The old Top Rank Venue - Queens street

Whats it used for now ?
South Wales missing a Venue like that bigtime, remember seeing some great bands there "oh the good old days"
went to the Download festival last weekend 100,000 metalheads "MEGA"

they all seem to play Bristol nowdays

Whats it used for now ?
South Wales missing a Venue like that bigtime, remember seeing some great bands there "oh the good old days"
went to the Download festival last weekend 100,000 metalheads "MEGA"

they all seem to play Bristol nowdays

Think it's a cinema!

i think it was roughly where primark is now.....spent many a night there back in the 70s

i think it was roughly where primark is now.....spent many a night there back in the 70s

It's a bit further up the road towards the castle, to the left of HMV!

Whats it used for now ?
South Wales missing a Venue like that bigtime, remember seeing some great bands there "oh the good old days"
went to the Download festival last weekend 100,000 metalheads "MEGA"

they all seem to play Bristol nowdays

Think it's a cinema!

http://www.192.com/atoz/business/cardif ... 3739/comp/

No
the ABC was further down Queens street , remember going there sat mornings .
ABC minors club
and was shutdown 20yrs + ago

It was underneath where primark / curry's digital is on queen street and think its long gone tbh.

Whats it used for now ?
South Wales missing a Venue like that bigtime, remember seeing some great bands there "oh the good old days"
went to the Download festival last weekend 100,000 metalheads "MEGA"

they all seem to play Bristol nowdays

Too young to remeber top rank, but i do know that my old man pulled my mum there! I remember it being Astoria (my 1st club when i was 15), then the Forum, then Vision 2k and now Primark!

A great venue for bands in the 70's & early 80's. I saw the Stranglers, The Clash, Sham 69, the Two tone tour [ Specials, Madness, Selector], among others. Last gig i saw their was Level 42, around 1982 i guess.

Saw loads of bands down the Rank between 1977-1984 mainly Punk bands ,never missed many betwen them dates,think P.I.L was one of the last gigs I went to.
Mike bet you were the Daddy on saturday mornings down the ABC minors club

Saw loads of bands down the Rank between 1977-1984 mainly Punk bands ,never missed many betwen them dates,think P.I.L was one of the last gigs I went to.
Mike bet you were the Daddy on saturday mornings down the ABC minors club

Hey Gez remembering ABC minors f**k seems like 100 yrs ago
Liam went into his 1st circle pit Saturday he nagged and nagged to go in for Trivium
F**king hell I panicked I couldn`t see him for ages it was mental then up he pops he got put on his arse reckons he slipped

fav top rank gigs
Iron Maiden
UFO
Skids
Undertones
SLF
Stranglers JJB jucking into the crowd for a fight

Seen the Straglers there during the punk era, there was gob everwhere, what was all that about.

Seen the Straglers there during the punk era, there was gob everwhere, what was all that about.

Thinking back now that was pretty sick, seeing bands with gob all over em "YUK"
that Stranglers gig was that the one when JJB (black belt bass player) jumped into the crowd and started fighting
someone gobbed at him

Great venue for the punk days.

I saw amongst others

The Skids
Undertones
SLF
The Damned ( Captian Sensible peeing in some guys face in the front row!)
OMD ( supported by Howard Jones with the mime artist in the chains)
The Police

Happy days!

First went there in the late 60's early 70's as a nipper on Saturday mornings think it may have been owned by Annis father around that time not completely certain though ? i had a lot of relatives working there in various capacities ,also spent throughout the 80's clubbing there ( besides the Montmarence ) saw the Simple Minds, Dexy's.Duran Duran,Depeche Mode,Stray Cats Talk Talk , most of the Ska Bands to name but a few felt a little sad when it closed down but you have to accept PROGRESS and move with the TIMES.

First went there in the late 60's early 70's as a nipper on Saturday mornings think it may have been owned by Annis father around that time not completely certain though ? i had a lot of relatives working there in various capacities ,also spent throughout the 80's clubbing there ( besides the Montmarence ) saw the Simple Minds, Dexy's.Duran Duran,Depeche Mode,Stray Cats Talk Talk , most of the Ska Bands to name but a few felt a little sad when it closed down but you have to accept PROGRESS and move with the TIMES.

Progress meaning - No band Venue
most medium size bands now miss South Wales sadly

No Top Rank
Sophia Gardens wrecked with the snow WOW was that 83

need Annis to sort the Square pub out change into a Band Venue

First went there in the late 60's early 70's as a nipper on Saturday mornings think it may have been owned by Annis father around that time not completely certain though ? i had a lot of relatives working there in various capacities ,also spent throughout the 80's clubbing there ( besides the Montmarence ) saw the Simple Minds, Dexy's.Duran Duran,Depeche Mode,Stray Cats Talk Talk , most of the Ska Bands to name but a few felt a little sad when it closed down but you have to accept PROGRESS and move with the TIMES.

Progress meaning - No band Venue
most medium size bands now miss South Wales sadly

No Top Rank
Sophia Gardens wrecked with the snow WOW was that 83

need Annis to sort the Square pub out change into a Band Venue

Progress meaning the CIA Venue just to mention one fact is although i watched some great bands their it was never full to capacity and it would never pass Health and Safety polocies shortly after its demise owning to the new H&S regulations being passed by the Government at the time also one thing i can tell yopu is their are far more Music venues dotted around the City Centre now than was was at the time when the Rank was operating so i am guessing you must be a few years younger than me otherwise you would be aware of what i mean in respect to being able to follow live acts with more musical genres around the City these days.

