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| Location | Old Compton Street London, W1 United Kingdom |
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| Public transit |  Leicester Square |
| Owner | Paul Lincoln |
| Type | Coffeehouse |
| Opened | 1956 |
| Closed | 1970 |
The 2i's Coffee Bar was a coffeehouse at 59 Old Compton Street in Soho, London, that was open from 1956 to 1970. It played a formative role in the emergence of Britain's skiffle and rock and roll music culture in the late 1950s, and several major stars including Tommy Steele and Cliff Richard were first discovered performing there.
The name of the 2i's derived from earlier owners, brothers Freddie and Bakhtyar (Buck) Irani, [1] who ran the venue until 1955. [2] It was then taken over by Paul Lincoln, an Australian professional wrestler known as "Dr Death", and Ray Hunter, a wrestling promoter and professional wrestler known as Rebel Ray Hunter. They opened it as a coffee bar on 22 April 1956. [3] [4] Tom Littlewood, previously its doorman and a judo instructor, became its manager in 1958. [2] According to Brian Gregg, former bassist for Johnny Kidd & the Pirates and The Tornados, Lincoln's interest in the property was initially less to do with the coffee bar and more to do with the storeys above it, which provided temporary accommodation for foreign wrestlers who Lincoln and Hunter were promoting. [5]
The basement of the coffee bar had live music making use of a small, 18-inch high stage. Lincoln and Hunter started putting on skiffle groups; the first resident group were the Vipers, who included Wally Whyton. According to the band's washboard player John Pilgrim, they secured the residency after Whyton entered the 2i's when it started raining during a set the band were playing on the back of a lorry nearby during the Soho Fair. Within a couple of weeks the band's performances at the venue had begun to attract a large following through word of mouth. [5] It soon won a clientele attracted because of its rock'n'roll music, and for a time became "the most famous music venue in England," and attracted talent spotters and music promoters such as Jack Good, Larry Parnes and Don Arden. [3] In November 1957 Good arranged for an episode of the BBC's Six-Five Special to be broadcast from the 2i's, with Tommy Steele as host. The broadcast is particularly notable for launching the career of Adam Faith, who appeared as vocalist with the then resident band, the Worried Men. [5]
The coffee bar allowed standing room for about 20 people, and had a serving counter with an espresso coffee machine, orange juice dispenser, and sandwich display case. The coffee bar was run by Jon Vickers-Jones who was the assistant manager. He would help with setting up the stage area for the musicians and would often record them rehearsing on a Grundig Tape recorder. A door at the back led to the manager's office, and a narrow stairway led down to a "dismal and dark cellar about the size of a large bedroom, lit by a couple of weak bulbs. At one end was the small 18-inch stage made of milk crates with planks on top of them. There was just one microphone, left over from the Boer War, and some speakers up on the wall." The stage area can very briefly be seen in Rank Studio's 1959 episode "Coffee Bar", from their Look at Life , available on Network DVD, in a clip featuring future Shadows drummer Brian Bennett. [3] [6]
Several recording stars were discovered at, or performed at, the 2i's coffee bar, including Rory Blackwell, Tommy Steele, The Vipers Skiffle Group, Cliff Richard, Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch, Brian Bennett, Tony Meehan, Jet Harris, Brian 'Licorice' Locking, Vince Eager, Terry Dene, Wee Willie Harris, Adam Faith, Carlo Little, Joe Brown, Clem Cattini (The Tornados), Eden Kane, Screaming Lord Sutch, Tony Sheridan, Keith Kelly, [7] Russ Sainty, Lance Fortune, Albert Lee, Johnny Kidd, Paul Gadd (later to be known as Paul Raven and then Gary Glitter), Ritchie Blackmore, Alex Wharton, Mickie Most (as the Most Brothers), [8] Big Jim Sullivan, Joe Moretti, Vince Taylor, Duffy Power, Johnny Gentle, Michael Cox, Kris Kristofferson, Derry and the Seniors and Georgie Fame. [6] Notable non-musical names among the 2i's clientele included Diana Dors, Michael Caine, Terence Stamp and Francis Bacon. [5]
According to an article in Time, [9] skiffle was new to the UK, and the 2i's Coffee Bar and, nearby venue, The Cat's Whisker, founded by Peter Evans, were where "Soho hipsters swelter and suffocate for it... and... generally the musicians were paid with coffee and cokes". [10] Evans later started the Angus Steak Houses from the bar.
