Feeling My Age

In October 1967 I saw blues guitarist Freddie King perform here with Chicken Shack - who were both his opening act and backing band. Freddie himself is long dead - killed by a heart attack in 1976 according to Wikipedia at the age of 42. Chicken Shack continues to this day, fronted as ever by guitarist Stan Webb. Their keyboard player back in 1967 was Christine Perfect, who subsequently married John McVie, joined Fleetwood Mac and moved to LA in the early 70s. The rest is legend. The gig was rammed and took place in the upstairs room at the Manor House pub - after which the nearby tube station was named. Today, a sign is offering that first floor venue on leasehold as a standalone nightclub. It was something of a shock to see that the main pub premises is now a CostCutter supermarket. Similar oblivion has overtaken nearly all the other legendary London venues of the 1960s - the Marquee, Speakeasy, Scotch of St James, Crawdaddy, Bag o’ Nails… Even the last survivor - the venerable 100 Club, slap bang in the heart of central London - has only just been reprieved thanks to a last minute intervention by Sir Paul Macca. It makes me wonder whether there’ll be similar campaigns to save the Camden Barfly, Lexington, Buffalo Bar, 93 Feet East, Dublin Castle and The Old Blue Last in another 40 years’ time, fronted by the likes of Sir Mike Skinner or Sir Pete Doherty. We’ll never know. Well, you might - but I won't. Like the magnificent Freddie, I’ll very definitely have left the building by then...