The Wooden Bridge, Guildford

The Wooden Bridge, Guildford is still there and operating as a pub, unlike many of the old venues. It hosted The Rolling Stones, Ten Years After, Camel, John Mayall (August ’63), The Who, The Vapors and Eric Clapton’s first band, The Roosters, and many more well known bands in it’s day.

Starting in the late 50’s with nights dedicated to Trad Jazz, Modern Jazz, and Rock; The Wooden Bridge put itself firmly on the map as a local venue. In March ’63 The Rolling Stones’, then a club band, made their first appearance in Guildford at the pub, playing the venue a couple of times a month during that summer. This was all thanks to the Ricky Tick Club which took up residence booking The Stones, Alexis Korner, Cyril Davis, John Mayall and others. At the same time The Roosters, Eric Clapton’s first band, rehearsed at The Wooden Bridge, and got paid £5 between them when they played there. Reportedly, Clapton would show up for the Boxing Day sessions occasionally.

A typical rhythm’n blues’ schedule at the venue saw Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames appear on 23 April ’63; the following week it was the Cyril Davies Allstars with Long John Baldry; Manne/Hugg Blues Brothers – who, when signing a contract with EMI later that year were renamed Manfred Mann – featuring Stella Thomas; with the Rolling Stones on 17 May. The Cyril Davies Allstars with Long John Baldry were back on 5 July, followed by the Graham Bond Quartet on 12 July and The Rolling Stones for their monthly visit on 19 July. The next month The Stones gig on 23 August ’63 was cancelled, having performed their single on Ready, Steady, Go! earlier; their second ever UK television appearance. As the ‘rock’ moved in the jazz was holding on. On 15 August ’63 the Mike Cotton Jazzmen held the stage and two weeks later, on 29 August, jazz journeymen, The Alan Elsdon Jazz Band with Mick Emery were at the venue thanks to Jack Fallen of the Cana Variety Agency. Keith Smith appeared at The Woodenbridge, Guildford on 4 January ’68 thanks to the Jazz Club.

The Ricky Tick became so successful that the crowds were too much for the pub & staff to handle and it moved to a bigger Guildford location. Graham Andrews recalls putting on the Alex Harvey Soul Band and The Clayton Squares at the Wooden Bridge in the mid 1960s. Also in the mid-’60s R&B focused “The Hive” club operated out of The Wooden Bridge on Sunday evenings with the likes of John Mayall, Jeff Beck, and The Herd performing and accessible for a five shilling ticket. At some point in ’67, Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac performed at the The Hive, supported by local group The Whiskey Ring. Dave Reading, a journalist at the time, recalls the evening and having a brief exchange with Green. He talked about the importance of playing sparsely, praising The Whiskey Ring’s guitarist Nigel Enever; commenting on Enever’s guitar solo Green said: “I thought at one point you were going to over-play it [Jimmy Witherspoon “Evening”], but you judged it just right. It was perfect.”

The Hive could get raucous; one incident involved tear gas being let off in the bar. Still, Ten Years After appeared twice in the late ’60s, the first on 10 December ’67 for 45 quid, the second on 10 March ’68 for 60 quid or 50% of the gate – they also appeared on 26 May ’68. Jethro Tull are also rumored to have graced the venue too. Local groups, like The Primevals and The Phantom Four, would be booked to support. There was also still a smattering of traditional / dixieland jazz on Thursday nights thank to The Wooden Bridge Jazz Club who booked Max Collie’s Rhythm Aces and Keith Smith at the venue on 4 January ’68, Brian Rutland on 15 February ’68, and New Era Jazzband on 22 August ’68 amongst others.

In the 70’s it was The Vapors, Duffy, The Volunteers, and UBz who took to the low ‘stage’ and the likes of House had a Saturday lunchtime gig at The Wooden Bridge, as they did on 24 February ’79 just before supporting Rainbow at the The Rainbow Theatre, London. The Crossroads Club, dedicated to folk, ran out of the venue in the early 70’s with The Berkshire Tragedy appearing on 15 November ’70 and notable folk-singer Taffy Thomas, who became the UK’s first Laureate for Storytelling in 2010, appearing on 16 March ’75. On 4 March ’79, Mark Andrews and the Gents were at the Wooden Bridge. Supported by Brandenburg, the local Jasmine Pie performed on 14 April ’78.

The Cardiacs, under their original Cardiac Arrest monica played the Bridge on 27 September ’78. In the late 70’s Ian J Davies helped with The Rock Club, organized by John and Robert Russell, who’d pull bands down from London to play and supported Guildford bands like the 6-piece Bloodhound who appeared on 27 May ’79 and The Vapors – who performed on 3 June ’79 – UBz, The Absolute; and the Jackie Lynton Band were club regulars. The Fix supported the original line-up of Squire, including Steve Baker, at the Wooden Bridge, Guildford sometime in ’79. Late that year, on 18 December, Noit Otni & the Pits appeared and under the slogan ‘Rock Against Rock’ they herld a launch party for the “A Heart Can Only Be Broken Once” double A-side single on Automotive Records (AERS 107) with “Moving Target” on the “B-side”.

