Eel Pie Island

[Suffolk Tony]

Talking to SWMB tonight, I was recalling concerts I went to at Eel Pie in the early to mid sixties. We used to rub shoulders with the likes of Rod Stewart, Mick Jagger, Long John Baldry etc.

The dancefloor was very bouncy (it,iirc, was a proper ballroom in ages past), and the ceiling was a sort of black grid with random stars stuck on it. To get to the Island involved crossing a footbridge and paying a toll of one old penny to a little old lady in a hut.

Wondered if any pfm-ers used to go? A wonderful place indeed!

 

[coxybabe]

I remember it well. My first taste of Newcastle brown ale was on Eel Pie Island. Seems a long time ago now but a lovely memory.

 

[jackbarron]

Was still at school when I went there four times in 1969/70 to see bands like Rory Gallagher's Taste, Stray, Quintessence and The Edgar Broughton Band. Out demons out ... and all that. I'd forgotten that you had to pay a toll for the bridge.

Jack

 

[Tony. B]

I'd forgotten the 1 penny toll too. I remember leaving the car on the road by the Thames not realising that it was tidal and prone to fooding, Saw a fabulous Genesis with Peter Gabriel supported by Free. Shocked to find the car half submerged on our return. Oh happy days!

 

[Tony Lockhart]

Has it changed much?

 

[Suffolk Tony]

Has it changed much?

Yep, quite a bit! The old lady's hut's gone; wonder where she sits now?

I think they knocked down the old place many years ago. On the subject of tides - my uncle lived just round the corner from there, in a very old house. I took him home one night after he'd been to stay & there was a corpse washed up on his doorstep.

 

[jackbarron]

Blimey, that would have been a bit of a shock to wake up to.

Jack

 

[wacko]

Yep, quite a bit! The old lady's hut's gone; wonder where she sits now?

I think they knocked down the old place many years ago. On the subject of tides - my uncle lived just round the corner from there, in a very old house. I took him home one night after he'd been to stay & there was a corpse washed up on his doorstep.

Wasn't a corpse. It was Keith on a trip down memory lane

 

[Richard Nichola]

Don't the band "Mystery Jets" hail from Eel Pie island?

 

[Tony Lockhart]

Don't the band "Mystery Jets" hail from Eel Pie island?

Wikipedia agrees. Interesting little place. Might put it on my Rock Tour of London that I was suppose to do when I turned 50. Two years ago!