the Granary and Les were
the best years of her life. She's sent us this picture to remind us of them both.
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We plan to have a section here on the web site called
THE GRAN FANS ALBUM
featuring your photographs of your good selves doing what you used
to do at the Granary. Dig out those old party pictures and mail them to
Al al@thegranaryclub.co.uk . To start us off here a snappy snap of
Nick Browning (foreground) and his mates (names please) sat on
the beer sodden club stairs in 1984.
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Recently discovered in the archives of the Weston Mercury newspaper
by David Andrews was this cutting which shows an advertisement in 1971
for Plastic Dog's one and only festival. Despite it being an enormous failure
(the festival was moved at the last moment and we forgot to tell anyone -
and, of course, it rained) it was noticed by a crazy farmer in Glastonbury
who came to us for advice on how to run one. He did quite well actually!
A report on the festival appeared in a later edition of the Weston Mercury.
It was written by rookie reporter Nigel Dando who nowadays is main man
broadcaster with BBC Radio Bristol. The report read "
POP AND COWS GO TOGETHER AT TARNOCK
The extravagant strains of pop music mingled with the lowing of cows
in the peaceful countryside of Tarnock last Friday with the arrival
of a one-day open air festival. The event was held on Manor Farm
(re-named "Pleasure Acres" by Plastic Dog!) owned by Mr. Bernad
Starks just a few hundred yards from the busy A38 holiday route.
Throughout the day gaily dressed youngsters, many of them hippies,
arrived at the farm to listen to the sounds, bask in the warm sunshine
and generally enjoy themselves.
By late evening there were about 900 young people there, either sitting
and listening to the music, having a drink in the well equipped beer
tent or setting up tents to camp out for the night.
But at 10 o'clock the music was overwhelmed by claps of thunder
as the forks of blue lightning lit up the arena. This was son et lumiere
on a giant scale and, soon after, a deluge of rain hit the area forcing
performers and audience to scatter for shelter in all directions.
Many of them took refuge in the beer tent and while the stage was
temporarily awash, they were treated to two hours of
"Tom and Jerry" cartoons flashed upon to the stage.
Because of the risk to the electronic equipment music had to be
delayed but, in the early hours of the morning, it was resumed
and the festival finally ended just before dawn.
Organisers Al Read, Terry Brace of the Plastic Dog Agency in Bristol
are to be congratulated on the way they handled the event. They
managed to provide a fine balance of folk and rock music with
such people as Westonian Ian Anderson, Stackridge, Pigsty
Hill Light Orchestra, Crossbow, Climax Chicago, Spring,
Birth and Squidd.
The only dampener was that Plastic Dog made a small
financial loss. Undaunted, the agency say they intend to hold
another festival next year, this time further away
from main roads and with big-name groups playing over
a longer period.
We never did run another festival but we did carry on promoting
at the Granary and putting on major concerts at the Winter Gardens
in Malvern (Derek and the Dominoes, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Yes).
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Granary DJs Ed Newsom, Al Read, Ade Copley and Adrian Coleman
met on one of the few sunny days in the summer of 2008 to drink,
barbecue and discuss the order of rock classics for the
Granareunited 11 gig on Sunday 25th August 2008.
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The Granary Anniversary year created a lot of interest from the media
with Ed and Al doing many interviews on the local radio stations as well
a number of articles in the local press. The Bristol Evening Post devoted
several pages of their "Past Times" section to the club's rock history
with Al and Ed pictured outside of the Granary building as their front cover.
For features on DJ ANDY FOX on GTFM radio - 70's progressive rock
band SQUIDD on CD - GRANARY stall at Bristol's 2007 jazz festival -
Full listing of 60's and 70's bands at Weston Winter Gardens -
Go to NOTICEBOARD 2
GO
GRANARY REUNION EVENTS TAKE PLACE REGULARLY.
TO ADD YOUR NAME TO THE MAILING LIST FOR FUTURE EVENTS
EMAIL AL al@thegranaryclub.co.uk
WITH THE MESSAGE "I WANNA BE THERE"
THE NEXT ONE WILL BE ON SUNDAY 28th DECEMBER 2008
celebrating 40 years since the first Granary rock gig
TO FIND OUT ALL ABOUT THE GRANAREUNITED GIGS
THAT HAVE ALREADY TAKEN PLACE - CLICK THE GREEN GO
GO
_________________________________________________________________
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SPECIAL OFFERS DIRECT FROM 'THE GRANARY CLUB.CO.UK
"THE GRANARY CLUB - THE ROCK YEARS 1969 to 1988"
Al Read's book that charts the rock history of Bristol's legendary club.
BUY DIRECT for the special price of
£10 with FREE postage
GRANARY 'roll of honour'
top quality Tshirts in Black or White.
 
BUY DIRECT for
£10 (with FREE postage).
The design incorporates the Granary logo with a colourful listing of the
major groups that appeared at the club and a graphic of the Granary building.
TO ORDER
1. Send an email to al@thegranaryclub.co.uk with the following details -
Name / address / email address or contact phone number.
State 'book'
(note - the book will be signed by the author so if you would like
a further message or dedication please include the information)
0r 'Tshirt' black' / 'Tshirt white' / size - medium / large / extra large.
2. Go to www.paypal.com, Log in or sign up,
click 'send money', enter 'agread@blueyonder.co.uk' in the 'to' box,
enter £10 (for book or for Tshirt) in the amount box,
click 'goods' and 'confirm'.
Al will confirm your order by email/phone.
Please allow 7 to 10 days for delivery.
Phone contact 0117-9080571 for information.
OR
Send cash or cheque / postal order for the correct amount
made payable to 'Al Read' to
Al Read,
10, Melbourne Road,
Bishopston,
Bristol BS7 8LB
and include the following details -
Name / address / email address or contact phone number.
State 'book' (note - the book will be signed by the author so if you would like
a further message or dedication please include the information)
0r 'Tshirt' black' / 'Tshirt white' / size - medium / large / extra large.
Al will confirm order by email or phone. Please allow 7 to 10 days for delivery.
Phone contact for information 0117-9080571
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To contact Al Read
please leave a
message in the
guest book.
All entries are checked
before beingshown . |
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Al back then
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When I was four, I told my mother
'I want to be a rock star when I grow up.'
She said, 'You can't do both".
A quote from Steven Tyler of Aerosmith
I'm getting on in years now and when
my wife said to me
"Let's run upstairs and make love"
I said "I can't do both".
A quote from country star Brad Paisley
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