linda mcnicholas

I was out of work so I did a secretarial course at Bilston College for a bit because I got paid to do it. Then I decided I wasn't going to make tea for a bloke for the rest of my life, so I ditched it. But I made a friend at college who used to go in the Tavern, so she took me in the Tavern and then after that we were in there all the time. Probably ’82/’83, so I would have been nineteen or twenty.

We didn't have much money. It wasn't easy to find work, so we lived on the dole for a bit of it. We used to go in the pub and have half a lager each, and it'd last all night because it was about being in the pub and the vibe, not about drinking really.

I did like lads with long hair, so I did used to do a lot of window shopping. 

We liked the music. We liked the vibe. I remember the jukebox playing Nutbush City Limits. Born to be Wild. I thought Nutbush City Limits was a bit weird cuz I never thought of it as a bikers’ tune. What else? There was always Black Sabbath on, and I think... oh, is it Stealers Wheel? The Christmas songs like Slade, and Wizzard. I remember them from Christmastime. 

And yeah, the people…the people was nice. They were interesting, more interesting than in a normal pub because there was hippies, and I'd always loved hippies. I don't know why, they just held a fascination. I think it was probably because we were just coming out the hippy era, so it was like the grown-ups did it.

I remember it being darker than anywhere else.

After the Tavern we'd normally go back to somebody’s flat and drink and chat and play music. Or we went to Scruples. We used to go there. We thought it was brilliant, a rock disco sort of thing. I also used to go with my friends, Judith and Lesley, up to Tettenhall to the Dog and Gun.

At the time the Tavern was just the place that we went to, because all the people that we'd talk to and mix with were there and the music was great. It was what we did, you know, when we weren't at home. That's what you did, went to the Tavern.

I think as you go through life you meet different people and you pick up things from each person, so now I've got a really wide taste in music. But I do still really like rock music and I do sometimes play it when I'm doing the cleaning, and sometimes I'll go and see a rock band.