The Tumbledown Dick in Farnborough, was a live music venue and local focal point until it’s closing in 2008. Notably Mega City Four, Reuben, Hundred Reasons and The Jam all performed here. While the facade still remains, a 3000+ signature petition to save the venue, organized by The Friends of the Tumbledown Dick, failed to convince local MPs to retain it as a boozer and there is now a McDonald’s on the site where the pub traded.
Reportedly the first band to ever play in the venue in the early 70’s was Threewheel. Within a couple of years the venue was developing a sound reputation. The Jam played there on 12 and 18 December ’74 and many times in ’75/76, along with the likes of The Real Thing. Graham Brown took over the management of the pub/venue in the mid/late 70’s and we know that from ’77 on Monday nights were the Rock Nights featuring the likes of Gambler, Reading based Turbo, Bracknell’s General Accident, Eclipse, and Out of Order; Thursdays were Jazz Funk, all promoted by Mervin George. It was probably a Monday that Straightshooter appeared at Tumble Down in ’78.
Straightshooter were back at the venue on 12 March ’79. In late ’79 the venue hosted Gallagher’s, a Tuesday night new wave, mod, and punk club launched in October and November that year. Gallagher’s kicked the new night off by staging a small punk / new wave season of six gigs featuring Angelic Upstarts on 23 October ’79, Classic Nouveux the week after, The Vapors on 6 November, the following Tuesday it was The Piranhas, Cowboys International on 20 November and on 27 November Purple Hearts. This was promoted in NME and across the local rags and featured a different local band supporting each headliner including The Mode, Thieves, Impulse, and Virginia Doesn’t. These supporting acts returned in December and January to headline a local band season with another local band in support. On 4 December ’79, Between Pictures opened for The Mode, Lonesome No More headlined on 11 December ably supported by Controls. Lopez were supposed to support Thieves on 18 December, but to the best of our knowledge Thieves didn’t show and the support headlined as Lopez and the Waveriders, with Matrix Numbers as warm up.
The ’80s at Tumble Down started on the very first day of 1980 with Impulse, as Gallagher’s continued local band season, followed by Virginia Doesn’t on 8 January ’80. The next month The Torpedoes supported The Mode on 5 February ’80.
Who Moved The Ground? occupied the stage on Christmas Eve 1990 and jumping to ’93, Peachrazor played The Tumbledown Dick on 3rd July. We also believe that The Hairy Things appeared there in ’93 The next year, Womb secured second place at one of The Tumbledown Dick’s ‘Battle of the Bands’ competitions. Around the mid to late 90’s Simon ? took over running the venue and encouraged young bands to put on their own gigs. On 28 March ’98, Mindwire and Big Planet Love were at Tumbledown Dick. In ’99, Dreyfuss won the venues ‘Battle of the Bands’ and used the recording time prize to create the “Shapes and Sizes” demo cassette [bulb001] on Helsinki Records.
Towards the end of the venue’s life, on 19 February 2005, Hundred Reasons, along with Rueben and Melaleuca organized a fundraiser for the Tsunami Relief Fund. Then on 5 March, Farnborough Groove presented Mindwire performing a reunion show at Quarantine Club, supported by Wherewithal and Without Grace; along with Lemonade Wage and Opus.
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