The Rum Runner was a

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

Broad Street, Birmingham Broad Street is a major thoroughfare and popular Nightclub, nightspot centre in Birmingham City Centre, Central Birmingham, England. Traditionally, Broad Street was considered to be outside Birmingham City Centre, but as the city centre expanded ...

. The club operated from 1964 until its demolition in 1987.

History

1960s–70s

Originally a casino, by the 1970s the Rum Runner had become more of a conventional club. One of its first

house band A house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play at an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to bands which ...

s, playing popular

cover versions In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

, went on to become the worldwide acclaimed UK Arena band Magnum featuring

Bob Catley Robert Adrian Catley is an English singer and musician, best known by his stage name as Bob Catley. He is the lead singer of the British rock band Magnum. He is also a solo artist. Biography Early years (1947–1972) Born in Aldershot on ...

and

Tony Clarkin Tony Clarkin (born Anthony Michael Clarkin, 24 November 1946) is an English musician and record producer, best known as the guitarist of the rock band Magnum. He has been the sole songwriter throughout Magnum's history, writing all of the ma ...

. They left the club in 1975 to play their own material of melodic rock. Occasionally other live acts played such as Quill and Jigsaw. Regular late night clientele were

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...

Roy Wood Roy Wood (born 8 November 1946) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. He was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the Move, Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard. As a songwriter, he contributed a n ...

Quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...

and other notable Birmingham bands calling in after local gigs. Actors and staff from the nearby Central TV Studios also frequented the club.

1980s and closure

In the late 1970s the club was renovated by Paul and Michael Berrow, sons of the club's founder, based on ideas drawn from a visit to

Studio 54 Studio 54 is a Broadway theater and a former disco nightclub at 254 West 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Operated by the Roundabout Theatre Company, Studio 54 has 1,006 seats on two levels. The theater was ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In 1978 local band

Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer and bassist Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger ...

brought in a demo tape, and were offered a rehearsal space and jobs around the club: drummer

Roger Taylor Roger Taylor may refer to: *Roger Taylor (Queen drummer) (born 1949), drummer for Queen *Roger Taylor (Duran Duran drummer) (born 1960), drummer for Duran Duran *Roger Taylor (author), author of epic fantasy Hawklan series *Roger Taylor (college pr ...

working as a glass collector, guitarist Andy Taylor cooking and maintaining the interior, bassist John Taylor working as a

bouncer A bouncer (also known as a doorman or door supervisor) is a type of security guard, employed at venues such as bars, nightclubs, cabaret clubs, stripclubs, casinos, hotels, billiard halls, restaurants, sporting events, schools, concerts, or ...

, and keyboardist

Nick Rhodes Nick Rhodes (born Nicholas James Bates, 8 June 1962) is an English keyboardist and producer, best known as a founding member, keyboardist, and only continuous member of the band Duran Duran. He is also informally monikered as "The Controller ...

DJing. The group became the resident band at the club. After playing their 1983 charity concert at Villa Park, they held the afterparty at the Rum Runner. In 2006 John Taylor and Nick Rhodes released a compilation album entitled ''

Only After Dark "Only After Dark" is a song by English guitarist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and producer Mick Ronson. Co-written with Scott Richardson, it was on Ronson's 1974 debut solo album '' Slaughter on 10th Avenue'', released shortly ...

'', featuring their favourite songs from the Rum Runner playlist.How we opened the door to the 1980s
, ''The Telegraph'' Michael and Paul Berrow were Duran Duran's managers, and formed the

Tritec Music Tritec may refer to: * A joint venture between Chrysler and BMW/Rover to produce the Tritec car engine * The brand name for ranitidine bismuth citrate, a drug used to treat ''Helicobacter pylori ''Helicobacter pylori'', previously known as ' ...

company (named after the triangular-themed bar inside the club). The label used the Rum Runner office upstairs from the club as its official address. In developing the club's musical identity, the club offered its rooms as free rehearsal space to bands including

Dexys Midnight Runners Dexys Midnight Runners (currently officially Dexys, their former nickname, styled without an apostrophe) are an English pop rock band from Birmingham, with soul influences, who achieved major commercial success in the early to mid-1980s. They a ...

and

UB40 UB40 are an English reggae and pop band, formed in December 1978 in Birmingham, England. The band has had more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. They have been nominated for the ...

, with The Beat filming a video for their song "Mirror in the Bathroom" in the club. The club played host to an eclectic mix of live acts and DJs, including

Mulligan Mulligan may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Mulligan (games), a second chance given to a player to perform a certain move or action * ''Mulligans'' (film), a 2008 movie * ''Mulligan'' (TV series), an animated sitcom Places * Mulligan, New ...

Martin Degville Martin Degville (born 27 January 1961Strong, Martin C. (1999) ''The Great Alternative & Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 564-5) is the lead singer and co-songwriter of the UK pop band Sigue Sigue Sputnik, which had a worldwide hit single in ...

and other members of

Sigue Sigue Sputnik Sigue Sigue Sputnik were a British new wave band formed in 1982 by former Generation X bassist Tony James. The band have had three UK top-40 hit singles, including " Love Missile F1-11" and " 21st Century Boy". The band's music, image and in ...

, and fashion designers

Kahn & Bell Kahn & Bell was a fashion label and boutique established by Jane Kahn and Patti Bell in Hurst Street, Birmingham, England in 1976. At the forefront of the emergence of the look of the New Romantic movement they designed clothes for notable bands ...

. In 1987 the building was demolished and the "Soloman Cutler"

Wetherspoons J D Wetherspoon plc (branded variously as Wetherspoon or Wetherspoons, and colloquially known as Spoons) is a pub company operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company was founded in 1979 by Tim Martin and is based in Watford. It op ...

pub was subsequently built on the site.

References

{{reflist

External links

Rum Runner pages on the Blitz Kids website
Buildings and structures demolished in 1987 Defunct nightclubs in the United Kingdom Nightclubs in Birmingham, West Midlands Demolished buildings and structures in the West Midlands (county)