The Fforde Grene was a public house and music venue located in the

Harehills Harehills is an inner-city area of east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is approximately north east of Leeds city centre. Harehills is situated between the A58 (towards Wetherby) and the A64 (towards York). It sits in the Gipton & Ha ...

district of the city of

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is now an ethnic supermarket and online grocer, CC Continental Supermarket.

Music Venue

It hosted many bands before they became famous, including

The Sex Pistols ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

, U2,

Simple Minds Simple Minds are a Scottish rock band formed in Glasgow in 1977. They have released a string of hit singles, becoming best known internationally for "Don't You (Forget About Me)" (1985), which topped the '' Billboard'' Hot 100 in the United St ...

Dire Straits Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in London in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (lead vocals and lead guitar), David Knopfler (rhythm guitar and backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar and backing vocals) and Pick Withers (drums and percuss ...

, Diamond Head, Be Bop Deluxe,

Def Leppard Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1976 in Sheffield. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drums, backing vocals), Phil Collen (guitar, backing vocals), a ...

, and

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and artists including

Bo Diddley Ellas McDaniel (born Ellas Otha Bates; December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, incl ...

. Be Bop Deluxe played the venue to a packed house of fans who became incensed that the landlord would not allow an encore, resulting in a riot. The police were called to find the carpet under a sea of broken glass and the furniture smashed to matchwood. The band's gear was untouched. Built in 1938, the pub closed its doors in July 2004 and is now one of the UK's largest ethnic supermarkets and online grocer which opened in 2007 as CC Continental Supermarket. The patrons of Fforde Grene were an inspiration for

Chumbawamba Chumbawamba () were a British rock band formed in 1982 and disbanded in 2012. They are best known for their 1997 single "Tubthumping", which was nominated for Best British Single at the 1998 Brit Awards. Other singles include "Amnesia", " Enou ...

's classic "

Tubthumping "Tubthumping" is a song released by British rock band Chumbawamba from their eighth studio album, ''Tubthumper'' (1997). It is the band's most successful single, peaking at number two on the UK Singles Chart. It topped the charts in Australia, ...

History

The pub took its name from a director of Melbourne's Brewery (a forerunner of Tetleys) who could trace his ancestry back to a 13th-century relative called Richard del Fforde who lived in a house called Fford Grene. This venue was at the busy junction of Roundhay Road and Easterly Road A58 and Harehills Lane (B6159). This junction is still named the "Fforde Grene Junction" The name of the pub was to lend itself to a tram stop on the proposed

Leeds Supertram The Leeds Supertram was a proposed light rail/tram system in Leeds and West Yorkshire in England. It would have been a three-line, system with 50 stations. It received provisional government approval in 2001, and was specifically for corridor ...

project. This project was abandoned in 2004 owing to spiralling costs. In 2007 it opened to the public as CC Continental Supermarket, an ethnic retail supermarket, providing fresh meat, vegetables and world foods.

References

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