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Memories by Keith Campbell

Opening Guys Limited Nightclub

"In 1966 John (Walters) found some premises in the old Bull Ring, down the bottom of Bromsgrove St, where the fruit and vegetable market is now, which was a beatnik café. (The walls) were papier mache to make them look like caves."I was 17 then and J...

It's a Knockout

"Birmingham's "Five Days of Fun" originated in the Grosvenor house Hotel. It was the Grosvenor against the Nightingale, I think when that happened, the Nightingale was still in Aston (pre-1981). This became the precursor to Pride, so the Grosvenor st...

Beware of AIDS

"When I came back to England, in 1987, I can remember the HIV epidemic starting then, I used to go to my mother's every Sunday for lunch and she'd cut articles out the newspapers telling me to beware of AIDS." ...

First Gay Bar, The Imperial

"I first went to my first gay bar, the Imperial Hotel, in Temple Street when I was 13, in 1962. There was one opposite, called the Trocadero. If you were a smart queen you went to the Imperial, if you wanted a bit of rough you went over the road to t...

Saturday at the Kardomah

"There weren't cafes just the Pantheon, the gays used to congregate on a Saturday morning, lunchtime, in the Kardomah Café in New Street, down in the basement, don't know what it is now, think it is a Ted Baker, and Muji, nice old building with all t...

Guests at the Grosvenor

"In 1971 we still had Guys and then we got the premises on the Bearwood end of the Hagley Road, the Grosvenor House Hotel, which was the original name and we kept it. There were two bars, very large gardens, a nice restaurant that seated 40+ people, ...

Parties at the Grosvenor

Keith talks about his hotel, the Grosvenor. "In about '73 we built an open air swimming pool, half moon shape, not small, about average size, and obviously that became popular, then in the winter we used to put a bubble over it so it could be used in...

Competition from the Nightingale

"The Nightingale, which was in Camp Hill then (1969), moved to outside the Villa Ground, by the Holt pub (in 1975), for years, then (in 1981) they moved to Thorp Street, so I had to decide what I would have to do to keep the punters coming out of tow...

Bringing Poppers to Birmingham

"There weren't as many drugs then, I introduced poppers to Birmingham then, via the Grosvenor, they were banned in the Nightingale, they used to smoke (weed) but never in the bars or the clubs, not that we banned it, they just didn't do it, if they s...

The Scene Today

"A hell of a lot of people, lots of my friends, a hell of a lot of people who used to come to Grosvenor, and Guys, are still alive now but don't go to the scene now. Grosvenor was more like a social club, to be honest, far more friendly than the scen...

Aunty's a real fun place

"The very first gay bar I went to outside Birmingham was Aunty's Bar in Walsall. She was an old girl off the music hall, one bar, very small, lesbians dressed in suits, and it was a real fun place, Michael and I used to go there on the Midland Red bu...