Yorkshire mill town with link to the stars including Morecambe and Wise, Eartha Kitt, Dame Shirley Bassey and Louis Armstrong
Batley was – and remains – a working town but it hosted showbusiness stars from around the world at its famous Variety Club in the 1960s and 1970s.
Morecambe and Wise, Eartha Kitt, Dame Shirley Bassey and Louis Armstrong were among the big names to grace the stage.
Sadly, the club has gone. After a successful period as the Frontier nightclub, it is now a gym and there are few clues that this was once a mecca of showbusiness.
But yesterday comedian Billy Pearce unveiled a Blue Plaque at the site on Bradford Road and another comic Billy Pearce joined him for what was a fun occasion tinged with sadness.
For Bernie, 88, it was a venue which changed his life. Back in 1971, he was used to playing working men’s clubs across Yorkshire.
But when he performed at the Variety Club in front of Barney Colehan, best known for producing and directing The Good Old Days, his fortunes changed.
“My life was transformed,” said Bernie. “Derek Smith, the manager of the club, told me Barney wanted to talk to me. I was booked for the Good Old Days and I met Les Dawson. Les was like a mentor to me. He gave me some harsh words, some advice, but he was right. From then on I never looked back.
“It’s amazing, looking back. One night in Batley changed my life. I’ll never forget it.”
Bernie, famous for his work with his ostrich puppet, said many other people have equally fond memories of the Batley Variety Club.
At the peak of its success, the club had 300,000 members. It closed in 1978 and reopened as the Frontier in the early 1980s this it eventually closed in 2016.
The club was designed and built by James and Betty Corrigan in early 1967 on top of a disused sewage site on Bradford Road in Batley.
The club opened in March 1967 as planned with the headline act on opening night The Bachelors.
The Corrigans are said to have travelled to Las Vegas to research how the clubs worked there in order to perfect a design for Batley.
The club became known as the "Las Vegas of the North" and attracted the best acts in show business, both from the UK and America.
When Mr Corrigan heard that Bernie did not have an agent, he arrtanged to meet him at a service station on the M1 and took him to London.
But not all the stars were convinced. Dean Martin was said to have been offered £45,000 for a booking but his manager reportedly said he would not get out of bed for such a fee.
But Roy Orbison recorded a live album at the venue and other stars stayed at the Corrigans home in the town rather than in a hotel.
Bernie said: “Everyone’s got a story to tell. It was such a fabulous place. There will be a few tears.”