“Soho is a place where all the things they say happen, do” – Colin Macinnes
The 2 i's Coffee Bar in Old Compton Street
Quickly other coffee bars sprung up around Soho, often providing live music, these included the Top Ten in Berwick Street and the Heaven and Hell bar in Old Compton Street, but the most famous of all, and next door to the Heaven and Hell, was the 2 i’s at number 59.
Almost over night young people, who now for the first time were starting to be known as ‘teen-agers’ had somewhere to go they could call their own. The coffee shops were unlicensed and there was nothing to stop teenagers coming to Soho to listen to music, live, or on the jukebox. If you were young, Soho was suddenly the place to be.
Gina Lollobrigida in 1953
The Moka coffee bar in 1953, seemingly offering a free electric shave
Skiffle band playing on an old bomb site in Soho 1956
'teen-agers' in Soho 1956
Soho Square 1956
Lonnie Donegan September 1956
The Two i’s was bought in 1955 by an Australia wrestler called Paul Lincoln (Dr Death when in the ring – and one of the sport’s first masked wrestlers,
cleverly enabling him to fight twice on the same bill, and thus doubling his fee). The name of the bar came from the two brothers called Irani he had bought it from.
The 2 i’s wasn’t a particularly busy place initially and it was quickly losing money, but this all changed when Lincoln started to put on skiffle groups that were becoming popular with teenagers, especially after Lonnie Donegan’s Rock Island Line had become a hit. Skiffle was suited totally to the new coffee shops due to the minimal, cheap and un-amplified instruments the bands used and thus able to fit into the tiniest, sweatiest cellar.
Tommy Steele 25th February 1957
Tommy Steele at the Bread Basker 1957
Tommy Steele performing in Soho 1957. How young he was is written all over his face.
Clutching their guitars, teenagers, from all over the country, started coming to the 2 I’s, or even Soho in general, to try and find fame and fortune. Cliff Richard and the Shadows (initially the Drifters) all met by being regulars at the cafe. Bruce Welch of the Shadows once said:
“The Two I’s was the place to be discovered. If it was good enough for Tommy Steele it was good enough for us.”
Larry Parnes, considering himself an ‘impresario’ and known to many as ‘Mr Parnes, Shillings and Pence’, started to manage other singers and after the success of Steele insisted on creating cartoonish pseudonyms, thus Reg Smith became Marty Wilde, Ronald Wycherley became Billy Fury and Clive Powell became Georgie Fame. Joe Brown, however rejected his Parnes’ name of Elmer Twitch (not surprisingly) and solely, it seems, had a music career with the name with which he was born.
Billy Fury and Larry Parnes
Joe Brown
Mr Parnes Shillings and Pence
Clive Powell aka Georgie Fame
Reg Smith aka Marty Wilde and a young Kim Wilde
Roy Taylor aka Vince Eager
Larry Parnes wasn’t known as the ‘beat svengali’ for nothing, and his relationship with his proteges was ‘fatherly’ at the very least. Vince Eager at one point was wondering why he hadn’t received any record royalties:
“You’re not entitled to any,” Larry Parnes told him. “But it says in my contract that I am,” Eager protested. “It also says I have power of attorney over you, and I’ve decided you’re not getting any,” Parnes replied.
Parnes’ power in the music business swiftly declined with the rise of the Beatles (indeed he rejected them as a backing group for Billy Fury at one point) and, always happier with family entertainment, he went on to produce theatre shows. However the mid to late fifties was an incredibly exciting and creative time for British music and the attraction of rock ‘n’ roll brought talented (and, to be fair, not so talented) teenagers from all over the country to try their hand at a new musical fashion.
It seemed, at last, that anyone from any backgrould could make it. Only Punk, perhaps, echoed the musical ‘can do’ atmosphere of this period, just two decades later.
Frith Street in 1956, known as Froth Street in the heyday of the coffee bars
Leon Bell and the Bell Cats and some hand-jiving kittens
Doing what teenagers do best, hanging around. In Soho
The skiffle group City Ramblers in 1955
Bill Kent entertaining the ladies at the 2 I's coffee bar
It’s now over fifty years since the heyday of the 2 I’s coffee bar in Old Compton Street. A lot of the Soho cafes, like everywhere else, are either closing down or becoming part of the ubiquitous Starbucks chain. Starbucks, of course, branched last year and started their own record label featuring cutting edge artists such as Carly Simon and James Taylor.
The ubiquitous coffee chain also signed Paul McCartney, who fifty years ago was inspired by the skiffle boom created by the Soho Coffee shops to join John Lennon’s skiffle band The Quarrymen and we all know what happened to them.
The Quarrymen in 1958
A long way from the Moka coffee bar and Gina Lollobrigida
The 2i's today, November '09
Great blog! We’re interested in the same things (well, what i see on your blog). Keep up the great work!
Ciao,
Tosh
TamTam Books
I really enjoy reading your posts. The history and photos are great. Thanks for all the effort.
thanks ever so for all this – i’m jealous as hell.
x
Hot dang, this is a great blog, how have I missed this?!!
Keep it up!
-WK
I’ve come to love the British rock ‘n’ rollers, and think they get a bad press. Certainly they new nothing about the Blues, nor ever seen a white gospel revivalist meeting. Neither did they drive trucks around Memphis, and hang out at drive in movies. They didn’t get direct contact with the “black” roots of the music, and probably wouldn’t have liked it much if they did. Their approach was simple: Copy Elvis. And to them that meant one thing and one thing only: Shiny stage suits and lots of hip action.
Was Buddy Holly a great songwriter? Yes. Was Elvis the greatest performer ever? Yes. But did they bite the end off of Heinz’s nose? No. It took Jess Conrad to do that. The British guys were so decadent and outrageous that I really think the roots of Rock comes more from the show bizz traditions of “spectacle” they espoused, than it does the Americans.
(Big “up” for Billy Fury and Joe Brown though. They were the real deal, and had it all).
Thanks for posting the 2 I’s pictures. (Tommy Steele had acne?) and Dr Death looks like he’s walked straight from the set of “Kid For Two Farthings”.
Any more 2 I’s type stuff would be great to see.
Fantastic blog ! I can small London from the pictures !
yet another fantastic post. Would it be ok add you to themusicologist?
Cheers for a great site!
Tune in to my rock ‘n roll and other mid-century swag on wvew.org, Wed. nites @ 8 PM, Eastern Standard Time. “Peel Slowly & See”…
Gee it brings back so many great memories of working in london in the 60s, I
It brings back great memories of working in the west end of London in the 60s, I met lots of pop-stars coming in for a meal in the Cumberland Hotel, Dusty, Billy, Marty, Joe, etc. I wish I could go back, ah well they were great days and the people were lovely, see ya Jimmy
Yes the 2is brings back very good memories from the 1950s. I had my first cup of espresso coffee which was 9d.
Also had one of my first dates was there and listened to Cliff Richard singing Living Doll and Frankie Vaughan Green Door. at about 2am we got on to my vespa and drove home.
Yes they were good days and good times at the the 2 Is
Thanks for the memories
Great blog. I remember all those times and watching Tommy Steele’s first picture in the local cinema. We all wanted to look like Marty Wilde in those days as I remember. I worked in the Savoy Hotel in the sixties so I found the blog featuring the Savoy very interesting. Nice work. I visit quite often and I am always amazed at the material in here. Those were the days!