Songwriter Lionel Bart and music producer Mickie Most worked there as waiters, [3] whilst Wee Willie Harris worked as a cleaner and waiter [5] and musician and future member of The Shadows Jet Harris worked behind the bar. [6] According to Chas McDevitt, Bart was responsible for painting the cellar, decorating it with a "black ceiling, large, stylised eyes on the walls, and cubist shapes behind the small stage platform". [5] Bruce Welch has stated that parts of Bart's artwork were retrieved by himself and Bart when they were removed during building work in the 1990s. [6] Led Zeppelin's manager, Peter Grant, was a bouncer at the 2i's prior to his career in the music business. [11]
The 2i's rapid success led to the opening of a second branch at 44 Gerrard Street, in what had been a folk and skiffle club run by John Hasted, before the end of 1956, although it soon closed due to intimidation by organised crime. [5] The 2i's closed in 1970. It later became the Dome Café Bar and then the Boulevard Bar. The site then became The House of Ho, a modern Vietnamese restaurant owned by chef Bobby Chinn. [12] [13] From July 2016 the site has been the Soho Poppies Fish & Chips restaurant.
The 2i's was the inspiration for the establishment of the Casbah Coffee Club in Liverpool by Mona Best in the cellar of her family home, which played an important role in the early development of the Beatles. In 1960, Bruno Koschmider, manager of the Kaiserkeller club in Hamburg, visited the 2i's to recruit British rock'n'roll musicians to play at his venue: these included Derry and the Seniors, whose manager Allan Williams was also the Beatles' first manager, and who also arranged for the latter band to play in Hamburg for Koschmider. During their time in Hamburg the band worked with Tony Sheridan, who had performed at the 2i's, and later recruited another 2i's veteran, Jimmie Nicol, to fill in for Ringo Starr on an Australian tour. [6]
On 18 September 2006, a green plaque was unveiled at the site of the 2i's Coffee Bar to commemorate its existence, and to celebrate 50 years of British rock and roll. [3] [14]
The coffee bar was immortalised in Wee Willie Harris' song "Rockin’ At The 2i’s", and by Tommy Steele in "Two Eyes", a song recorded for the soundtrack of the film The Tommy Steele Story . The film also featured a recreation of the coffee bar, albeit much more spacious than in real life, and also featured Tom Littlewood playing a judo instructor. [5] During the 1980s The Stargazers became the last band to play in the 2i's basement when they filmed a music video there directed by Julien Temple, who also recreated the 2i's for the opening scene of his film Absolute Beginners . [6]
Marc Bolan later reported that as a youth he had regularly attended the bar (in close proximity to his mother's Berwick Street market stall) and had once witnessed an unsuccesful audtion by Richard at the venue. [15]
Ringo Starr mentions "the 2i's Cafe", "That's where Tommy Steele would play", in the song "Rory and the Hurricanes" on his 2015 album Postcards from Paradise .
Michael Peppiatt mentions the café in his memoir of Francis Bacon : "As a teenager I'd gone on a rite of passage to the 2i's café to listen to skiffle groups, sipping frothy coffee out of transparent cups and hanging around in the hope of spotting Tommy Steele." [16]
Skiffle is a genre of folk music with influences from American folk music, blues, country, bluegrass, and jazz, generally performed with a mixture of manufactured and homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a form in the United States in the first half of the 20th century, it became extremely popular in United Kingdom in the 1950s, where it was played by such artists as Lonnie Donegan, The Vipers Skiffle Group, Ken Colyer, and Chas McDevitt. Skiffle was a major part of the early careers of some musicians who later became prominent jazz, pop, blues, folk, and rock performers, The Quarrymen and Rory Gallagher among them. It has been seen as a critical stepping stone to the second British folk revival, the British blues boom, and the British Invasion of American popular music.
