"I remember the Frau in 65-66 all the scooters were lined up along the Cathedral walls, (there was more going on outside the clubs than in the clubs some nights)it was a place you had to be seen at. Barry Rayner a very good friend of mine in later life was the barman? The Frau, Cona, Wheel and the Favourite snack bar in Albert Square, boy oh boy I am so lucky to have been a part of the fab '60s. It will never be replicated....happy days"

Phil Bell

"I saw The Pretty Things perform here, with Phil May blowing up condoms and batting them into the audience"

Peter Bradford

I played at the JUNGFRAU in 1966. I was in a band THE RUSTIKS and we backed TOMMY QUICKLY. I remember the night we played at the JUNGFRAU. The crowd went wild and we had a fantastic night.
my website is http://website.lineone.net/~macvicar

Bill Covington

I remember the Frau in 64 and 65 - evaprest trousers, hush puppies, button down shirts. The girls were into leather coats and long hair until the Quant cut came in. Walls streaming with condensation, live, loud music, warm coke and a pass out to sink a couple of underage pints.

John Kew

I used to be one of the DJ's there (Pete the Buff) along with Jack Birley and Eric Stanton. Jack has still got the original Jungfrau sign.

Peter Dwyer

Sorry, can't remember much... 1966.

I was a "member" of the scooter mods, I can remember Angus, Les, Bernie from Cheetham, a lad from Langley, two mates from Gorton, one of them was a DJ at Rowntrees, Deansgate I think.There were 3 large bouncers one of which worked on Bramhall High School with me.

There was a trip to Blackpool and a scary visit to a Moss Side Cafe in the early hours with the owner brandishing a machete!

My name is Chris Jones and I had a white SX200 Unfortunately I have no pics but would love to buy any.

Chris Jones
22/4/09

I made some life long friends through the Frau. I remember getting a pass out to go into the Mitre pub where you would find as many Frau members as in the Frau.

Tony Conway
22/6/09

Louis Pies!
A passout to the Mitre where the ancient waiter always gave change of 10 bob instead of a quid.

Walk a girl to Walkers Croft for a quick snog: one of Louis' meat and potatoes and the All Night No. 73 from Salford Bus Station.

Great memories!

John Kew
16/8/09

I was beginning to think Jungfrau was a figment of my 'sixties imagination' until I read this page.  Brilliant.  Seem to remember the 'stars' wandered about freely with the customers which was rather cool then. I could drop a few names but won't - in case I DID imagine it all!

Vanessa Major
21/8/09

I was indeed one of the DJs at the Junfrau along with the 'Buff'. One night we had "Screaming Lord Sutch" on, in the afternoon his roadies arrived with his gear, the first question they asked was "where's the piano?" We didn't have one.

To cut the story short I borrowed one from a maiden aunt, promising her it would be back next day without a mark on it (it was her pride and joy). We got it to the club, (turning it upside down to get it down the stairs) all the keys fell out. We got it back together and set it on the stage.

Halfway through the show, the lights went out, strobes came on, and all you could see was Sutch with an AXE, chopping up the piano.

My auntie never spoke to me again.

Jack Birley
3/11/09

I have wonderful memories from when myself and my sister Shirley and friends Pat, Sheila, Pauline, & Cath went mostly to the Jungfrau & The Oasis clubs seeing live groups, dancing the night away to the great '60s music. Fankinstein & His Monsters, The Mersey Beats many many more, we always danced wearing our coats,it was so hot, we must have been mad!

Then later we went to places like Disco-Takis, the Top Ten at Belle Vue, all great places. Without costing a fortune to get in........ Happy days.

Before we were able to frequent the above and other clubs, we went to the 88 club, this was in cellars of a house on Wellington Street, Gorton, near where the cinema was in Manchester and was run by Mrs Folkes and her son, it was a youth club, and went there and the Sacred Heart youth club when we were 14,15 and 16, it was brilliant, a disco and soft drinks. The youngsters of today, probably don't have anything like this now a days, a sad sign of the times.

Pauline (nee Dunn)
5/11/09

During the 60's I spent time as the manager of the Jungfrau and then The Time and Place. It would be great to hear from anybody who remembers me from that time.

I also worked at the King of Hearts, the Queen of Hearts, The Salford Albion Casino and the Picadilly Club.

Mike Deutsch
4/4/10

Mike Deutsch !!! Didn't know you were still around.

Had some great times at the Frau including some we had better not really go into here !!  WOW, you, me, Joe Makin, Chad, and others I can't remember.  Get in touch by e-mail or find me on Facebook I'd love to hear from you.

