Batley Variety Club or the London Palladium – which iconic venue would you rather perform at?

For Con Cluskey, of world-famous band The Bachelors, it’s just too close to call.

“The Palladium had the fame and the prestige, but the Batley Variety Club had the best crowds we’ve ever played to,” said the man who made his home in Elland.

“You just couldn’t beat the welcoming atmosphere and the audience – it was a truly fantastic place,” he added.

Since The Examiner revealed it could soon be final curtains for the well-loved Batley venue, which has since become the Frontier Club, the news desk has been inundated with stories of its heyday.

The glitzy club first opened its razzmatazz doors in 1967, with headline act The Bachelors playing to a crowd of around 2,000.

Internationally-renowned singers Louis Armstrong and Shirley Bassey, as well as world-class comedy acts Morecambe & Wise and Tommy Cooper, also helped put Batley on the map by gigging there.

“It was a brilliant venue in an unlikely setting, amid the drab surroundings of a ‘shoddy’ town,” recalls Mike Shaw, of Huddersfield.

“But founder Jimmy Corrigan kept his promise of attracting the best entertainers in the world – every evening you spent there was always one to remember,” he added.

Mr Shaw and his wife were regulars at the glamorous venue and saw some ‘fantastic’ acts tread the boards, including Matt Monro, Val Doonican and Tommy Cooper.

Batley resident Jeanne Brown, meanwhile, was in the audience when Roy Chubby Brown and Shirley Bassey played, although a couple of ‘golden memories’ in particular really stand out.

“I was watching Johnny Mathis sing ‘The 12th of Never’ when my boyfriend turned to me and said ‘this is just how I feel about you...will you marry me?’” she recalled.

Later, on Tuesday, October 2, 1973, Jeanne and a friend went to see Roy Orbison, who was ‘a massive star with true star quality’.

Afterwards, they sneaked round to the stage door, clutching their copies of ‘The Big O’ in the hope of getting them signed.

But when he appeared, Jeanne was too star-struck to get any words out, so her friend squealed ‘she’s getting married on Saturday, Roy’, in order to get his attention.

“At that point, he kissed me gently, drawled ‘good luck darlin’ and said he hoped I’d be as happy as he’d been,” she reminisced.

“Then he signed my vinyl LP and gave me a great big hug,” she added.

That was more than 40 years ago and Jeanne says she would rather see the club survive and be famous again than razed to the ground by bulldozers.

For Con Cluskey, the prospect of the club being demolished is similarly heartbreaking.

“It would be so sad for so many reasons, not least because losing it would be another nail in the coffin for showbiz,” he said.

“But things are different now and people have all the entertainment and creature comforts they need at home, so they don’t go out as much as they did in the sixties, when it was also about staying warm, eating and socialising,” he added.

“We were the first ever act to play at the Batley Variety Club and appeared there more than 10 times, for a week each run,” he continued.

“I even laid the foundation stone before the place had been built – in a field in what felt like the middle of nowhere – so I’ll be really sad to the see place go, as everyone has such great memories of it,” he continued.

Bernice Holroyd, 70, of Crosland Moor, echoes Con’s sentiments and laments the loss of such an affordable and entertaining night out.

“I remember going there on opening night when The Bachelors played and queuing outside to see Val Doonican,” she said.

"I went back several times and was only a few rows away at the Engelbert Humperdinck concert – you could almost touch the stage,” she continued.

“A pint of mild cost 2s 6d and there were some very happy days there – it was always a good night,” she concluded.

Owners are remaining tight-lipped about the site’s future, but developers think office and retail space will probably be built there.

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