Rock heritage at the Red Cow

Wednesday March 24, 2010

The original Red Cow at 157 Hammersmith Road was a curious, crouching building formed from two cottages on the corner of Colet Gardens (then called Cow Lane).

A coaching inn from the 1650s, it was the first staging stop on the road to Bristol, and was named after the animals which grazed on the surrounding meadows. Three outside doors led to three bars, one occasionally used for court sittings by magistrates.

In 1897 it was knocked down and replaced by a three-storey pub with billiard room. An opening event in June 1898 included an exhibition match featuring the reigning billiards champion.

The boxy L-shaped boozer so beloved of punk fans had a 'sweatbox' room (capacity 250 people) with a foot-high stage. The hand basins were cracked and broken because people used them as steps after gatecrashing gigs by climbing through the back windows.

Jazz had been a feature in the 1950s, then country and western in the 1960s (Entry: 20p members, 30p non-members), featuring bands such as The Langleys and the Westernaires. At other times the pub mainly catered for Irish drinkers.

In 1969, the Northern Ireland civil rights group met there on Friday nights. By the 70s, country music had lost its draw, and the entertainment became sleazier, with topless go-go dancing and strippers. Tuesdays were drag nights.

The stage was set for punk! Landlord John Gleeson, then in his mid 20s, had taken over from a Liverpool couple, Sue and Bill Rose, and threw open the doors to new bands to boost custom.

"The whole punk thing took off, and this became an ideal place for new bands to play," he said in August 1978 at the end of the three-year spell which made its name as a top London gig pub.

"We gave hundreds of new bands the chance to get up on stage and play, and we were catering for a need. Other pubs were booking punk bands, but they mainly had the same bands week after week."

The Stranglers, The Police, Squeeze and Tom Robinson all performed, watched by fans whose pogoing wore the red carpet down to the floorboards.

When AC/DC arrived in the UK from their native Australia, the Red Cow was their first British gig.

Julian Ciepluch, of Townley Road, Sands End, was a teenager at Cardinal Vaughan School in Holland Park, and became a regular visitor to the Red Cow with his schoolmates. "I saw emerging punk/new wave acts there before they got record deals, such as The Jam, The Stranglers, The Damned and 999," said the
47-year-old.

"The Stranglers built up a firm following through regular residency bookings before the release of their first album. Their gigs were sell-outs. I recall one hot summer gig where a stream of gatecrashers were getting in at the back through an open toilet window. It was so hot inside that bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel (JJ) let off an oxygen cylinder which was at the side of the stage to cool everyone down."

Funnily enough, the Stranglers were back in Hammersmith on Friday, at the Apollo.

Julian, who once worked for Hammersmith & Fulham's housing benefit department and is now a civil servant at the Food Standards Agency, recalls that while 1976-1978 was the heyday of punk and new wave, you could also catch 'crossover' acts at the Red Cow and the Nashville, West Kensington (now the Famous Three Kings) such as The Pretenders, Ian Dury, Graham Parker & The Rumour and Joe Jackson.

"Art rock bands such as Fischer Z and Art Attacks, jazz/soul/funk fusions such as Roogalator and Kokomo... you could see them all," he said. "There was also a vibrant r'n'b community from the old 'pub rock' scene including Eddie and the Hot Rods, Wilko Johnson (ex-Dr Feelgood) & The Solid Senders, and the reformed Pirates with guitar virtuoso Mick Green."

Entry was usually 50p, though if you arrived early and got into the bar to buy a drink you could side-step payment. Admission cash was collected in an old dimpled pint mug.

The Red Cow offered stages to the smaller bands (from the Jive Bombers to Piranha Bros, Café Society to Krazy Kat). Flip City (later to become Elvis Costello & The Attractions) played eight gigs in November 1975.

Around the same time the opening credits to The Sweeney were filmed beside the Red Cow, with the pub featuring in several episodes. The production company was based across the road in Colet Court.

The Stranglers played the 'sweatbox' seven times in 1976. JJ recalls: "By the middle of 1976 we had a couple of really good regular gigs, like residencies really. One was at the Red Cow, another the Nashville Rooms."

By October of that year they were playing Hammersmith Odeon, backing Patti Smith.

For a while the gigs posed a policing problem as teddy boys who drank at the now-defunct George pub would ambush safety-pinned punk fans walking back to Hammersmith tube.

Shane McGowan, years before his Pogues days, gave the dentists of W6 extra work after watching a 1976 gig featuring a pre-Clash Joe Strummer on rhythm guitar.

"I got pissed down the Red Cow one night, seeing the 101'ers with a mate," he later recalled. "We came out really drunk and he said he'd give me a lift home on the back of his bike, but I tried to get off while he was still moving and I broke all my teeth on Hammersmith Road!"

On April 1, 1976, unknown Aussie band AC/DC flew to London in search of a record deal... and made their first storming British appearance at the Red Cow.

I remember seeing AC/DC the following month at Wimbledon Theatre, recording a slot for the London Weekend programme Superpop. On that occasion they blew everyone else off the stage, including a subdued and below-par T Rex.

X Ray Spex played the Red Cow in September 1976, with The Damned on stage the following month. In March 1977 Squeeze performed, then that April The Jam were paid £30 a time for four gigs over four weeks, coinciding with the release of their first Polydor single In The City.

Barely 100 turned up on the first night but by the fourth gig the queue stretched round the block. The band played the Batman theme as their encore, just before the mandatory 11pm cut-off.

In August 1977 The Police played, and in 1978 The Members played on April 22, June 23 and June 28 (free admission each time). John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett were regulars, while The Lurkers not only played but even featured the venue on the cover of a single.

Julian Ciepluch recalls another gig on June 25, 1978. Entry was free, with the Fuller's pub making its money on beer sales. "I remember being disappointed that Holland had lost their second World Cup final in a row to Argentina after extra time; I went to the Red Cow and let off steam by watching a storming set from The Inmates," he said.

In August 1978 the Red Cow closed. After it was pulled down, the smaller pub/Thai eatery Latymers appeared on the site.

Red Cow landlord John Gleeson took over another Fuller's music venue, the Nashville.

Esso, the Lurkers' drummer, said at the time: "It's a shame to see the old place go. The Red Cow was just the sort of place you need for new bands to start off at."

Lost in the demolition were the walls of the single backstage dressing room, covered with graffiti from punk bands. An era had ended.