Today I relate some more tales from Scouseland that I have acquired over the years. Back in the seventies, the main nightclubs there were the Grafton and the notorious She Club. One friend related a story of a coach party going to Liverpool for a big night out, and ended up at the She Club. Due to the size of the party wanting entrance, one small but very broad doorman, told this guy that they all could come in but they were going to be watched, and any hint of trouble, then they were all out instantly. "Well", he said, "we were having a great time but as usual there is always one that spoils it for everyone. This bouncer grabs the lad starting trouble, and with one hand around his neck, he lifts him off the floor and says to me, "All of you out now or you`re fucking dead!" They did not argue. He also related another tale of nightlife in Liverpool, when he witnessed two huge doormen kicking the living daylights out of some fellow. "One kicked him, he hit the wall immediately behind him, he rolled back from the wall, where he was met with a kick from the other. This happened a number of times. I did not hang about, and moved away quick!"
Another tale is from a guy I worked with in the eighties, who was from a criminal family in Liverpool, though he was apparently the only one who was not an out and out villain. He did "help out" his family in disputes with anybody. One such touch of "help" involved a guy being held against a wall whilst he drove a car into his legs! He also kept a sawn off in his home "just in case!" He did have opinions about certain hard men. "Eddie Bean? Handy feller but there are guys smaller than him that can flatten him" (Bean was a hard nut doorman who ran into the "Stanley Boys") "Eddie Palmer? A very handy guy with his fists" (Ricky Tomlinson remembered him being doorman at the Colombo Club and said Palmer was a knock out merchant)
Getting more up to date, one mechanic I worked with told of running back to Liverpool, none other than Curtis Warrens` main man, Johnny Phillips, who casually opened the glove box to show off the gun he had in there. This mechanic worked at the garage that Phillips took his car to. He said he shit himself when he was shown the gun, as he then kept looking around for signs of an ambush as Phillips had had a serious fall out with other Liverpool villains, and this was well known around Liverpool and Birkenhead.
A great friend of mine, Keith died quite recently and he often spoke of a relative who worked on the door at the She club, and the night he saw him in action. They were having a private do at some club when seven lads wanted to come in but when told they could not, started some trouble. This guy told Keith to hold his drink for him, went out and flattened all seven of them! I will not put his name.
I will, it was Jobo Jones.
ReplyDelete