Eric Stanton
30/12/10

Can anyone remember two DJs  Georgie Powell and Joe Makin ? or is it all a figment of my imagination ??

Jim Hynes
1/4/11

Hiya. I am still around, now back in Manchester after living for twenty years in Brighton. Love to hear from you. Joe Makin where are you?

Georgie Powell
19/4/11

Me and my mate went to the Frau from about September 65 to about September 66.

We initially went after we couldnt get in the Oasis one Monday, they didn't open on a Monday, so while making our way back to Victoria Station we came across the Jungfau. 

We found the music playlist better than the Oasis, particually Joe Makin rather than Georgie Powell. Joe played more America than George.

We went mainly up to Christmas 65 - we still went to the Oasis where they would still have the big acts, The Who, The Small Faces, Yardbirds etc. The girls at the Frau tended to be a bit younger than the Oasis being probably 15 - 17 on average.

I always thought there was a warmth about the Frau, when you think back it was a lovely place where the girls could go in relative safety, dance around their handbags,  maybe a coke or an orange, maybe a kiss and cuddle in the bus shelter if one of the lads walked them back and more than likely home and in bed before 11.oclock.

The lads would be slightly older 16 - 19, a bit of underage boozing in the Mitre or the Manchester Arms on Corperation St, slightly down market I know, the alchohol would give them a bit of dutch courage to chat and dance with the girls.

I was that lad, I kissed my first ever girl after walking her back to Victoria bus station  - Janice! Eventually we moved on, first to the Jigsaw in Cromford Court and then  to the Twisted Wheel which by now was on Whitworth St. 

After listening to the DJ - Roger Eagle's playlist at the Wheel it was hard to go back to the Frau, although we still did. But it was hard for anyone to match the music of Roger Eagle, he had all the best imports from Tamla , Stax Stateside and Ska and Blue beat, etc.

But back to the Frau, fond memories of records like this - 4 Seasons - Lets Hang On - Lee Dorsey - Ride Your Pony - Solomon Burke - Everybody Needs Somebody to Love- Otis Redding - Respect and Mr Pitiful- Len Barry - 1 2 3 , I could go on and on.

Joe Makin played two - James Brown - Tell Me What Your Gonna Do - and a Fats Domino - Wigs . I could go on and on, great memories.

When did the Frau open and when did it close its doors ? If you know, could you let me know, cheers for now.

Jim Hynes
20/4/11
PS We lived in Bury then

The biggest named group we saw at the Frau were The Mojos.  The lead singer was Stu James and the drummer at that time was Lewis Collins.

It was packed out that night, probably early Dec 1965. I decided to nip out to the Mitre for a pint but the bouncers wouldnt let me back in.

As my coat was still  inside I was freezing, it was a bitterly cold night.

Anyway after about 20 minutes of pleading, a girl managed to convince the doorman to let me back in  - was I glad!

Jim Hynes
27/4/11

Just listened to Russ Winstanley on Radio Lancashire - the Twisted Wheel was mentioned, that got me floating back to 1963/64, said to my wife my favourite was the FRAU, followed by the Oasis and Wheel. What memories, pity the kids now. ( walking back to Little Hulton, or last bus to Swinton,the walk to LH, happy days )

David Parkinson
1/6/11

In the 60s I played at the Jungfrau many times with The Chasers I was the drummer, they were wonderful times and over my long career on the drums I can still remember those great nights as if they were yesterday!! It would be nice if anyone out there remembers THE CHASERS 

John Mills
8/7/11

I well remember the Frau. The back of the stage was a wooden chalet . I remember seeing the Paramounts one night (pre Procol Harem) and Gary Brooker had to start their set 3 times, because a girl had put her handbag on top of their multiplug which was in a socket, left hand side of the stage that was always too low down andit kept pulling the plug, and their power out. Also one night, I was in there early, having a coffee next door in the little bar and Eric Stewart (Mindbenders then) walked in complete with his gibson in a case, being drooled over by a young fan. I shouted "Eric, I've saved you a seat" to which, he got away from her, sat down and whispered "do I know you?" to which I replied "no, but I felt sorry for you and you looked like you wanted to get away from her" so we laughed and chatted for 45 minutes till he went on stage.

Ted Johnston
20/7/11

In the early days of the 'Frau' the DJ's box was in the corner of the dance floor, above the box was a sign carved in wood with the name "Jungfrau" above it. when the club extended the DJ used the stage and the box went. I still have the original from above the old DJ's box.

Jack Birley
10/9/11

The Jungfrau - what can I say!