Early 80’s saw Rubber Flower and Just So Stories among many others. UBz were at The Wooden Bridge on 9 February ’80 for a Barbed Wire benefit that saw Noit Otni & the Pits and UBz support The Vapors, who were too famous by the second run of posters to put on the bill so were listed as The Japanese Prisoners. On 20 March 1980 The Vapors were back, at the peak of their career, packing out The Wooden Bridge. Six days later, on 26 March 1980, Chicken Shack, featuring ex-Ten Years After drummer Ric Lee and original Chicken Shack guitarist Stan Webb, appeared. Two days after that UBz put on an energetic performance with Alan Neve on cardboard/air guitar and observed by Vapor bassist Ed Bazalgette.

The 16 April ’80 reportedly saw Billy Idol grabbing a pint at the pub and catching The Spectres performance when they were joined by ex-Sex Pistol Glen Matlock and supported by Blue Unction. He didn’t return on the 23 April for Dana Gillespie’s gig. The 21 July ’80 saw Disruptive Patterns supported by Consenting Adults. On the 6 August ’80, M.I.5. were at the venue, likely accompanied by the Junction 13 Scooter Club. UBz, supported by The Grenades, were at The Wooden Bridge again on the 4 Oct ’80 and within the week Controls were among the local bands to headline appearing on 8 October ’80. White Colours, who’s debuted at The Wooden Bridge in late ’80 were back on 27 January ’81 for a set with Tel Aviv Quartet. On 7 March ’81, Approved Men were rocking against cruise missiles, along with their support band.

Grimstone put Dolly Mixture and The Rapiers on at The Wooden Bridge on 25 June ’81. That same year, on 12 September, Blank Expression were at the Bridge. The following month, on 3 October, Human Beings included an outing to the venue on their local ‘tour’; and the month after that, on 7 November, Drowning Craze headlined a CND benefit gig with The Frotteurs and Ferrari Red (which was incorrectly listed as Friary Red on the flyer) in support.

Blank Expression were a regular booking for The Wooden Bridge and the band were back on 1 December ’81. The Frotteurs, with an augmented lineup featuring Dylan Cole (guitar), Graham Melrose (sax) and Gus Garside (trombone), also returned in December, supporting at the Human Beings Christmas Party on the 23rd. On 11 May ’82 Beating Hearts headlined and towards the end on the month, on 29 May, Blank Expression returned again to the Wooden Bridge, but live music at the venue was petering out and the disc-jockeys were taking over; as was the case in many live music venues…

But, the Rock Club kept on filling Thursday nights at The Wooden Bridge. In late ’82, Terraplane headlined with Actors One in support on 2 December, Soldier on 9 December, Low Profile supported Reaper the following week, Santa & The Reindeers and Sacrilrege played on 23 December, and Backstage Pass wrapped up the month on 30 December.

The Wooden Bridge Rock Club welcomed Dumpy’s Rusty Nuts with Cruella De Ville on 7 April ’83 and Stray supported by the local City the next week, 14 April. Three days later B.S.P and Salt Solution rolled into the venue on 17 April ’83. Tony McPhee, the founder of the British blues and rock band the Groundhogs, accepted the Rock Clubs invitation, and payment, appearing on 21 April ’83 with Stillbrook warming up the crowd. Greg and Phil Boynton’s Dagaband, supported by Capricorn, appeared on 28 April ’83 and a week later Derbyshire hard rock band Saracen headlined the Rock Club on 5 May ’83, with The Skip Landon Band in support. Normally held every Thursday, the Rock Club broke with protocol for The Click, booking them for Saturday 7 May ’83. The next Thursday local rockers The Larry Miller Band were supported by Genghis Khan, followed a week later by Vin Ordinaire supporting headliners Fugitive, who were out of Retford by all accounts. Norwich based progressive rock band Airbridge wrapped up the Rock Club’s May in ’83 supported by Reigate’s No Angry Men; of whom the front man’s two sons formed electronic duo Disclosure. Howard Jones also appeared The Wooden Bridge in ’83, a month or two before “New Song” hit the top portion of the charts

Of the last gigs in the early ’80s there was, on the 3 August ’84, Fra Angelico; and we know that The Innocence supported The Plague that year too. Other acts recalled by the punters were: Acker Bilk, Crisis, Nashville Teens, Georgie Fame, The Yardbirds, The Animals, The Alan Bown Set, St Valentines Day Massacre, Champion Jack Dupree, Family, Stormsville Shakers, Geno Washington, Lucas and Band, Keith Hartley Band, Duster Bennett, Steamhammer, Barron Knights, Station 360 and Terry Lightfoot.

As we noted The Wooden Bridge is still a functioning pub and in recent years has started to host the occasional live band.

Gallery: