Up the Fire Escape and Through the Kitchens pp 137-200 The recollections of Patti Sommers & Tony Jover The Night Out Theatre Restaurant in Horsefair,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, was one of the country's premier cabaret venues throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. The venue was custom built, with interior design by Todd Kingman. A 1400-seat auditorium, with all seats dining, was similar in style to the 'Moulin Rouge' but more glitzy. The kitchen served an average of 1000 meals per night, six nights a week, and was split into two in later years, with 'Kitchen 2' dealing exclusively with the a-la-carte part of the extensive menu. The venue was owned and operated by Trust House Forte (THF),

Forte Group Forte Group plc was a British hotel and restaurant company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it was acquired by Granada in 1996. Its head office was in the London Borough of Camden. ...

later 'Entam Leisure' (part of the Forte Group), then 'First Leisure', which also controlled London's 'Talk of the Town'

Talk of the Town (nightclub) The Hippodrome is a building on the corner of Cranbourn Street and Charing Cross Road in the City of Westminster, London. The name was used for many different theatres and music halls, of which the London Hippodrome is one of only a few s ...

and 'The Golden Garter' in Manchester. The Night Out first opened in April 1975 with a house band under Eddie Gray with lead singer Patti Sommers. The very first headline act to appear was 'Dana'

Dana_Rosemary_Scallon Dana Rosemary Scallon (born Rosemary Brown; 30 August 1951), known professionally as Dana, is an Irish singer and former politician who served as Member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2004. While still a schoolgirl she won the 1970 ...

The original resident group was Moonlight, followed by Misty Morning, Delta Dawn, and finally Dinsdale from 1978 through to the end. The First General Manager was Clive Preston, later succeeded by Paul Lillicrap. In the late 1970s Eddie Gray and Patti Sommers left The Night Out and the venue's musical directorship came under the late Roger Rae. Successive Stage Directors were Dave Goddard, Tony Jover, Cliff Dix and finally Martin Tasker. The first resident compere was Scott Paul Young, who was followed by Ricki Disoni, and Frank Patterson. The venue featured a huge range of major star artists during its existence, had royalty (Princess Anne) 'the Princess Royal' in its audience on one occasion, was the host venue for the 1981 Eurovision broadcast of 'Miss Europe'

Miss Europe Miss Europe is a beauty pageant for European women from all over Europe. It was established in February 1927 by Fanamet, the European distributor of Paramount, as a one-off event where the winner was to star in a film directed by Friedrich ...

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and provided a nightly 'five hours non-stop show'. The nightly 'House Show' which preceded the top of the bill act was staged and choreographed by Jean Clarke and produced by David Wiseman but was eventually scrapped in a cost-cutting exercise that finally led to the venue becoming a disco (The Dome). Notable performers included:-

The Drifters The Drifters are several American doo-wop and R&B/soul vocal groups. They were originally formed as a backing group for Clyde McPhatter, formerly the lead tenor of Billy Ward and his Dominoes in 1953. The second group of Drifters, formed in ...

, Cannon and Ball,

Madeline Bell Madeline Bell (born July 23, 1942) is an American soul singer, who became famous as a performer in the UK during the 1960s and 1970s with pop group Blue Mink, having arrived from America in the gospel show ''Black Nativity'' in 1962, with the ...

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, Roy Orbison,

Charles Aznavour Charles Aznavour ( , ; born Shahnour Vaghinag Aznavourian, hy, Շահնուր Վաղինակ Ազնավուրեան, ; 22 May 1924 – 1 October 2018) was a French-Armenian singer, lyricist, actor and diplomat. Aznavour was known for his dist ...

Freddie Starr Freddie Starr (born Frederick Leslie Fowell; 9 January 1943 – 9 May 2019) was an English stand up comedian, impressionist, singer and actor. Starr was the lead singer of Merseybeat rock and roll group the Midniters during the early 1960s, an ...

, Tom O'Connor,

Lulu (singer) Lulu Kennedy-Cairns (born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie; 3 November 1948) is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality. Noted for her powerful singing voice,Lulu, ''I Don't Want to Fight'', Time Warner Books, 2002. p. 214 Lulu ...

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Tony Christie Anthony Fitzgerald (born 25 April 1943), known professionally as Tony Christie, is an English musician, singer and actor. He is best known for his recording of "(Is This the Way To) Amarillo", a double UK chart success. Career 1960s to 1970 ...

, Jack Jones,

Wall Street Crash The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange colla ...

David Essex David Essex (born David Albert Cook; 23 July 1947) is an English singer, songwriter, and actor. Since the 1970s, he has attained 19 Top 40 singles in the UK (including two number ones) and 16 Top 40 albums. Internationally, Essex had the most ...