Quite a lot as it happens - however, I believe it would be a good idea to recollect town venues during the early 60’s.

The only clubs around at that time were old-fashioned dance halls such as the Piccadilly Plaza on Oxford Road [which had a large glitter-ball over the dance floor and where the disc-jockey was Jimmy Saville], the Newton Heath Palais, the Northern Sporting Club, the Cromford Sporting Club and other similar suburbian venues [i.e.Finnigans and The Lansdowne] where the soon to be out-dated Teds + Rockers could enjoy jiving to rock and roll records.

Oh and there was also a club / drinking den [name forgotten] on the top floor of an old run down brick building [behind + parallel to the old 60 bus stop on Cannon Street and more or less opposite the Wishing Well cafe].

In addition to those venues, the 60’s beatnik genre together with the CND bods, the jazz buffs, the pseudo intellectuals, the Cheshire Set, the Abersoch set and the avant-garde would wander between The Cona, The Bodega, The Mogambo, The Manchester Jazz Club and the Kardomah.
So, other than youth clubs kids my age didn’t actually have anywhere really to go.

The Temperence Bars had been well and truly consigned to history.

Places like the Post Office Club in Spring Gardens, the Press Club and the coffee bars such as Blowers [next door to the Tavern on Rochdale Road] were really a tired remnant from my elder brother’s generation.

Then, in 1963 progress started to happen and the winds of change were blowing through the streets of Manchester.

Dylan was soon to sing ‘The times they are a changing’; Baez was soon to  sing ‘We shall overcome’ and Barry Maguire [who incidentally preceded Kenny Rogers + Kim Carnes in The New Christy Minstrels and - with only three wheels left on his wagon] - was soon to sing ‘The Eve of Destruction’

A few months following my fifteenth birthday, a new club.- The Twisted Wheel - was opened on Brazzenose Street by Ivor Arbadi [later of Stolen from Ivor fame] and his brothers.

Despite being underage, myself and my St.Greg’s school pals Paul Davies and Phil Coughlan soon had our prestigious red coloured ‘Wheel’ membership card in our wallets.

On club nights at the Wheel the DJ would spin records such as Hi Heeled Sneakers, Boom Boom, Got My Mojo Working, Country Line Special, It’s All over Now, House of the Rising Sun, Just One Look, Getting Mighty Crowded, Maggie’s Farm, Walking the Dog, Not Fade Away, Sweet Thing etc plus both versions of ‘Stand by Me’ by Ben E.King and Cassius Clay’s played back to back.

Saturday night at ‘The Wheel’ though was the big-thing - it was ‘All-Nighter’ night when the likes of John Lee Hooker, Cyril Davis, Alex Harvey, John Mayall, Graham Bond, Georgie Fame, Jimmy Powell and Alexis Korner would appear.

Of course, Manchester had other clubs, but none could really compare with the Old Wheel.

The Oasis on Lloyd Street was where kids could see chart bands such as the Beatles, the Hollies, Dave Berry, the Roulettes, Tom Jones, Wayne Fontana, Them, Nashville Teens etc

The ‘Cavern’, which was later re-named the ‘Jigsaw’, opened originally as competition for the Wheel, but it failed miserably to break the Wheel’s monopoly. 

Dave Lee Travis was the Cavern’s resident disc jockey and, wearing a combat jacket + ex-USA army helmet, he would drive up for work each night in a battered looking, open-topped, ex-army jeep with a six foot aerial swaying on the back of it. When he moved on, the job went to Tony Prince from Oldham who stayed for a while before moving on to the offshore pirate stations and eventually to Radio Luxembourg.                                                                     

The Cavern turned out to be more of a rock venue than a blues & soul club and, at their all-nighters, they would have bands such as The Who, The Birds [with Ronnie Wood] and The Pretty Things.

I recall an all-nighter at the Cavern, when I had gone to watch ‘the Who’ and, towards the end of their set Roger Daltrey stopped singing momentarily, pointed into the crowd + said ‘lets have a big hand for Mick Jagger + Keith Richards’, who promptly jumped up on stage, followed by Phil May from the Petty Things and started jamming with the Who.

Browns’ was just a dance studio in the suburbs that had a weekend disco where you could listen and / or dance to current pop records.

The Twilight Zone near Pendleton Church was just somewhere to hang out on odd nights with the Broughton kids.

Whilst the Wheel was the in-place for the early mods + cool clothes, the Cavern was the place for ex-German army shirts or ex-Royal Navy collar-less shirts, frayed denim jeans or bell bottoms, army surplus combat jackets and, very long hair.     
                    
