How the Gale came about
1969
Alan, who is a former Nightingale Club chairman, recalls “The Nightingale came about through chats in bars, people like Laurie Williams, Peter Scott-Fleeman and other people who had parties at home. The straight bars held gay nights and the prices were always higher on these nights.”
“They used a club called the Queen Victoria Club in Victoria Square; the owner did a bunk and took their money. The location was a circular building, where the ‘Floozy in the Jacuzzi’ fountain is now situated. The people who went to that club were fed up of being pushed about and they got together in 1969. They were going to open a club and call it the Queen Victoria 2 International.”
Alan remembers being told, “Laurie Williams said he had found a backer, Derek Pemberton who put in £600 and he had found a dilapidated Indian Restaurant/Nightclub called the Nightingale Club owned by a Pakistani man called Mr Isaac Butt. The club opened as a members club still owned by the Butts and eventually the members bought the club. It was at 50 Camp Hill from 1969-1975.”
Contributed by: Alan 2, 60