The Blue Note was a Manchester Soul Club quite close to the Whitworth Street
Twisted Wheel.
It was located on Gore Street, right next door to the Waldorf Hotel which is now
the home of the Hideaway Club which plays classic sixties soul. Makes you wonder
if there is something in the air on Gore Street...
The arrow shows The Waldorf - the car park was created on the site of the Blue Note Club
The legend runs that originally it was owned by Alex Fogel and was a drinking den and gambling joint in the early sixties. The drinks licence was lost to no one's surprise and Alex's daughter, the robust and formidable Debbie, decided to reopen it as a soul club after stealing the Twisted Wheel's veteran DJ, Roger Eagle. Debbie managed to get the drinks licence back before emigrating to Australia with Mike the bouncer.
Blue Note Club Membership card - printed by me
John Fogel then took over the family business as well as doing his day job as a loss adjuster. This man was the last word in cool at the time. In fact, the Blue Note Club was the coolest club in Manchester for a brief period.
Johnny's girlfriend Vivienne basically ran the show with Johnny mainly walking about in his cool white suit smoking black Russian cigarettes. For the petrol heads among you, John Fogel drove an metallic oyster Ford Corsair two litre GT, followed by a metallic blue Alvis which fitted with his cool image. My own small part in the story centres around the fact that I used to print the membership cards and so never had to pay admission. To be honest, I don't think many people did.
The club also became the headquarters of another of his business ventures, Balfodem Management group which looked after such luminaries as The Famous Watson Browne Band and the singer Leicester Montrose. The other partners were Nicky Balcombe and the infamous Pat Dempsey (ex Ivan's Meads) who left under a cloud.
The arrow shows The Waldorf - the car park was created on the site of the Blue Note Club
The legend runs that originally it was owned by Alex Fogel and was a drinking den and gambling joint in the early sixties. The drinks licence was lost to no one's surprise and Alex's daughter, the robust and formidable Debbie, decided to reopen it as a soul club after stealing the Twisted Wheel's veteran DJ, Roger Eagle. Debbie managed to get the drinks licence back before emigrating to Australia with Mike the bouncer.
Blue Note Club Membership card - printed by me
John Fogel then took over the family business as well as doing his day job as a loss adjuster. This man was the last word in cool at the time. In fact, the Blue Note Club was the coolest club in Manchester for a brief period.
Johnny's girlfriend Vivienne basically ran the show with Johnny mainly walking about in his cool white suit smoking black Russian cigarettes. For the petrol heads among you, John Fogel drove an metallic oyster Ford Corsair two litre GT, followed by a metallic blue Alvis which fitted with his cool image. My own small part in the story centres around the fact that I used to print the membership cards and so never had to pay admission. To be honest, I don't think many people did.
DJs Dave Lomas and Dave Phillips inside The Blue Note DJ booth, circa 1967.
The club also became the headquarters of another of his business ventures, Balfodem Management group which looked after such luminaries as The Famous Watson Browne Band and the singer Leicester Montrose. The other partners were Nicky Balcombe and the infamous Pat Dempsey (ex Ivan's Meads) who left under a cloud.