Inexplicably, the Dosser look became local fashion for many - so much so that town became, temporarily at least, a haven for real life ‘dossers’, because their appearance blended in totally with the fashion                                      

At weekends, when all the ‘once-a-week’ pretend dossers hit the streets, it was difficult to tell who was real and who was fake.
Even the once-a-week Dosser arrived in town on Saturday with a rolled up sleeping bag over his shoulder and shuffled around Piccadilly, telling any impressionable girl who’d listen, romantic tales of where they had been and where they were going next.

Many girls seemed to fall for the ‘romantic’ image of it all and would either spend Saturday night huddled up in someone’s sleeping bag or spend all their money on whichever Dosser they were feeling sorry for.

The girls would have been shocked if they had ventured into town during the week and bumped into last weekend’s pretend dossers making their way to work in their nice suits and clean shirts.  

The Garden’s became a Saturday night squat, with both sets of dossers sprawled everywhere in their sleeping bags but by Sunday lunch time, the real dossers would be out scavenging the waste bins or the hotel and restaurant dustbins’, whilst the pretenders would slip away quietly to catch the bus home.     

The Wheel crowd did their thing and The Cavern crowd did their thing - sometimes, they’d be doing their things simultaneously.

Both crowds had a tendency, when the all-nighter’s had finished, to jump on their scooters or the early morning coach or train and head for a day out in Lytham, St. Annes or Blackpool.

It was more a case of needing the fresh sea-air to blow away the remnants of the previous night’s uppers + downers rather than wanting to have a great day out at the seaside.      

By late ’64 the Wheel was on Notice to Quit at Brazennose Street, the early mods and the cosmopolitan, chic, older kids were now leaving school, getting jobs and growing-up.

Subsequently, in its transition from ‘Old Wheel’ to ‘New Wheel’, the clientele had also changed.

Only the hardcore mid-teen scooter kids, who had developed a sense of belonging and an affinity with the ‘Old Wheel’ stayed loyal and, together with the new generation of younger kids who were discovering the Wheel for the first time, they became the catalyst for the Wheel progressing into an out-and-out soul club.

The rythm and blues no longer fitted in with mod culture and the up-tempo beats of Little Stevie Wonder, the Four Tops, the Miracles, the Impressions, Don Covay, the Temptations, Gloria Jones, Sam + Dave, Wilson Pickett, Mary Wells, Otis Redding and the Castaways etc became the music of preference.

For the all-nighters, in came the likes of the Steam Packet (Long John Baldry, Brian Auger, Julie Driscoll + Rod Stewart), Geno Washington, Jimmy Cliff, Peter Jay + the Jaywalkers (Peter Jay, Terry Reid + Johnny Larke), Edwin Starr, Ben E King, the Drifters and the Four Tops etc.
The ‘New Wheel’ became one of the several forerunner’s for Northern Soul..

On Saturday afternoons and, in the late evening before heading for the Wheel, we would ride our scooters en-masse up and down Market Street, Deansgate and around Piccadilly with parkers’, fur linings’, six foot aerials and the odd pennant fluttering in the breeze.

Leading the way at the head of the pack as usual would be ‘Molly’, the unofficial ‘leader’ on his all chrome 200cc Lambretta, accompanied by his trusted lieutenant ‘Wolf’ on his almost identical Lambretta,

Mick Fawcett on his 150cc Lambretta + sidecar, Terry Reid and the tiny figure of Johnny ‘Tweet’ Fulton on their chrome Vespa’s.

Sometimes we would dress down and wear Levi shrink-fit, parallel cut denims and a Fred Perry or cashmere crew neck sweater under our parkas or our three quarter / full length leather or suede coats, worn draped over the shoulders.

On other occasions we would get our collar studs out and put on either a rounded or a long pointed collar with a squared-off black knitted tie.
An alternative to a collar was to wear a coloured polo-neck underneath your shirt. It wasn’t a sweater - just the actual neck bit [similar to the snoods worn by footballers but not as bulky].              

For the all-nighter though it had to be a silk mohair whistle with long side or centre vents, silk hanky stuck in the breast pocket and either a silk shirt or gossamer thin Ted Lapidus cheese-cloth shirt.

It was never the same as the Old Wheel though and eventually, following Rod Stewarts debut gig with Long John Baldry, Brian Auger + Julie Driscoll under the Steam Packet name, I stopped going there.

Now, here we are again - 46 years down the road and - as the Frau’s DJ Joe [or rather Jo-e] Makin would so eloquently say, whilst dropping an old tune on to the decks - this is ‘a blast from the past’ and ‘a rave from the grave’.

