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73 Brighton Road
Back in the early 70's when I drove my trusty Triumph Herald done the A3 to Weybridge to go to Brooklands Technical College i would pass the Ace of Spades rounderbout and see a club called Bentleys on the north eastern side. I think Bentleys is now the Bath Shop and is next to the golf centre. I vaguely remember going there once when all you wanted was a late drink and the chance of a dance with perhaps a wicker basket of Scampi and Chips thrown in to round the evening off Anyone rember Bentleys?? I also used to go to the Sunday night disco at the Southborough Arms Pub in the early 80's. Ahh happy times.
Comments
Yes I remember Bentleys very well thats why I am here. I thought I would google it to see if there was any information. My brother and I used to work there and my boyfriend was the manager. That would have been about 1981. I still have some great pics of many nights spent there. They had a very good 3 piece band. I cant listen to "Love Train" without thinking about them. As you say, it was somewhere where you could go late at night. I dont think there was anything else like that in Surbiton/Tolworth. Its funny to see it now as a bath shop but still looks exactly the same from the outside. If there is anyone reading this who worked there at the same time, it would be great to hear from you. By the way, the boyfriend manager and I are still friends was just talking to him on Thursday.
I was the drummer in a trio there in 1975, I also shared the upstairs flat with Nick the barman and Jeff the manager, just curious really are we talking about the same guy, I seem to remember the owner was Brian Alexander who also had 'Alexanders' in Bushey Park. Anyway just wondering.
Martin
Hi yet again!
Adam said Jeff was the manager before him and he was sacked because the club was losing money - Oh dear!
Hi again,
Sorry I don't think I read your comment properly the first time. No, the manager when I was there was Adam Solliman. I didn't know Jeff.
Hi,
1975 was before my time there but I also spent a lot of time in the flat upstairs. Wasn't very nice was it? Yes it was Brian Alexander. He had three places but I can't remember what the third one was called.
Yes the flat was a bit grim, no living room as I remember just a communal kitchen as a central point to 3 bedrooms. Was the upstairs 'ballroom area' still full of Ace of Spades stuff? we used to go past the entrance to that huge room on the way down the passage outside the main door to the flat. I remember old tables and chairs and even the big neon Ace of Spades sign was in there. Brian and his wife were a lovely couple, I used to tease Brian all the time about being an ex musician and he was so amiable about it. Ah great times, nice to talk about the place. :)
Yes that's right just a kitchen. No one really used it much when I was there. You had to brace yourself to use the bathroom, it was pretty bad. Perhaps it wasn't when you were there. I do remember a large room full of tables and chairs and stuff. So much wasted space up there. It was a very respectable tea rooms in the old days, my Mum remembers going there. Brian was in a band called The Monotones. I googled it earlier, some old photos of him there. I got it wrong about how many clubs he had. There were 4. Bentleys, Alexanders, The Water Mill (Dorking) and Scotts (Croydon). Great places then but soon became rather dated. I have very fond memories of my days at Bentley's they were good times. It was a good night out and I got paid for it too, not bad.
Yeah I think the bathroom was ok when I was there, interesting about the tea rooms I never knew that. Yeah Brian and Nigel were in the monotones, I don't know if you ever met Nigel Bashem (later called Mark Lloyd) but he was the manager at Alexander's and an amazing drummer and singer, I remember him playing and singing 'Something bout you baby I like' by Tom Jones one night, absolutely amazing :) so good in fact I went out the next day and bought the Tom Jones album. I was only there 6 months or so but I remember this great vibe between all the staff and band members at both clubs, great days.
Hi, you don't happen to have any pictures of the outside of bentleys do you so i can see what was like, i have forgotten.
Cheers
Hi, sadly no I dont. Never thought about taking one from the outside. I dont live in the UK anymore but when I take a trip down memory lane I go to Google Maps and see it on Street View. Memories eh!
Memories ... Do you remember The Lamb in Brighton Road in the late 70s/early 80s?
Ah Yes the Lamb Pub, not the trendy little gastro pub it is now as I remember it in the late 70's. The Lamb was a good old fashioned pub then with proper locals and decent enough beer (if beer was decent in the 70's?). You could always fit a fight in before you left on a Friday if you were'nt careful. Nice to see that it is still open and going strong. Unlike the Red Lion near Tolworth which is now growing a block of flats on the original site.
I am not sure if you could describe the Lamb as a Gastro pub - the only food served there is cheese!
I think it provides a good alternative to Surbiton's other offerings - gastro pubs like the Flyer and Duke of York, bars like Gordon Bennett and Rubicon and the rough-around- the-edges football-led boozers like the Black Lion and Antelope.
The phase "Gastro Pub" was made tongue in cheek for The Lamb. On a rare visit on a busy Friday, the worrying thing for me was that the barmaid, and i use the term loosely was drinking hot chocolate in a mug behind the bar. Not a good advert for a pub that advertises it's self as having a good selection of real ales. She looked like she should have been tucked up in bed at home as she was yawning so much. Must have been half term.....
As for the rest of the pubs in Surbiton, it all depends what day it is and the time. Once it gets dark, get outta town before the drunken f**kwits spill out onto the streets and make everyone's life a misery. Ah, the joys of being a mature drinker.........but not that mature.
Gastro pub? er no.
it is family run and IMO, the best pub in Surbiton, Different, inovative and friendly.