Being a Manchester lad it has been very nostalgic to be able to look at wrestling on the local coast. Morecambe , Fleetwood , Blackpool , Liverpool , New Brighton , Rhyl , Colwyn Bay , Llandudno, Isle of Man and others. All very familiar places to me. In the early 1970's when I got a car I used to pick up the Manchester Evening news and see where I could get to to see some wrestling. One place that eluded me was Southport. Just on the odd occasion The Floral Hall advertised , but I never quite spotted a bill that would get me out there. I do know Southport , but it just seems a little different to all the other places. I think it was because I never saw the sea come in.
Certainly the Lancashire coastal towns seem to have had pre war grappling , but I must say , I have never seen any evidence that Southport had early stuff.
In the early 1960's they put wresting on at the Grand Cinema so I am not so sure when The Floral Hall took over. I have bills from 1967.
Maybe MM or Ost can help with their collections.
What I have unearthed though is a story of wrestling in Southport getting going after the war.
There had been a print works on Tulketh Street which was at the side of the station. In the war it was seconded for storage. At the end of the war it became available for sale. In 1947 It was bought up by a guy name Mawdesley and he obtained a license for Music and Dance. His intention was a skating rink and also Hockey and Netball.
In winter the plan was for Tennis , Badminton and possibly boxing with seats for 400 spectators. The name was to be The Grosvenor Sports Arena.
I never did find boxing , but at the end of October 1947 there was wrestling. For a couple of weeks no advertising in the paper I have been trawling through.
After that I found winter wrestling into 1950.
Unfortunately I just can't track down a picture of this place to really give us the feel for it.. Some great bills and about 75 shows promoted before the owner sold the place which left the promoter high and dry.
When I looked at Ardwick Stadium , I felt sure the promoter was Wryton , only to be proved wrong. Not one single bill mentions the promoter , but for example Bartelli was on so often. It had to be Wryton... didn't it.
No more galleries for the moment so let me put on some highlights for you and at the end....The promoter.
So it was Wryton all along.
Was this the start of wrestling here or was it on somewhere before the war.
No worries at all, Poolstead. Just a bit of fun. Just objectively noting the anomaly of a minor seaside resort on a par with Bexhill getting the tv gig, when so many other major venues missed out.
Ian's cables comment is a real eye-opener, hadn't thought of that at all, thank you, sir!
Could also be, and quite possibly were, all sorts of other reasons to do with nepotism and back-handers.
Bobby Barron ran the Southport shows for Pontin's along with their Blackpool camp and the two at Prestatyn (where I refereed). His promotion in the town probably was at the Prince of Wales. I stayed there a couple of years ago after attending a jazz concert and the hotel had certainly seen better days. It seemed to cater for an older clientele; mainly coach parties. The plus point was a very good help-yourself buffet breakfast which included fried bread; a breakfast item increasingly rare these days! I believe it is also offered at their sister hotel, The Scarisbrick.
. zollys original tag partner was indeed the very underated Mo Hunter,Gary Cooper was later and rarer addition.Zolly was a superb technician and master scowler now sadly unwell and in New Zealand,Mick McMichael did a great job as a kingmaker he'd make the most lacklustre opponent looked good or usually evil
Having previously lived in Southport for 20 years I can confirm that it isn't far flung, especially for all the Liverpudlians and Mancunians who visit for a nice day out.
In addition to the above venues, Pontins Holiday Camp in Ainsdale has seen its fair share of wrestling over the years.
In the last 3 or 4 years there was at least one show run by Megaslam Wrestling at the Prince of Wales Hotel on Lord Street which may well have been the "posh hotel" Bobby Barron used on an earlier occasion. Few would describe it as posh these days.
The reason for the regular TV shows recorded there may have been the affection which a certain former Guardsman had for the town. I remember reading somewhere that it was his favourite place to wrestle.
The Rocco world title match in 1981 has enshrined Southport's place in wrestling history.
Interesting to see the Boz Cats billed without Catweazle
We've made real progress discovering the opposition in Southport. Thanks folks.
I attended several Wryton/Crabtree shows at The Floral Hall, Southport, including the wild TV taping of Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks versus Roy and Tony St.Clair which had Kent Walton exclaiming."iyiyiyiyiyi," in disbelief.
Although not there in person, I recall a TV taping there when Big Daddy had turned blue eye and he entered the ring accompanied not only by his tag team partner (I forget who) but also Windsor Davies and Don Estelle who were in summer season at the adjoining theatre.
Re t.v. halls being used. { think a lot was to do on if the artillary of trucks etc. could park close to the halls. Once inside could the hall take all the scafoldig and hundreds of yards of heavy thick wireing, extra lighting. Just a thought,
Regards to all Ian P.
Re t.v. halls being used. { think a lot was to do on if the artillary of trucks etc. could park close to the halls. Once inside could the hall take all the scafoldig and hundreds of yards of heavy thick wireing, extra lighting. Just a thought,
Regards to all Ian P.
