The Junction Disco.

Location: In the grounds of the Hinckley Technical College, London Road, Hinckley.

Date: 1973-1976.

The Junction Disco was a Friday night venue based in the Youth Centre located in the grounds of the Hinckley Technical College.

The Junction Disco was run by three older (in my eyes at the time) blokes named Mick Carson, 'Plum' Robinson and Rob Furborough. Mick was an ardent deep soul fan, being passionately interested in artists like Curtis Mayfield, Gladys Knight, Otis Redding and the like, Plum was a general soul fan, and Rob had just discovered Northern. The music was mainly commercial soul and reggae, and unknown to most of us at the time, a considerable amount of Northern Soul.

Fridays were always well attended, most of the punters being 16 or thereabouts. The Philly Sound was in vogue, as were 'penny round' Ben Shermans, 'Rupert' trousers and 'Skinners' jeans. Pop and crisps were the order of the day.

The disco came about as something to do on Fridays. The Junction used to open on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and on Fridays there was little to do for the under-eighteens. It was built by Mick, Plum and Rob, and from the start was instantly sucessful. Heavily into standards of the day, reggae classics like 'The Liquidator' and 'Wet Dream' would always initiate the original form of line dancing, mainly by ex-skinheads. Motown had a big part, as did the up-and-coming Philly Sound. Slowly, though, new records started to be played, featuring artists that had never been played at discos before. Major Lance had released an album 'Live At The Torch', and 'Ain't No Soul' became a standard. Jimmy James 'A Man Like Me' and The Contours 'Baby, Hit And Run' were soon as popular as The Supreme's 'Baby Love'.

One night, Rob Furborough played this strange record with a big hole in the middle that stopped everyone dead... The Righteous Brothers 'Rat Race'. The older lads of the youth club were dancing to it in this strange, shuffling way, on their own! Next came Dean Parrish 'I'm On My Way'. Northern Soul became a fascination, the younger people not understanding exactly what it was. And of course, you had to be part of the 'In Crowd' (pun intended) to be in the know. Gossip had it that there was this club in Stoke-On-Trent that was playing this strange soul music, and people were going there just for a disco! And it started after midnight? Nah, can't be right!