Pair install blue plaques for city's lost clubs

Phil Johnson from Shelton and Bob Leigh from Penkhull wanted to mark iconic venues in the city

Two music fans from Stoke-on-Trent have taken it upon themselves to install blue plaques on some of the places in the city where historic venues and nightclubs used to be.

The city has been home to a number of nightclubs over the years - including Shelley's Laserdome, which helped launch the career of DJ Sasha, and The Void, which was previously known as The Academy.

Other well-known venues in the city include The Place in Hanley, which played host to Led Zeppelin and David Bowie, and The Golden Torch in Tunstall.

Phil Johnson from Shelton and Bob Leigh from Penkhull are behind an idea to pay tribute to the locations which hold fond memories for many.

Mr Johnson said Historic England was in charge of the official plaques, which are almost exclusively in London, and they had only recently allowed them to be installed elsewhere in the country.

A plaque for ceramic artist and designer Clarice Cliff is one of the first of the few official ones outside the capital. It is located at Cliff's former flat in Shelton, Stoke-on-Trent, where she lived at the height of her success.

"I was thinking, wouldn't it be fun to find a company that makes them, sort of 'mock' blue plaques," Mr Johnson said.

The pair have now installed five blue plaques around Stoke-on-Trent

He added they had cost him about £35 each.

He initially came up with the idea for The Antelope pub in Hanley, he said.

"Various groups and genres of music fans used to get in there," Mr Johnson told BBC Radio Stoke.

Mr Leigh, who himself used to be a DJ at The Void, said the city seemed to be "at the cutting edge of whatever music scene was evolving or going on at the time".

Some only lasted a few years, which made their rise to prominence all the more remarkable, he said.

Mr Johnson said they currently had put blue plaques up at five venues:

• The Top Rank, now a bingo hall, which honours DJ Chris Willams

• The Heavy Steam Machine, once the biggest disco in Europe, honouring DJ Colin Curtis

• The Place, reputed to be the first disco in the UK, honouring soul DJ Trevor M

• The Void, honouring DJs Pete Bromley and Kelvin Andrews

• The Antelope, honouring DJ Philip J Oliver