First went there in the late 60's early 70's as a nipper on Saturday mornings think it may have been owned by Annis father around that time not completely certain though ? i had a lot of relatives working there in various capacities ,also spent throughout the 80's clubbing there ( besides the Montmarence ) saw the Simple Minds, Dexy's.Duran Duran,Depeche Mode,Stray Cats Talk Talk , most of the Ska Bands to name but a few felt a little sad when it closed down but you have to accept PROGRESS and move with the TIMES.

Progress meaning - No band Venue
most medium size bands now miss South Wales sadly

No Top Rank
Sophia Gardens wrecked with the snow WOW was that 83

need Annis to sort the Square pub out change into a Band Venue

Progress meaning the CIA Venue just to mention one fact is although i watched some great bands their it was never full to capacity and it would never pass Health and Safety polocies shortly after its demise owning to the new H&S regulations being passed by the Government at the time also one thing i can tell yopu is their are far more Music venues dotted around the City Centre now than was was at the time when the Rank was operating so i am guessing you must be a few years younger than me otherwise you would be aware of what i mean in respect to being able to follow live acts with more musical genres around the City these days.

49
Uni, clwb , coal exchange, St Davids ?? , CIA
Medium size venue 2500 only St Davids but seats - so we have nothing, medium size bands go to O2 bristol

Seen the Straglers there during the punk era, there was gob everwhere, what was all that about.

Gwyn was that the Concert that the Stranglers walked off because of all the spitting, if so i was there for that one, support act was the Skids

I saw the Anti Knowhere League there - what a night

First went there in the late 60's early 70's as a nipper on Saturday mornings think it may have been owned by Annis father around that time not completely certain though ? i had a lot of relatives working there in various capacities ,also spent throughout the 80's clubbing there ( besides the Montmarence ) saw the Simple Minds, Dexy's.Duran Duran,Depeche Mode,Stray Cats Talk Talk , most of the Ska Bands to name but a few felt a little sad when it closed down but you have to accept PROGRESS and move with the TIMES.

Progress meaning - No band Venue
most medium size bands now miss South Wales sadly

No Top Rank
Sophia Gardens wrecked with the snow WOW was that 83

need Annis to sort the Square pub out change into a Band Venue

Progress meaning the CIA Venue just to mention one fact is although i watched some great bands their it was never full to capacity and it would never pass Health and Safety polocies shortly after its demise owning to the new H&S regulations being passed by the Government at the time also one thing i can tell yopu is their are far more Music venues dotted around the City Centre now than was was at the time when the Rank was operating so i am guessing you must be a few years younger than me otherwise you would be aware of what i mean in respect to being able to follow live acts with more musical genres around the City these days.

49
Uni, clwb , coal exchange, St Davids ?? , CIA
Medium size venue 2500 only St Davids but seats - so we have nothing, medium size bands go to O2 bristol

After a fashion as i have watched 60,000 for U2 50,000 Bowie at the old Arms Park Stadium just to name two gigs but the sorry truth is other acts initially expressed an interest in playing there in the 80's until tickets sales were very low due to the declining interest and recession thats the reason why the so called big venues fell flat everyone prefered to watch Punk /New Wave bands at small venues and the trend has continued up until today so any the demand these days for a large venue is met with prudence from the promoters hence Bristol, Birmingham , etc catering for these sized gigs ,

Wasn't it Ritzy's in the late 80's?

i seen loads of bands there in the late 70's 80's they were the days

remember seeing spizz there what a gig, Exploited, rejects(f*cking had a right go with the bluebirds fans) sham, just to mention a few

and adam and his ants

Whats it used for now ?
South Wales missing a Venue like that bigtime, remember seeing some great bands there "oh the good old days"
went to the Download festival last weekend 100,000 metalheads "MEGA"

they all seem to play Bristol nowdays

The Rank was a great venue.

Maiden, UFO, Rory Gallagher, Tygers of Pantang all mental gigs.

Had some great nights in there as well as Titos, always remember a mate of mine who drove a Mini through the doors because the bouncers threw him out.

Got chased out of there once by a load of brothers.

f*cking dive in the 90s

Had some great nights in there as well as Titos, always remember a mate of mine who drove a Mini through the doors because the bouncers threw him out.

I remember that incident know the guy but his name slips my memory when he drove the mini throgh the narrow doorway channel he could not get out of the car because their was not enough space either side of the for the doors to open heard the bouncers gave him a bit of a hiding.

Brilliant venue for bands.saw Simple Minds supported by China Crisis 1982 and The Boomtown Rats supported by correct me if im wrong but Howard Jones before he was famous also 1982.In the early 80s you had,Top Rank,Sloanes,Bumpers.neros,which was previously titos,and other clubs such as luigis,kikis,fatso's,bananas.Then you had.chicagos,The Bank,and of course annis's club Cesars.Oh yeh and the wine press where i had a beating of a bouncer for accusing him of overcharging me One club name i cant remember was further down st mary street towards the castle same side as the market but further down.The list goes on.If i could only turn back the clock.

I saw Slade and Thin Lizzy in there..