The New Vaudeville Band The New Vaudeville Band was a group created by songwriter Geoff Stephens in 1966 to record his novelty composition "Winchester Cathedral", a song inspired by the dance bands of the 1920s and a Rudy Vallee megaphone-style vocal. To his surprise, ...

Sacha Distel Alexandre "Sacha" Distel (29 January 1933 – 22 July 2004) was a French singer, guitarist, songwriter and actor who had hits with a cover version of "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" in 1970, which reached No 10 in the UK Charts, " Scoubidou" ...

The Grumbleweeds The Grumbleweeds are an award winning British comedy band, performing music and comedy. They were mostly popular on radio and television in the 1980s, including ''The Grumbleweeds Radio Show'' which ran from 1979 to 1988 on BBC Radio 2

Johnny Dankworth Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly, females. Varian ...

and Cleo Laine,

The Nolans The Nolans are an Anglo-Irish girl group who formed in Blackpool in 1974 as the Nolan Sisters, before changing their name in 1980. Often referred to as Ireland's ''First Family of Music'', they were the first Irish performing family to achiev ...

Harry Secombe Sir Harold Donald Secombe (8 September 1921 – 11 April 2001) was a Welsh comedian, actor, singer and television presenter. Secombe was a member of the British radio comedy programme ''The Goon Show'' (1951–1960), playing many characters, m ...

Labbi Siffre Claudius Afolabi Siffre (born 25 June 1945) is a British singer, songwriter and poet. Siffre released six albums between 1970 and 1975, and four between 1988 and 1998. His best known compositions include " It Must Be Love" which reached number 1 ...

, Gene Pitney,

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Iliad'', th ...

Marti Caine Marti Caine, born Lynne Denise Shepherd (26 January 1945 – 4 November 1995), was an English comedian, actress, dancer, presenter, singer, and writer, who first came to national attention by winning the television talent show ''New Faces'' in 1 ...

Jim Davidson James Cameron Davidson (born 13 December 1953) is an English stand-up comedian, actor, singer and TV presenter. He hosted the television shows '' Big Break'' and ''The Generation Game''. He also developed two adult pantomime shows such as ''B ...

Little and Large ''Little and Large'' were a British comedy double act comprising straight man Syd Little (born Cyril John Mead; 19 December 1942) and comic Eddie Large (born Edward Hugh McGinnis; 25 June 1941 – 2 April 2020). Comedy duo They formed their p ...

The Stylistics The Stylistics are an American, Philadelphia soul group that achieved their greatest chart success in the 1970s. They formed in 1968, with a lineup of singers Russell Thompkins Jr., Herb Murrell, Airrion Love, James Smith and James Dunn. All ...

The Barron Knights The Barron Knights are a British humorous pop rock group, originally formed in 1959 in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire,Colin Larkin, ''Virgin Encyclopedia of Sixties Music'', (Muze UK Ltd, 1997), ), p. 32 as the Knights of the Round Table. C ...

Brotherhood of Man Brotherhood of Man are a British pop group who achieved success in the 1970s. They won the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest with " Save Your Kisses for Me". Created in 1969 by songwriter and record producer Tony Hiller, Brotherhood of Man was initi ...

Showaddywaddy Showaddywaddy are a rock and roll group from Leicester, England. They specialise in revivals of hit songs from the 1950s and early 1960s, while also issuing original material. Showaddywaddy spent 209 weeks on the UK Singles Chart, and had 10 ...

Hot Gossip Hot Gossip (1974–86) were a British dance troupe who made television appearances and in 1978 backed Sarah Brightman on her single " I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper". Formation Arlene Phillips moved to London to learn and teach developi ...

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, Danny La Rue,

Rolf Harris Rolf Harris (born 30 March 1930) is an Australian entertainer whose career has encompassed work as a musician, singer-songwriter, composer, comedian, actor, painter and television personality. He often used unusual instruments in his performan ...

Des O'Connor Desmond Bernard O'Connor (12 January 1932 – 14 November 2020) was an English comedian, singer and television presenter. He was a long-time TV chat-show host, beginning with '' The Des O'Connor Show'' in 1963, which ran for ten years. He ...

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, Grace Kennedy,

Bob Monkhouse Robert Alan Monkhouse (1 June 1928 – 29 December 2003) was an English comedian, writer and actor. He was the host of television game shows including ''The Golden Shot'', '' Celebrity Squares'', '' Family Fortunes'' and '' ''Wipeout'. Ear ...

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, Bucks Fizz, Cilla Black,

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, The Osmond Brothers and many other leading acts of the seventies and early eighties.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Night Out Theatre Restaurant Nightclubs in Birmingham, West Midlands