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The Clarence Pub..



Feb 23, 2009
22,840
Brighton factually.....
found this on a biker page about the Clarence Pub...

Anyone used to go ?

The Clarence was situated on North Road.

If you rode a British bike (I rode a Norton Commando), and loved rock'n'roll and rockabilly, then The Clarence was a great place to be on a Saturday night in the late 1970's. It never made any pretence to be anything other than a working mans pub. I recall that during the week, the patrons would be dock workers and occasionally foreign sailors.
The regular Saturday DJ was Rockin' Bill ( I never did know his last name). He was a great guy, and a real holdover from the Teddy Boy era. He had a huge collection of 1950's and early 1960's tunes that you just couldn't hear anywhere else. I can still hear "Black Slacks" by Joe Bennett and the Sparkletones, and "Washing Machine Boogie" by the Echo Valley Boys. Bill was the guy that first sparks my interest in American rockabilly - which continues today, some 30+ years later.
The Clarence also hosted some great rockabilly bands such as Matchbox, and Crazy Cavan and the Rhythm Rockers. The place would be bursting at the seams if either of those two were playing.
Every now and then we would go there on a Friday night. Much quieter than Saturday, but I recall that the music was good even without Bill to spin the tunes. A huge added attraction for all the guys on Friday nights was that a couple of the local ladies (I think one of them was named Cindy) would slip out of the bar around 8:30 or so to change out of their street clothes and into bikinis. They would then reappear and dance go-go style, moving around the bar and the large room off to the left. After a while they would take their bikini tops off, and dance topless. Looking back on it, this probably violated all sorts of laws, but it was a great time.
On a Saturday, the bikes would all be parked on the opposite side of the street. BSA, Triumph, AJS, Velocette, Norton, Triton...hardly a Jap bike to be seen. Although I do remember one guy who rode a Yamaha XS 650. What a great group of guys too. Mickey Russell and Pony, Wilf and Diane (tragically, Wilf was subsequently stabbed to death outside another pub in Brighton), Ross Haffenden and his always dazzling 850 Commando, Micky Moses, Terry Tippett, and many others who's names I have forgotten. Every now and then an "out of towner" or a jap bike rider would show up and a drag race would ensue. It usually started at the intersection of North Street and Church Road and would run eastward past the Clarence, ending at the intersection with Station Road. North Street ran slightly uphill from Church Road, and the ridge where the road flattened out was just west of the Clarence. You had to roll off the throttle a little as you went over the ridge to ensure that you had control when you landed. On one occasion, the out of towner had no clue, landed hard and just laid it down at about 60 mph. A huge shower of sparks and much embarrassment, but thankfully he had no serious injuries.
I moved to the U.S. in 1980 (and now ride Harleys instead of Nortons). I still make it back to Sussex at least once a year. It is sad for me to see that so many of the old haunts - including The Clarence - have been bulldozed and replaced with characterless modern buildings
 








The red pepper kid

Active member
Dec 30, 2014
663
Yes I used to work with the guy that DJ on Friday;s --cant remember his name thou, we worked at a tyre fitters behind hove station specializing in American , 4x4 and aftermarket wheels and tyres , born in 66 my visits to the Clarence were limited-well none !.
but plenty still talk about it,
Micky Moses (binsie) goes to away matches with us --still a nightmare !, he has a mechanics workshop behind Portland road off the top of school road in Hove, we often bump into people from his era on away journeys.
met him when our kids under 8 played for the same side-his boy Shane went to play for Worthing Town and mine stayed at BN Wanderers we used to meet up in the Railway (portslade) to wind each other up about who boy was in the best team---amazing how emotional kids football gets !
The railway is a trendy Knobs café now !
 






BN9 BHA

DOCKERS
NSC Patreon
Jul 14, 2013
21,451
Newhaven
The Clarence Pub was in North Street Portslade.

After reading the story in the opening post I thought this was about a pub in North Road Brighton, the story doesn't mention Brighton but it says North Road at the top.
 








BN9 BHA

DOCKERS
NSC Patreon
Jul 14, 2013
21,451
Newhaven
Thanks for confirming what I suspected that it was Portslade. Makes far more senset then.

I was a bit young to go into pubs in the late 70s, but I am interested in Brighton history, I thought I would look for some details on this pub as the story said that during the week the patrons would be dock workers and the occasional foreign sailors.

I thought North Road Brighton was nowhere near any docks, so it must have been in Portslade.
 



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