BEDFORD ARMS PUBLIC HOUSE, THE

Norwich Jazz Club 5?-63

The Downbeat Club 63-

Bedford Beat Spot Apr64-Sept66

closed for decoration 24/09/66 to 02/11/66

Bedford Cavern  ?? - 14/01/67 reopened 25/05/68-

The Progressive Club Oct68-Nov68

The Bang Club Dec68-Jan69

The Cat Trap Club Feb69-??

Not to be confused with the Bedfords seen along the same stretch of road today with its entrance in Old Post Office Yard. Today the old Bedford Arms is Engravers World and you would find it hard to believe how much happened behind this small shop frontage and how influential it was. Originally called The Wellington it was one of the oldest pubs in the city and pre-war the room which became the venue with the stage was a skittle alley where wooden round cheeses would be used to knock over the skittles.

The first big musical happenings here were in the early sixties as the home of the Norwich Jazz Club, which had moved from Gibraltar Gardens Public House. The pub was run by Edward Pops Garner and his wife who also happened to be the parents of Al Garner, a well known trumpet player in the venue’s resident group The Mustard City Stompers.

In 1963 the Downbeat Club was started at the venue, the city’s first Beat club dedicated to the new fad of guitar bands. However, it wasn’t until a year later with a new-fangled décor of severed manikin parts adorning the walls, it became the Bedford Beat Spot, playing host to Norwich’s rapidly growing Beat band scene. Mervyn & The Falcons, Malcolm & The Jetblacks and CBO Incorporated were just a few of the local acts that played here, as well as the likes of Geno Washington and his Ram Jam Band.

The Beat era slowly faded from 1966 onwards and the club moved on in various guises under the management of Gerry Welsh (see also El Pianna). Some may remember the renaming of the venue to the Bedford Cavern and the opening celebrations with Boz and the Panorama on 25 May 1968 or later the short lived Bang Club and Cat Trap Club. The venue closed in 1975.

Mediography:

Bedford Cavern Closes Down EENH&N16/01/67

Picture courtesy of Jonathan Plunkett by George Plunkett