The Duchess of York

Top tips for great nights out in Leeds
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LeeRatbag
Posts: 96
Joined: Mon 16 Apr, 2007 6:41 pm

Post by LeeRatbag »

RIP FNJ. Definitely one of the more unique characters of the Leeds music scene. Roadie, promoter, Marmite addict and the deafest soundman I ever worked with.

Mr Rik
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed 23 Jan, 2008 1:44 pm

Post by Mr Rik »

"I would love to see some pics of gigs at the Duchess. Does anyone have any?Call me cynical, but I am not sure if the city is better off with a Hugo Boss instead of the Duchess of York."There are a few things here. I was a sound engineer at The Duchess from '97 to it's closure in 2000 and I took a few pictures. I have some others if you want them too.

Mr Rik
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Joined: Wed 23 Jan, 2008 1:44 pm

Post by Mr Rik »


Dejadude
Posts: 12
Joined: Mon 03 Dec, 2007 8:53 pm

Post by Dejadude »

Hey Mr. Rik...I will be getting more pictures up on the tribute site for The Duchess soon. And... I must say that the City of Leeds is certainly not better off without The Duchess of York on 71 Vicar Lane. I wonder how many of the most creative musical geniuses and talents in the world has communed with a heaving group of adoring fans, enjoying a pint, in the boutique of Hugo Boss now occupying that space? And I'm sure Kurt Cobain is turning over in his grave, God rest his soul, along with Wild Willie Beckett, Steve Marriot and everyone who I have known and loved, worked with and partied with, in The Duchess. There were ghosts in The Duchess while I lived there... I know there are many more now that the structure was so severly disturbed. I'm sure I will spend some time there as a ghost when my number is up... just for the music and the people!The Duchess of York in Leeds... like Scrumpies... were places to experience rites of passage... experience alternate states of awareness (hmmmm... guess Hugo Boss qualifies for that)... meet friends... enjoy libations and music and dance...I Miss The Duchess Of York Leeds.I'll tell you a cool place to go in Leeds: The Grove Inn in HolbeckEveryone... come see me on: http://www.myspace.com/duchess_of_york_leeds_uk

drapesy
Posts: 2614
Joined: Sat 24 Feb, 2007 4:50 pm

Post by drapesy »

I agree - the Grove is a smashing pub - and it has one thing the Duchess never had (or pretended to have to be fair) - great beer!
there are 10 types of people in the world. Those that understand ternary, those that don't and those that think this a joke about the binary system.

Dejadude
Posts: 12
Joined: Mon 03 Dec, 2007 8:53 pm

Post by Dejadude »

The Grove does have a much greater variety of good quality beers and ales than The Duchess ever did... But... I must say that I was trained by one of the best cellarman in the business before he died... Little Les... and I loved every minute of working in our cellar, properly tending to the beer and making sure everything was up to health and safety standards. Our usual fare was Courage Director's - John Smith's - Guinness - Nuclear Brown Ale - Beamish - Kronenberg - Miller Lite - Woodpecker - Dry Blackthorn - the usual bottles and we had a guest beer rotating through every week or two.The Grove is a CAMRA winner... and well deserved. I love The Grove and everyone there. Many of the old Duchess crew go there now... Rachel the Landlady introduced me to John Keenan. She is a sweet, cool person and a blast to party with.The Duchess was a much larger pub/live music venue with a heavy range of traffic. We were the busiest live music venue in the north of England at one time. We were so busy at times that our beer never even had the time to settle. Our cellar wasn't large enough to store enough beer to give it time to settle and rotate through until the next gig... meaning the next day because we had 2 to 3 live bands perform at night 7 DAYS A WEEK. We were constantly concerned about the fire safety coming in a shutting us down for being too crowded. These conditions don't concentrate on quality of beer as much as just having enough in to keep punters from going thirsty. I saw nights when we actually ran out of beer! It was lunacy. 7 rows deep at the bar... we were ROCK-N-ROLL. But we never pretended to be a beer connaisseur's first or last stop. Sure... we provided plenty of libations for getting drunk, rowdy, singing and dancing (carried some of the best single malt whisky)... we were about music. And in that category, we were second to none in offering sheer variety, regularity and quality of performers as well as giving people who had minimal public exposure as performers the chance to be seen and heard by a packed pub of over 500 people crammed together in one place. I miss The Duchess. I can go one and on... think I will get back to my manuscript on The Duchess. And then have a beer...Oh... another cool pub... just outside of Leeds... The Junction Inn over in Otley.Robin Dover - Virtual Landlord - The Duchess of York - Leeds

Si
Posts: 4480
Joined: Wed 10 Oct, 2007 7:22 am
Location: Otley

Post by Si »

The Junction is, technically, in Leeds. Was in there New Year's Day lunchtime for a hair of the dog (or four.)

LeeRatbag
Posts: 96
Joined: Mon 16 Apr, 2007 6:41 pm

Post by LeeRatbag »

drapesy wrote: I agree - the Grove is a smashing pub - and it has one thing the Duchess never had (or pretended to have to be fair) - great beer! They used to do a decent pint of Directors, to be fair.

Ian R P
Posts: 57
Joined: Sat 19 May, 2007 6:32 pm

Post by Ian R P »

wiggy wrote: Ian R P wrote: Hi,Ok, so it was a bit tatty, but it was an iconic venue. Who needs a bloody Hugo Boss, you can buy there stuff in House of Fraser. In the 90's The Dutchess was legendary.I saw The Charlatans there in 1990, Ride (one of whom is now in Oasis), The Mock Turtles (Steve Coogans brothers band), The Bridewell Taxis (Leeds Band) and loads i've forgot about, oh yeah The wedding present.The only thing I regret is turning down going to see The Pixies, and on another occasion Nirvana.Another Iconic Venue is The Warehouse, I saw Blur there in 1991 and Missed Oasis in 1994 as I was going to be on holiday in Crete on the day of the gig. nirvana,as in kurt cobain....you sure?? Yeah, they were on a 3 band tour up and down the country with Tad and Mudhoney. It was well before Nevermind and probably before Dave Grohl joined but I'm pretty sure my mates saw them in Leeds.

Ian R P
Posts: 57
Joined: Sat 19 May, 2007 6:32 pm

Post by Ian R P »

drapesy wrote: wiggy wrote: Ian R P wrote: Hi,Ok, so it was a bit tatty, but it was an iconic venue. Who needs a bloody Hugo Boss, you can buy there stuff in House of Fraser. In the 90's The Dutchess was legendary.I saw The Charlatans there in 1990, Ride (one of whom is now in Oasis), The Mock Turtles (Steve Coogans brothers band), The Bridewell Taxis (Leeds Band) and loads i've forgot about, oh yeah The wedding present.The only thing I regret is turning down going to see The Pixies, and on another occasion Nirvana.Another Iconic Venue is The Warehouse, I saw Blur there in 1991 and Missed Oasis in 1994 as I was going to be on holiday in Crete on the day of the gig. nirvana,as in kurt cobain....you sure?? Yes - incredible as it may seem Nirvana, with Kurt Cobain played at the Duchess - wish I'd been there.A bit of Google trawling reveals that it was on 27/10/1989 - and videos of it exist on youtube. Sorry I was quick to write then, ha ha

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