What a great piece of memorabilia; this is an advert singing the praises of Sheffield’s Esquire Club (now The Leadmill), printed in 1964 in a Manchester blues magazine of all places.  The owners of the legendary Twisted Wheel Club there had a managerial tie in with The Esquire for a time, and figured enthusiasts might want to visit their rivals East of the Pennines.  But the way the advert is written is just great, taking the rise out of itself and traditional clubs.

At the time r’n’b was really big, and so was soul music, and The Leadmill catered for fans of both big time. The advert also mentions their resident bands, Vince Arnold & The Avengers, and The Scott William Combo. Vince Arnold was of course none other than Joe Cocker, and they had cut a live album at the Esquire just the year before (though it wasn’t issued for 30 years!). The Scott William Combo sadly we know nothing about, fill us in if you can.

Our thanks to Easy On The Eye Books for the advert anyway; they are preparing a book of rare 60s blues photos taken mostly in Manchester, and this was discovered while going through memorabilia supplied for the book. Simon R.