Welcome

Welcome to The Who Location Guide, which as you've probably guessed is a guide to locations relevant to the history of The Who....recording studios, album cover photos, venues, nightclubs, homes, filming locations etc. etc.

Being in blog format there's neither rhyme nor reason as to why or when a location is listed - though I will soon be placing all the entries in some kind of order. I try and add a number of new entries to the Location Guide at least once every month.

To find a location you can use the search box or browse the archive, both on the upper right hand side of this page. If you scroll down the page you will get the 10 most recent entries. At the bottom of the page there is also the option to go back through the older entries, page by page. There's also another search box down there.

If you have information about any Who locations (listed or unlisted) which you'd like to share, or spot any mistakes in any of the entries (though 99% should be accurate as I triple-check everything wherever possible), please feel free to drop me a line.

Thanks for visiting, and I hope you enjoy the guide and find it useful.

PS: When you're finished browsing the Location Guide, check out The Who Forum for all the Who news and discussion you could want or need....plus some exlusive interviews with the likes of Shel Talmy, Ron Nevison and Simon Townshend...

Updating the update!

Just a quick note for those of you awaiting the next update. I haven't had much time to devote to the Location Guide lately, so I've had one large entry sitting here half finished for a number of weeks, and I've just received some interesting new updates for a second entry. So as soon as I find the time, both of those will appear... hopefully within the next couple of weeks.

To give you a little something to help pass the time whilst waiting for that update, I've just added an interesting little Youtube clip to the Radio London entry. It's a newsreel from 1967, and in the background you can hear snippets of various jingles, including one which The Who nicked for the 'Sell Out' album.

The Speakeasy

The Speakeasy club in central London opened in 1966. Until the late 1970's it flourished as a hang-out and after-hours jamming venue for the city's Rock royalty, regularly attracting the likes of Eric Clapton, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Rod Stewart, Elton John, Thin Lizzy...and of course, The Who.










On March the 16th of 1967 the launch party for The Who's Track Records company was held here. The event was also attended by Jimi Hendrix, who had recently signed to the label. Sadly, just two years later Hendrix would eat one of his final meals here, the day before he died.

December of 1967 saw The Who's first Track Records album release, 'The Who Sell Out', which featured a namecheck of the Speakeasy on the jingle preceding 'I Can See For Miles', "Speakeasy, drink easy, pull easy".

According to John Mears, Keith Moon's driver, The Speakeasy was Keith's favourite drinking spot during 1969.

By the late 1970's the club's attraction for big-name stars had seriously waned, and the Punk Rock generation of chart-toppers were settling in. It was in the Speakeasy's toilets that Clash frontman Joe Strummer lost a tooth after being beaten up by a Teddy Boy. The club was also the location for the infamous altercation between Sex Pistol Sid Vicious and 'Old Grey Whistle Test' frontman Bob Harris.

In 1977 a very drunk Pete Townshend arrived at the Speakeasy following a 12 hour business meeting regarding his finances. Not in the best of moods, he spotted Sex Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook drinking in the corner, and proceeded to harangue them about the state of the music industry. Townshend mistook Cook for Pistols singer Johnny Rotten, and in a later interview Cook recalled Townshend holding him up against the wall by his collar demanding to know "Who are you?! Who are you then?!"













Townshend's drunken pontification peaked with him ripping up the cheque he'd been handed at the business metting, and storming off into the night...being awoken the next day in a nearby doorway by a Police Officer. This incident became the basis for 'Who Are You', the title track of The Who's ninth album.

During the 1980's and 1990s the club continued in various guises (without the famous clientele), most lately as 'Cameos', playing chart friendly dance music.

Today the building serves a completely different purpose. No longer a club, it's 'London Esthetique', a student salon for the London School Of Beauty and Make-Up.













The Speakeasy was at 48 Margaret Street, London. The nearest tube is Oxford Circus.

The Crown And Cushion

In 1970 Keith Moon bought his own Hotel, The Crown And Cushion. It's located in the sleepy Cotswold village of Chipping Norton (population 5920), 75 miles from London....and 10 miles from John Entwistle's 'Quarwood' mansion.