There are so many vivid recollections by other kids who were chilling out there during the same period in time [April ’65-Feb ‘66] that I was, plus comments from  Eric [would you buy a used car off this man] Stanton.

Also - mention of bouncer Chad [who married Connie from Harpurhey] and a mention by Chris Jones of frau bouncer Joner [although not by name] working with him on a school construction site in Bramhall.

The Frau was underneath Ellis Brigham’s shop on Cathedral Street and Jo-e Makin would intersperse poppy records such as

Len Barry’s ‘1-2-3’,
Graham Bonney’s ‘Hey Supergirl’,
Walker Brothers ‘Make it easy on yourself’
Barry McGuire’s ‘Eve of Destruction’,
the Nashville Teens ‘ Tobacco Road’ +
the Sir Douglas Quintets ‘ Shes about a Mover’ etc,

with the likes of

Otis Redding [Fa Fa Fa Sad Song / My Girl / Mr Pitiful],
Phil Upchurch Combo,[You can’t sit down]
Olympics,[Baby Do the Philly Dog / The Bounce]
Don Covay [Seesaw]
Fontella Bass [Rescue Me]
Bob + Earl [Harlem Shuffle
Willie Mitchel [Secret Home].
the McCoys ‘Hang on Sloopy’,

The Frau’s plus point was that it was on a long back street with The Mitre pub at one end and the Cathedral at the other end.

Here it was relatively quiet and dark –an ideal spot where everybody could park up their scooter, lounge against the backrest and pose for the girls.
There would be three different groups at any one time i.e. the ones who were inside the club, the ones who were sat outside on the scooters and the ones who were in the Mitre and, over the course of the night, all three groups would intermingle

In the early Frau days there was Polly [Polythene Pam], Angel, Nobby Lever, Devanney + Kevin[from Blackley], Withers + Billy + Podge [from Moston] Janice Adams + Jennifer Ingram [from Swinton], Sue Jones [from Heywood] and Steph Burke + Margaret Bowles [from Higher Blackley], the Kersal kids and the Littleton Road girls who worked in Boots + Debenhams + Woolies.

Then there were the Salford and Swinton kids -, Phil [the mod kid in black leathers on a motorbike] Ron Kerr with the permanent grin, another blond haired kid [who I apologise to for not remembering his name-could have been Ron but I just can’t be sure - who made a fancy chrome back rest at work for my Lambretta TV175], Les, Sandra Dale, Marilyn Bowles, Heather and, Frank Hayes [from Higher Broughton], Les Oliver + Ann Crawshaw + Maggie Geogehan [from Lower Broughton],Val Smith [from Miles Platting], Fran Ettleman + Pauline Mosco [from Crumpsall].

Then there were the Limeside girls – Alwyne Brierley, her sister Judith together with her friend Judy from Shaw.

Not to forget Stan Bowles either, always hiding in the shadows to avoid being spotted out at night.

Also, who could forget Lew [Martin] Star + brother Richard, Loui, Schulz, Rocky, Spaz and Ian Jones and occasional visits from Bugsy, Tony Neary and Kevin Dillon.

Kieran Farrell
4/11/11

When I was with Kirk Price & The Pathfinders, we supported Gene Vincent at the Jungfrau. Probably late 1963 or early 1964.
We were all quite thrilled when he asked to borrow our PA.

We'd just bought a set of five Aiwa mikes that looked quite impressive, and each was plugged into a Vox AC30. Geoff Kirk (our singer) had removed the 12" speakers from the Vox cabinet and installed them each in a separate pair of cabinets he had made.

I thought I had a good memory, but for the life of me I can't remember who backed him that night. I'm wondering if it was Sounds Inc.

Kevin Parrott
15/11/11

Mention of Screaming Lord Such at the Jungfrau reminds me of taking my attractive cousin from south wales. She wore a pony tail hairpiece. When Lord Such jumped off the platform and grabbed her my the hair, the pony tail came off in his hand and there was some real screaming in the club.

Chris Bowden
27/12/11

Just reread some of the posts. People obviously have a better memory than I do. As people may know I worked at the Jungfrau with Joe Makin and Martin Starr. Martin was sadly killed in a car crash near Poynton in the late 60's. His brother Richard was a member of the band Richard Kent Style and his father Lou had a barbers shop on Charles Street. Joe and I were close mates for many years right through to the late 80's. Joe had a menswear shop on Fog Lane Didsbury for years and I stayed in the Motor Trade until may retirement. Don't know where Joe is now and would love to find out. Happy Days.

Eric "Rockinric" Stanton
14/1/12