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The Nelson Rock Bar


Guest pigtailz1981

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Guest pigtailz1981

Hi there, not sure if there is already a topic on this but I couldn't find anything.

Does anyone know what Nelson Rock Bar used to be before it was The Nelson? Main reason I am asking is a friend and I were in there on Friday night, downstairs, and couldn't help but notice the decorative architrave that was on the ceiling. We wondered if it was just something that had been there for the pub all along or if it was there from when the building maybe had been something else?

Any information would be welcomed :)

Thanks!

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Before the block was built, was an old pub called the nelson hotel in the old moorhead area. Moorhead was done away with by the council because they wanted to reconstruct the streetscape to develop the "civic circle". Furnival gate was a middle section of a major connection which was to connect granville square (via a flyover) right through to Broad Lane (via a tunnel). The only bit that was built was this middle 25%.

The new pub opened in 1963, and was busy, but someone was stabbed to death in the downstairs bar and it was closed I think in the 1970s. After a while it was reopened as the Hind. During the 1980s and 1990s the hind was a comfortable pub that used to have regular gigs in the lounge bar upstairs. It survived as the hind right up until around 1997, when it was refurbished as an irish themed bar called Séamus O'Donnell's bar. This lasted for around for or five years. It then closed for a few months and was reopened as a rock bar again called the Nelson.

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It was in The Nelson that I first came across plastic pint & half pint drinking glasses,

that would have been about 1973,

I remember the downstairs bar but can not remember what the ceiling

was like,

it was a dark and dingy place, and the music was so loud that it created sound waves on poor quality beer

that was served up in the plastic pots.

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Frequented the place often 1970 to 74. Would have been about 1971 when it really took off when the landlord of the Albert moved in and made it a rock pub with paintings of Hendrix, Bowie and someone else, my memories fading here, can someone fill in the missing name.

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Morrison would be a good guess.

Frequented the place often 1970 to 74. Would have been about 1971 when it really took off when the landlord of the Albert moved in and made it a rock pub with paintings of Hendrix, Bowie and someone else, my memories fading here, can someone fill in the missing name.

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Morrison would be a good guess.

Had to sleep on this and still not sure but you could be right. Very good art work, not sure if the same artist did them as did the ones upstairs in the Buccaneer.

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After the Nelson it was the hop pickers and grape treaders. Run by Pete and lyn baines. Who's father ran a few other pubs in town. One on division st. Then one on neepsend. Mid 80s

 

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Where is Pete and lyn Baines. They lived. near park head. Then moved to Dore  near Dore nursery.  Daughter zipporah.  Joined army . Brother Anthony was killed in girder accident 2010. At Barkers pool aged 50. 

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Frequented the Nelson from 1970-74 like you guys - usually every Friday, Saturday and Sunday with the short walk up to the Buccaneer and when that closed the Wap. Landlord then was a guy called Don Millward and I remember getting import 7" singles for him from Some Kinda Mushroom in Chesterfield - including Led Zeppelin's hard to find (at the time) B-side 'Hey, Hey, What Can I Do'.

Had plenty friends there and it was always a great night; walking over from The Nelson on a Friday night to see McCloskey's Apocalypse at The Minerva - knew guys who used to work with Raymond Stanley Higgins their legendary guitarist, and I was once mistaken by a group of girls for Dave Seville, their drummer - ah, those were definitely the days.

Don later moved out to Grimsby and the brewery ruined the whole thing by putting heavy emphasis on Stella and little on the music and I drifted away - mainly to the Wap and pubs with a good rock jukebox like The Albert and The Yorkshireman in town, and The Crosspool Tavern (with Springsteen's 'Born To Run', no less).

Great days - gone but definitely not forgotten.

Were you there then - shout out as I'd love to hear from you.

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Just been discussing the music in The Nelson (and our respective lock-downs) with an old friend via email (as they're now in Santa Barbara) and she reminded me that Don, the landlord, would always come from behind the bar and stop anyone who'd got up to have a bit of a boogie - I remember this happening loads of times. We talked about George Webster - DJ at The Buccaneer and later of The Limit fame - and another guy who nobody seems to remember in a venue similarly unnoticed........

The Old Blue Bell on the High Street used to hold a rock -DJ evening downstairs and to the right of the pub itself and the DJ was a guy called Marvin Blue who was usually assisted by a couple of German brothers called Moses and Axel - does anyone else out there remember him and attending any of these? Please say you do and that I'm not getting completely delusional.

 

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Very fond memories of this place i was a regular for many years and could often be found in here before spending the latter part of the night in the Casbah or Corp i dont remember any decorative architrave or anything particularly architecturally striking about it (i would have done as i am interested in that sorta thing) However the pub was a rock bar so was often dark and chock a bloc with people at the weekend so perhaps thats why i didn't notice.

Its always been a pub i think and i vaguely remember it being a Irish bar before it was the Nelson but i didn't drink in there then.

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