I refereed in a posh hotel in Southport for Bobby Barron and I forget the name of it but it did not last long. It just did not attract the punters; even Ricki Starr only managed to bring a handful in.
I too have been to Southport, in my far flung youth.
No need for all the tetchiness. Where I am seated now may seem far flung to some, but it doesn't to me because I am here.
Look at the context of my comment: televised wrestling. The tv cameras didn't go much outside an oval that encompssed Croydon, Shrewsbury, Bolton, Leeds and those Bedforshire venues. Why would they go to places on the road to nowhere like Southport when they could deploy their resources easily along mainline routes, cameras onwards to other cities, etc? So many wrestling venues to choose from.
Bridlington, Brighton, Yarmouth, WSM, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Torquay and many other important wrestling venues were located on the coast but never televised. I don't squeal that the cameras never enjoyed Hastings Pier (the nation's loss, not mine.)
Equally, as far as I'm aware, several cities never had a sniff of tv wrestling: Cardiff, Newcastle, Liverpool, Bristol, Norwich, Hull, Sheffield....
The only coastal venues I can think of that had regular tv wrestling were Sarffend and Sarffport.
I'm wondering just why a relatively low-profile venue like the Floral Hall got the gig so often above all those hotbeds of wrestling named above?
Maybe the producers just felt that the name of the town SOUTHport had a nice southern twang to it ☺☺☺☺ (dedicated to Broughton Ranger Minor)
Poolstead asks about Eric Colbeck. I am sure it would have been Alan , however we believe his real name was Arthur , and here he is again
Bloody hell didn't work that many places, I've come out in sympathy with Bernard,sorry guys.
Worked a few places in Southport in addition to the Floral,one was I think in Cambridge street hosted orchestral concerts,the Moulin was a cavernous club formerly the Plazza Cinema.I lovel Anglo s Northern baiting. Cassidy and Fred promoted in Southport so did Dominic Pye, Northern promotions did the Moulin.
Worked a few places in Southport in addition to the Floral,one was I think in Cambridge at and hosted orchestral concerts,the Moulin was a cavernous club formerly the Plazza Cinema.I lovel Anglo s Northern baiting. Cassidy and Fred promoted in Southport so did Dominic Pye, Northern promotions did the Moulin.
Worked a few places in Southport in addition to the Floral,one was I think in Cambridge at and hosted orchestral concerts,the Moulin was a cavernous club formerly the Plazza Cinema.I lovel Anglo s Northern baiting. Cassidy and Fred promoted in Southport so did Dominic Pye, Northern promotions did the Moulin.
Worked a few places in Southport in addition to the Floral,one was I think in Cambridge at and hosted orchestral concerts,the Moulin was a cavernous club formerly the Plazza Cinema.I lovel Anglo s Northern baiting. Cassidy and Fred promoted in Southport so did Dominic Pye, Northern promotions did the Moulin.
This would seem to be an alternative to the Floral Hall and Wryton.
Think it might have been a cinema.
I guess Anglo Italian didn't do too well in geography at school. Just get the 298 Ribble bus from Leyland Anglo. Southport is the closest seaside town to Leyland, not too far flung at all at just 15 miles. I didn't go every week in the summer, far from it, but did go quite a few times during the school summer holidays from about 1967 to 1970 or 71. As Ron says Southport always was different, a much more genteel sort of place than Blackpool, but then most places are. No, it was a very nice place, and probably still is, I haven't been for quite a few years. Victorian buildings, wide streets and the second longest pier in Britain which never seems to quite make it to the sea. The walk from the promenade to the sea is a day out in itself. In this new fangled world it's now part of, the also not too far flung, Merseyside.
Back to the wrestling. That's a nice bit of wrestling history you've uncovered there Ron. That Mighty Inche has cropped up again. I hadn't heard of the Grosvenor Sports Stadium.
But I can tell you that Southport wasn't just a Wryton town. In the second half of the 1960s on day trips to Southport, so it would be in the summer, I kept my eyes open for independent wrestling posters and there were definitely independent shows going on there. I've no idea of the hall or who the promoter was, the location suggests Jefferson or Cape, but they were definitely on.
Talking of Kent Walton, for me The Floral Hall Southport was a major and regular tv venue, not sure why they bothered going to such a far flung place; I mean they never went to Scotland, or the southcoast, or anywhere in the West Country.
Garfield when still billed as The Modern Sandow. Topping the bill as early as April 1949. Can he have been such a headliner right from the start? Ranks alongside Nagasaki, though even Nagasaki didn't start off top of the bill. Makes me wonder whether Garfield had wrestled previously under another name?
Fancy investing in an ad to say you are no longer promoting - money to burn. Surely they should have mentioned their nearest alternative venue.
Assirati had a small pool of "willing" opponents and the more I see these bouts with Madrali, the less I am in awe of those appetizing headline matches.
Thanks for uploading, Ron.