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The Fforde Grene was situated on
Roundhay Road. The pub took its name from a director of Melbourne's Brewery
(a forerunner of Tetleys) who could trace his ancestry back to a
13th-century relative called Richard del Fforde who lived in a house called
Fford Grene. I
hosted many bands before they became famous, including The Sex Pistols, U2,
Simple Minds, Dire Straits, Diamond Head, Be Bop Deluxe, Def Leppard, and
The Rolling Stones and artists including Bo Diddley.
Be Bop Deluxe played the venue to a packed house of fans who became incensed
that the landlord would not allow an encore, resulting in a riot. The police
were called to find the carpet under a sea of broken glass and the furniture
smashed to matchwood. The band's gear was untouched.
Built in 1938, the pub closed its doors in July 2004 and is now one of the
UK's largest ethnic supermarkets and online grocer which opened in 2007 as
CC Continental Supermarket.
The patrons of Fforde Grene were an inspiration for Chumbawamba's classic
"Tubthumping. |
