Events tagged with "Jug"
Laurie Williams
Laurie Williams was the godfather of the early gay scene in Birmingham, he regularly held parties and promoted club nights pre 1967. He was instrumental in setting up the Nightingale Club in premises at Camp Hill and later opened the Jug. He was know...
Subway City
Large Dance club, opened on the premises of the old Jug nightclub, under the Snow Hill railway viaduct. In contrast to the old Jug, when subway opened it was bright and noisy. The entrance was moved from Water Street around onto Livery Street, there ...
The Jug
The Jug was owned and managed by the charismatic and well known Laurie Williams. Laurie named his club The Jug being an acronym of ‘Just Us Guys’, later changed to ‘Just Us Gays’. Originally situated on Albert Street and later on Water Street, the Ju...
Women's access to bars
Pre 1960s Prior to the 1960s, and well into the 1970s there appears to have been very little opportunity indeed for lesbians to get together openly in a social or public space. All the bars noted as being popular with the gay crowd in the 40s and 50...
Memories tagged with "Jug"
Different bars for different sorts of lesbians
During the eighties Mary visited various pubs and clubs in Birmingham including The Matador, where the old Bull Ring market was, which was quite a good gay venue, with a women's disco every Friday which attracted a broad spectrum of women. She, an...
Great send off for Laurie
Lyn recalls “Laurie Williams died in 2002 or 2003, after I had moved back to Cardiff. His funeral was amazing; it was a humanist funeral, it was packed solid with several hundred people; anyone who was anyone that was involved in the pubs and clubs o...
Lack of women’s venues in 1980s and early 90s
When Inge first came out in the mid 80s “There was hardly anything in town, (for women), apart from the Matador (Lesbian Line discos). I didn’t go to the Nightingale much. I first socialised at the Jug approx. 1992, but it was very hard to get into t...
Laurie and The Jug
“Laurie Williams worked at the Home Office and he managed to get the Nightingale a late licence, like a Working Man’s Club, in a tin hut in Camp Hill. Then they had a political fall out about whose club it was and Laurie was booted out, so he set up ...
Laurie Williams and the Jug
“Laurie Williams was later the owner of The Jug, first in a central area (Albert Street) now redeveloped, and then it moved to Water Street/ Livery Street. Laurie was involved in politics and was a lifelong humanist. He was a good friend and agent of...
Memories
"I first met Laurie Williams and his partner Lionel Strawbridge in 1977. I was a student at Birmingham University where, during term time I helped run the Birmingham University Gay Society, (GaySoc). In the 1970s The Nightingale Club, at Witton Lane,...
One summer with Laurie is like a lifetime
"I first met Laurie Williams and his partner Lionel Strawbridge in 1977. I was a student at Birmingham University where, during term time I helped run the Birmingham University Gay Society, (GaySoc). In the 1970s The Nightingale Club, at Witton Lane,...
Only two bars to choose from
“When I first came out there were only two bars and the Nightingale, the bars were the Windmill and the Jester. I’d heard of the Jug too but never ventured down there.At that time, all the bars were downstairs, there were no windows, it was pretty gr...
Opening Subway City
For the past fifteen years Bill has been running Subway City. “Laurie Williams, who was an icon in Birmingham, and one of the founders of the Nightingale and a very clever and highly camp man, had a club called The Jug Club, which is now the club I o...
Other bars in the late 80s
“I vaguely recollect going to The Grosvenor House Hotel on the Hagley Road with a late night piano cabaret bar. There were also premises that moved from Albert St to Water St on the site of Subway City, called The Jug. One of the proprietors was very...
Pubs/Clubs at the time - 1992
"At that time a lot of pubs were still knock on the door. You could walk into Partners. The Jester was up Holloway Head, and is one of the oldest gay pubs in Birmingham; I think it's renamed now. There's a police station above it and it's opposite...
Robot DJ
"I also happened upon The Jug, off Livery Street and run by a charming older man called Laurie Williams. This was a bizarre venue in that it had all these cheap Spanish wine bottles hanging from the ceiling, the back room/lounge smelt awful as it had...
Sacked on Friday, back on Saturday
Andy Williams a.k.a. Emma Roids, DJed for Laurie Williams, for 17 years, throughout his time running the Jug. "He was a strange bloke, you either got on with him or you didn't. I don't know how many times he sacked me! He'd sack me on the Frida...
The Water Garden stank
Steve remembers The Jug during the late 1980s. This was a club that was located in the same building that Subway City is now, on Livery Street. Two older gay men, Laurie Williams and his partner Lionel ran it and also lived above the club with their ...