During Keith's tenure as Landlord celebrity friends would often pop into the Hotel's bar for a tipple or three. Who gold discs adorned the walls, but once the novelty of owning a pub began to wear off and Keith's involvement with the establishment noticeably began to decrease, the discs gradually started disappearing into the possession of some of the more light-fingered customers.















Rumour has it that The Who used to rehearse in a barn to the rear of the building, but I can't find any solid confirmation of this.

When the Hotel was being renovated in the mid 1990's, it was discovered that the attic still contained a number of boxes of Keith's belongings.













Now extended with a total of 40 rooms, 3 conference rooms, a swimming pool, sauna, solarium, a full size squash court and fully equipped gymnasium, it'll cost you from £89 per night to book a standard double room at the Hotel.

On the front page of their website the Hotel currently state "In the past the Crown and Cushion was owned by the legendary drummer Keith Moon from 'The Who', and his legacy of decadence lives on today". I don't know whether to find that tempting or frightening!

The Crown And Cushion is located at 23 High Street, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire.

Quarwood

John Entwistle purchased this Victorian mansion in the mid 1970's, and for the following two decades it was his main place of residence.

Built in the late 1800's, the mansion had 55 rooms and 46 acres of surrounding grounds (including 7 cottages).















Soon after moving into 'Quarwood' John installed two recording studios - a small one on the upper floor for recording demos, and a larger one on the ground floor where he recorded two of his solo albums. A third room was converted into a fully functional Bar, with jukebox and pool table.















The mansion also housed John's extensive collections of antique weaponry, guitars and mounted fish. The house - and part of the guitar collection - can be seen during the 'Success Story' sequence of the film, 'The Kids Are Alright'.















In 2004 'Quarwood' was sold for just under £3 million, £1 million short of the asking price. The lucky buyer also received 2 skeletons named Mr. and Mrs. Bones, whose previous function had been to hide in unlikely places to frighten unsuspecting guests.

'Quarwood' is located just outside Stow On the Wold, Gloucestershire. It's only ten miles from 'The Crown and Cushion', the Hotel in Chipping Norton once owned by Keith Moon.

Shepperton Studios

Lying to the South West of London, and just North of the small town of Shepperton, is the Shepperton Studios complex.

The Studio's huge sound stages and highly experienced staff (who've spent the last couple of decades here working on Alien, Star Wars and James Bond movies) make it a highly desirable filming location for big budget productions.















In 1974 Led Zeppelin filmed some live sequences at Shepperton for their movie 'The Song Remains The Same', creating an identical mock-up of their Madison Square Gardens stage-set for the purpose.

In 1977 The Who (under the name Ramport Enterprises) leased a 6 acre section of the Studio for the price of just over 1 million pounds. The lease gave them the use of Littleton House, an old manor near the edge of the studio site, and stages J and K - located just behind the manor.
















The Manor house was used by the band as office space, and can be seen in a short promotional film made at the time featuring Keith Moon giving a guided tour of the site.







Stages J and K were used by the band as rehearsal space and as a warehouse for their equipment. They also ran a business from the Studio, hiring out stage equipment and leasing storage space to other bands.

Smaller than the other stages on the site, J and K were originally built to be used for screen-tests and TV commercials. The Who were photographed here for the cover of their 'Who Are You' album.

















In May of 1978 the J and K stage building became the site of Keith Moon's final gig with The Who. This took place in front of a small invited Fan Club audience, and was filmed for the movie 'The Kids Are Alright'.

During the 1990's it was converted into office space, and renamed The David Lean Building, in honour of the Director of classics such as Lawrence Of Arabia and Bridge On The River Kwai. The current stages J and K are enlarged replacements, built on a different section of the studio complex.











Whilst at Shepperton The Who joined a campaign to preserve a 400 year old Cedar tree on the site from being felled to make way for a housing development. The campaign was succesful and the tree still stands today.

















In 1984 The Who's business interests in Shepperton came to an end, and Shepperton's owners sold the land leased by the band for £3.6 million. Today the studios are owned by Pinewood, and continue to churn out assorted cinematic blockbusters.

