Was Tory club a key rock site?

Rock fans are appealing for anyone with memories of gigs at Stourbridge's now disused Conservative Club back in the 1960s to get in touch.

The New Road venue has been highlighted as one of the town's key rock music sites decades ago with a pre-Led Zeppelin Robert Plant believed to have been one of the stars who performed there.

Fans are now eager for anyone who remembers the gigs there to contact them via the Stourbridge.com website which serves the town. People are asked to e-mail info@stourbridge.co.uk

The singer, who shot to fame in the late-60s alongside Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham, is thought to have performed there with one of his first groups The Banned.If this is confirmed the club will take its place as one of a number of sites in the town which played host to the then-fledgling rock movement back in the 1960s. Other venues include the town hall itself which played host to bands such as The Who, The Animals, Cream, the Spencer Davis Group and The Small Faces.

Another was the Royal Turf pub, in High Street, which was visited by Robert Plant and also members of the 60s rock group Traffic.

Stevie Winwood is rumoured to have been too shy to go in but his bandmate Chris Wood was a regular when the group were in town.

Other regulars included Martin Lickert who was Ringo Starr's chauffeur and used to borrow The Beatles drummer's Mercedes Pullman limousine every weekend for the trip back to town.

All that can now be seen of the pub is an alleyway at the side of Pizza Express, which used to be how the pub could be accessed from the High Street.

The Conservative Club itself closed earlier this year after 72 years in the town.

A lack of social use meant the club was left struggling to cope financially and its owners were forced to shut the doors.

A posting on the website states: "While it doesn't sound a very rock 'n' roll sort of venue, the Conservative Club apparently was in the 1960s.

"Some people have said they recall going to see Robert Plant play there with one of his first bands and we would like to know more.

"The Conservative Club is empty now and in a rather sorry state."