Phil Mellows recalls a brief moment when Forest Gate was the destination for some of the country’s most glittering stars

picture of Billy Walker — Photo: Billy Walker. Image courtesy E7 Now and Then.

There was a fleeting moment in history when Forest Gate was a party destination for the rich and famous, and attracted some of the biggest stars in popular music.

It’s December 1966 and Billy Walker, the ‘Golden Boy’ of British boxing is at the height of his powers, preparing to challenge for the European heavyweight title (he lost) – and, with elder brother George, opening a club in a former skating rink in Woodgrange Road.

The Walkers, sons of a Watney’s drayman (beer is always popping up in these stories), had trained at West Ham Boxing Club, based at the Black Horse pub in Plaistow, and fought amateur bouts at West Ham Baths. It also happens that they were taught to box by my grandfather’s brother, Bill Savage.

George was later to head the Brent Walker business empire which, in the 1990s, backed a whole chain of pubs, known as Pubmaster, so the Upper Cut club was probably his idea, Billy doing the celebrity mingling on the customer side of the bar.

Somehow, they were able to lure some of the biggest names to the stage. Headliners for the opening week included The Who, Eric Burdon and the Animals while, bizarrely, the Boxing Day treat “for all the family” was the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

Possibly they didn’t know what they were getting. Hendrix was still to play the 1967 Monterey Festival gig that shot him to worldwide fame. Newham Council later installed a plaque on the site to mark the occasion of his visit.

Anyone who was there had a bargain. Tickets were 5/- (little more than £3 in today’s money) while The Who could command 17/6 (£9) – or 15/- for “ladies”.

The audience glittered, too. West Ham footballers Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst, fresh from their World Cup triumph for England, plus DJ Annie Nightingale, were on the opening night’s guest list.

Later, the Upper Cut was to host more huge stars, Nina Simone, Otis Redding, Stevie Wonder, The Kinks and The Cream among them. Yet the club was to live for no more than a year before it closed, making way for a bingo hall.

Boxing has always been a way out of poverty for working class kids, and on this occasion, just briefly, Billy Walker, now 85 and living in Essex, brought a little of the high life back to his own manor.

Thanks to the E7 Then & Now blog for providing much of the information for this column.

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