Shepperton Studios can be found at North End, Littleton Lane, Shepperton. The nearest train station is Shepperton.

White City

White City is a namechecked on The Who's 'Dogs' single, and was later the title of a Pete Townshend solo album.

It's not actually a city, but an area of London just North of Shepherd's Bush. It took its name from the whitewashed palaces and buildings constructed upon the site in 1908 to house the Franco-British exhibition, a showcase for British and French cultural and industrial achievements which was attended by more than 8 million people.













In April of 1908 White City Stadium was opened on the site, specifically to to host that year's summer Olympics. It's a reference to this location which appears in 'Dogs'.


















"Yes, I know, it's a good dog, I saw it run at White City,
Just last week, broke the record, Yellow Printer,
Nice dog, yes, lovely form, lovely buttocks."

The stadium was constructed to Olympic standards, with running and cycling tracks, a swimming pool, and a football pitch. It had a capacity of 150,000 and cost £80,000 ($160,000) to build. At the time it was the largest stadium in the world. However, once the Olympic games finished the site fell into neglect, until the advent of the First World War saw it being utilised to build fighter planes.

In 1927 it was taken over by the Greyhound Racing Association, who regularly hosted events at the venue for the next 50 years - with a brief interuption during the Second World War when it served as a parachute factory.






















In September 1984 the last greyhound race took place at White City, and just days later the demolition crews moved in, obliterating all trace of the stadium.

The BBC's Wood Lane Television Centre now stands on the site.

















White City stadium was in Wood Lane, Shepherds Bush, London. The nearest tube is White City.

The storyline of the Pete Townshend solo album 'White City' centres on the rundown White City Estate, which is located next to the stadium site.











And for those of you who have ever wondered, Yellow Printer was a real Grehound who raced and won many times at White City Stadium. He was born in 1966, and is considered by Greyhound aficiandos to have been the fastest racing dog ever.












In 1970 he was taken to the USA to serve as a stud, being the first such dog to command a $500 fee. His later years were spent as a domestic pet, and he passed away peacefully in 1978, aged 12.

The Bag O' Nails

Namechecked on a jingle on The Who's 1967 'Sell Out' album, the Bag O' Nails was a basement nightclub located less than a minutes stroll from Carnaby Street.

The club was a popular hangout for Rock stars during the late 1960's, and was a favourite drinking spot of Keith Moon. The Beatles were regulars here, and in November 1966 the club was location for The Jimi Hendrix Experience's second British gig - the guest list for which included Pete Townshend, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, Brian Jones, Jimmy Page, Steve Marriot, Ronnie Lane....and assorted other stars of the era. It was at the Bag O' Nails that Paul McCartney met his future wife, Linda Eastman.










The Bag O' Nails opened in 1966 and closed in 1969. Sometime in the 1970's it became the Miranda Club, which still occupies the building, though today as an exclusive "members only" establishment.

The Bag O' Nails was located at 9 Kingly Street, in the heart of central London. The nearest tube station is Oxford Circus.

Bray Studios

Located to the West of London, Bray Studios started life as a large mansion house. The property was purchased in the 1960's by the Hammer film company, purveyors of such classic cheesy horror movies as The Curse Of Frankenstein, The Evil Of Frankenstein, The Revenge Of Frankenstein, The Horror Of Frankenstein, The Bride Of Fran...well, I'm sure you get the idea!















Having exhausted the interior and exterior of the mansion for scenes in their movies, Hammer invested their profits in expanding the premises into the studio complex which today graces the site.

Bray's large sound stage has always made it an attractive rehearsal space for big name bands. Led Zeppelin rehearsed at Bray just hours before John Bonham died. Artists as diverse as Erasure, AC/DC and David Bowie have used the studio for pre-tour rehearsals....which is where The Who come into the picture.















In the summer of 2006 The Who took up residence at Bray to rehearse for their first ever world tour. Footage from these sessions was webcast on Pete Townshend's own site, and featured some of the first new Who material for a number of years.....23 years according to the assorted media and news outlets, who seemed not to have noticed the 'Real Good Looking Boy' single released just a couple of years earlier.















