King of Clubland

Roy Mozley's autobiography, lifts the lid on Manchester and Salford's clubland in the 70s, 80s, and 90s

- NEAL KEELING

A KINGPIN of Manchester and Salford's clubland from the 1960s to the 1990s has lifted the lid on an era when the north was at the centre of the British showbiz world.

One club owner was so keen to keep Roy Mozley as a manager he bought him three new suits from Rosenfields in Shudehill, all made to measure, and threw in a Ford Capri.

In 1983 he finally got his hands on the prize - the empty, fire-damaged, Talk of the North, in Eccles, and turned it into one of the last bastions of the northern cabaret circuit.

His aim was to get it back to - and even better than the halcyon days when it was run by Joe Pullen and Fred Talbot and had an international reputation, with its stage graced by the likes of Dusty Springfield, Matt Monro and Tom Jones, and visited by Princess Anne.

Roy was a musician and performer but as his pop-star dream faded, he found his feet as an agent booking acts for clubs. He showed his mettle at the Condron Club in Frederick Road in the early 70s.

Roy then switched to working for a Didsbury-based firm getting bookings for artistes, and his salary tumbled to £40 a week.

Roy's mum had to use her charm to persuade Ken Dodd to pay the £500 he owed him, he says. "He was a charming guy but terrible at paying, I could never get paid off him.