Alive In The Ghost Town. Coventry Nightlife In The 80's

As the 1980's dawned, Coventry had a reputation of being in terminal decline. The car manufacturing industry, backbone of many a household, had been crumbling for years. Decent jobs became more scarce. Leaving school was a frightening experience, as there was not a lot of employment or indeed hope out there. And out in pub and club land, the City had acquired a reputation of being a violent place, the watering holes said to be full of roughnecks out for a skinful and a scrap.
So it was with some trepidation, I took my first steps on the slippery slope of Coventry's social life. And here I feel a need to somewhat rewrite the blackened history of Coventry's night life stature back then. Because, for me, in retrospect, they were halcyon days, a blur of great alcohol fuelled  but mainly peaceful nights, during which I formed strong friendship's, many of which still endure to this day.
My first tentative steps on the social ladder were in The Bulls Head on The Binley Road. It was a robust pub with a strong thriving customer base and as I recall, little sign the Country was in a state of unrest and recession. The Bull's infamous and frequent disco nights did have the repute of being somewhat on the rough side. Indeed the first Monday disco I attended, my mate said, "Welcome to fight night." And while there were some unsavoury incidents I managed to be a passive observers of, I made plenty of new acquaintances very quickly. All of a sudden, I was a regular down the local boozer.
The pubs around that side of the City were all busy even in the week. The Red Lion and The Devon had a DJ on week nights and you could follow the life around, the best and busiest places on any given night being etched in your mind like a drinkers diary. If you were feeling like being in a really heaving place and queuing for a drink for ages, The Holyhead was the place, perhaps the epitome of the 80's 'Fun Pub" although I personally never found it that much fun to have a load of Simon Le Bon wanna be's knocking my drink over me all night.
At weekend, if you were brave, you ventured "Up town. This was a bit more of an unknown quantity, so it was best to take a crew with you, as a kind of safety in numbers insurance policy. Early meeting places included, The Alhambra, Silver Sword, and Penny Black. Then you'd probably hit more lively places like Time Square or The Three Tuns. Then it was onto the nightclub's such as Tamango's, which later became, The Pink Parrot, Studio 21 or The infamous Top Spot which did have something of a rough reputation.
Suitably fuelled, a late night stop at one of the chippies was a must. The Parson's Nose being the one that seems to gain most mention in nostalgic conversations even to this day. Then it was the somewhat trickey task of finding a taxi to fall into. Here, flash points could occur. "Ere, you're nicking our cab!" basically being a code for, get your boxing gloves on.

Me and some of my friends at the time liked a lot of the music considered alternative in those days. We sought out venues which played it. This led us to The Dog and Trumpet, which had a fine and varied playlist, provided you could get past the bouncers who were somewhat, "selective" about who they let in. The first time I went there I was refused entry and on demanding a reason I was informed, "I simply don't like your head." It was a difficult logic to argue with.
There was also, Busters, which resembled a cave being suitably named, The Forty Thieves, in its original incarnation. Busters had a night in the week, where punks, gays and all those cast on the fringes of society danced to an incredibly differing soundtrack. It also had a more relaxed dress code. The problem with this was, it attracted characters who had been refused entry elsewhere and would drunkenly stumble around the venue's darkened cavern like interior.
I have barely touched the surface of so many memories, and places of this era. While times were changing, people seemed more determined than ever to have a good time. Nowadays, pubs are little more than glorified eating places in many instances. Back then, the idea of pub grub was a little known notion, you went to drink, state, dance and if you were lucky, pull. Days of basic needs and all the better for it. The opening hours were far more restricted but this actually seemed to help as a back to mine culture of continuing the session in an accommodating household emerged. So while the 1980's has gone down in history of a time of social turmoil, for me and many others, it was a time when the best of parties took place.  As Chic once sung in their immortal disco classic, good times indeed.