Bray Studios are located at Down Place, Water Oakley, Windsor.

The Astoria

"Down at the Astoria the scene was changing, bingo and rock were pushing out X-rating"

Located in North London's Finsbury Park, the Astoria immortalised in The Who's 'Long Live Rock' is not to be confused with the Astoria in central London.

The venue originally opened as a cinema in 1930 (as pictured above), and by the 1960's had also begun putting on bands. In 1967 the stage of the Astoria became the first place that Jimi Hendrix burnt a guitar. For a short period around 1970 it was back to just being a Cinema, and had been renamed The Odeon.














In 1971 the venue was taken over by John Morris, who had been the stage manager at the Woodstock Festival. It was renamed the Rainbow, and became exclusively a music venue.


















Morris was a friend of The Who, and the band agreed to open the venue for him with a run of 3 shows at the start of November. Townshend wore a silver jumpsuit specially made for the occasion, with a Rainbow logo on the back. The light show was imported from the famous Filmore East in New York. The aftershow party took place in the venue's foyer.












In December of 1972 a stage version of 'Tommy' was performed at the Rainbow. It featured The Who and assorted guests including Rod Stewart, Ringo Starr and Peter Sellers.

Though looking very bland and box-like from the exterior, the Rainbow's internal architecture was of a very impressive and unique Moorish style. In the 1970's this led to a preservation order being placed placed upon the building by the local Council. The order required the owners to keep the venue's architecture in both original and excellent condition. Being rather an expensive demand, the venue were unable to fully comply, and by 1982 they were forced to close.


















The building then sat empty and unused for over a decade. In 1995 it was purchased for £2.35 million by The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, who had previously attempted without luck to purchase another of London's famous Rock venues, Brixton Academy, for £4 million.

The Universal Church is considered a cult by some, telling its followers that diseases are caused by demons and prayer can rid them of debt. In 2003 they were investigated by the UK Charity Commission over child protection issues related to excorcism and money distribution. In 1997 a Beligian parliamentary enquiry named them as a dangerous sect, stating in their report "This is an authentic crime organization whose only goal is to enrich itself. This is an extreme form of religious merchandising".

On the plus side, not being short of cash the Universal Church has easily been able to adhere to the architectural preservation order, and internally the building has now been fully restored to its original 1930's grandeur.

















The Astoria, Odeon, Rainbow or Church of the Univer....take your pick, can be found at the junction of Seven Sisters Road and Isledon Road, Finsbury Park, London. The nearest tube is Finsbury Park.

The Keith Moon Bar

The Keith Moon Bar is in The Astoria, central London. This Astoria is not to be confused with The Astoria namechecked in 'Long Live Rock'. That venue was in Finsbury Park, North London.

The Astoria first opened it's doors in 1927 as a cinema. In 1976 it was converted into a theatre. Ten years later it was being used exclusively as a music venue.











The Keith Moon Bar was opened on the venue's second floor in 1988, as part of a major refurbishment by new owners. Zak Starkey donated one of Keith's 1975 Premier drum kits to the bar, and the walls were adorned with assorted Keith Moon memorabilia.













As far as I'm aware, The Who never played at The Astoria, but two Who conventions have taken place here. The first, in 1998, was very much a tribute to Keith. Members of his family were in attendance, there was a premiere screening of a documentary about his life, and in the Keith Moon Bar author Tony Fletcher launched his book about Keith, 'Dear Boy'.














In 2000 the lease for the Astoria was purchased by the Mean Fiddler organisation, with the stated aim of "securing the future of live music at one of London’s most famous rock ‘n’ roll venues".

Last year it was announced that the Crossrail Corporation were seeking a Compulsory Purchase Order on the premises - which was granted in October of this year. They will be demolishing The Astoria to allow them to construct a ventilation shaft for a new underground rail link. Shops and offices will be built on the site currently occupied by the venue. Work on the project will start in 2010.

So, for the next year or two, The Keith Moon Bar can be found in The Astoria, at 157 Charing Cross Road, London. The nearest tube station is Tottenham Court Road.