Music

By December 1976, punk bands were running out of venues to play at. The Sex Pistols’ appearance on Bill Grundy’s ‘Today’ show had caused such outrage that even the Marquee and the 100 Club were fearful of staging punk shows, for fears of protests and policing costs.
Which is why Generation X manager Andy Czezowski decided to open a venue exclusively for punk bands in late 1976. The spot he found, at 41-43 Neal Street, was opened in 1971 as a prog rock basement bar called Chaguaramas, and by 1974 had become a gay disco. On December 21 1976 it reopened as The Roxy with a double bill featuring Siouxsie And The Banshees and Generation X.

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At the time, Covent Garden was a run-down area filled with fruit-and-veg warehouses, and The Roxy was a suitably scuzzy home for punk – the ceiling was regularly smashed by pogoing dancers and the toilets often wrecked. Czezowski never attracted the Sex Pistols (their manager Malcolm McLaren insisted that the 250-capacity venue was too small) but The Roxy did host every other major punk band, including The Clash, The Damned, Buzzcocks, The Adverts, The Stranglers, Alternative TV, Cherry Vanilla, Wayne County, Johnny Thunders And The Heartbreakers, X-Ray Spex, The Jam, even – ahem – The Police. It became a favourite with the music press, and even Robert Plant and Jimmy Page visited the club in January 1977.

Clash associate Don Letts was the regular DJ (spinning old US garage punk and Jamaican dub) and EMI’s ‘Live At The Roxy’ album even reached number 17 in 1977. But it all went sour when Czezowski was ousted in April 1977. The venue soldiered on until early 1978, with most big punk bands shunning the venue.

As Covent Garden gentrified, the venue became a shop, housing Red Or Dead’s flagship store. For the last five years, it’s been occupied by Speedo. The last remnants of Roxy-era graffiti were removed in a recent refit, and – as yet – Speedo have no plans to launch any commemorative punk-themed swimwear.