In among the Bisley Rifle Range complex – commonly called Bisley Camp – the Bisley Pavilion has hosted many a concert, gig, dance and party. The Pavilion, built in 1924, was initially constructed as an officers’ mess on land owned by the National Rifle Association (NRA).
On 27 January ’72, Slade performed at the Pavilion, the same day as their recording for the Pete Drummond Show on BBC Radio 1 was broadcast. Later in the year, and about the same time they appeared on German TV show, Disco, Blackfoot Sue probably performed their Top Ten UK Chart hit “Standing in the Road” on 16 November ’72. In February the next year Thin Lizzy began a round of club and university dates with the Bisley Pavilion on 1 February ’73. The next month you could have caught progressive rockers Dragonmilk on 22 March ’73, followed the week after by Hookfoot, with Sam Apple Pie in support, on 29 March ’73. Also in the 70’s: Status Quo, Queen, Christie, Roy Harper, and Emperor Rosco are supposed to have appeared there. The venue also became infamous for its Northern Soul all-nighters.
Pete Cole put on The Outcast Band, Skipper and Who Moved the Ground? there on 6 April 1994, the day after Kurt Cobain died. In ’96 Shaun Hopwood (ex-The Old Schoolhouse, Woking), signed the lease and rented the venue from the NRA. Under the management of Hopwood, it hosted The Undercover Festival.
It closed as a music venue on 1 April 2016, forcing Wake Up Woking, scheduled for 24 June that year, to switch venue to the Rubix Nightclub at the University of Surrey, Guildford; and ending 46 years of live music. The Pavilion reopened as a shooting-orientated venue, in keeping with Bisley Ranges/Camp.
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