Sir Thomas Hicks, known professionally as Tommy Steele, is an English entertainer, regarded as Britain's first teen idol and rock and roll star.
Hank Brian Marvin is an English multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and songwriter. He is widely known as the lead guitarist for the Shadows, a group which primarily performed instrumentals and was the backing band for Cliff Richard, and subsequently for Marvin, Welch & Farrar.
Alex Wharton, later also known as Alex Murray, was part of the singing duo the Most Brothers with Mickie Most, and later, co-manager and producer of the Moody Blues.
Wallace Victor "Wally" Whyton was a British musician, songwriter and radio and TV personality.
Michael John Pratt was an English actor, musician, songwriter and screenwriter, known for his work on British television in the 1960s and 1970s.
Daniel Joseph Anthony Meehan, professionally known as Tony Meehan, was a founder member of the British group the Drifters, with Jet Harris, Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch, which would evolve into the Shadows. He played drums on early Cliff Richard and the Shadows hits and on early Shadows instrumentals.
Allan Richard Williams was a British businessman and promoter who was the original booking agent and first manager of the Beatles. He personally drove the van to take the young band to Hamburg, West Germany, in 1960, where they gained the vital show business experience that led to their emergence on the world stage. Williams was also a promoter and agent of a number of other Liverpool rock acts, helping stoke the Merseybeat boom of the early 1960s.
Brian Locking was an English musician and songwriter known for his brief tenure as bassist with The Wildcats in 1956 and The Shadows, between 1962 and 1963. During his time with the Shadows he appeared with Cliff Richard in the musical film Summer Holiday. Locking also toured as a session player with numerous artists including rock stars Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran and Joe Brown, as well as Conway Twitty and Brenda Lee.
Laurence Maurice Parnes was a British pop manager and impresario. He was the first major British rock manager, and his stable of singers included many of the most successful British rock and roll singers of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
The Vipers Skiffle Group – later known simply as The Vipers – were one of the leading British groups during the skiffle period of the mid to late 1950s, and were important in the careers of radio and television presenter Wally Whyton, coffee bar manager Johnny Martyn, wire salesman Jean Van den Bosch, instrument repairer Tony Tolhurst, journalist John Pilgrim, record producer George Martin, and several members of The Shadows.
Terry Dene is a British rock music singer popular in the late 1950s and early 60s. He had three Top Twenty hits between June 1957 and May 1958.
The Cat's Whisker was a coffee bar situated at 1 Kingly Street, Soho, London, during the mid-late 1950s. It offered London youngsters Spanish dancing, live rock 'n roll, and skiffle.
Johnny Martyn, born Johnny Martyn Booker, was a musician and coffee bar manager. He was one of the original members of The Vipers Skiffle Group. Fellow musician and Vipers member Wally Whyton were members of The Original Soho Skiffle Group. He was born in London, England and died in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Derry and the Seniors were a British rock and roll group of the early 1960s. They were the first band from Liverpool to play the club scene in Germany, paving the way for The Beatles and others. As Howie Casey and the Seniors, they were also the first Liverpool group to record an LP, and featured singer Freddie Fowell, later known as Freddie Starr.
Joseph Edward Moretti was a Scottish guitarist renowned for his work on seminal UK rock and roll records such as Vince Taylor's "Brand New Cadillac" and Johnny Kidd & the Pirates' "Shakin' All Over". He lived in South Africa until his death from lung cancer.
The Tommy Steele Story is a 1957 British film directed by Gerard Bryant and starring Tommy Steele, dramatising Steele's rise to fame as a teen idol. Along with Rock You Sinners, it was one of the first British films to feature rock and roll. In the US, where Steele was not well-known, the film was released under the title Rock Around the World. The film was announced in January 1957, three months after the release of Steele's first single "Rock with the Caveman".
The Golden Disc is a 1958 British pop musical film. It features pop singer Terry Dene as himself in a story in which he tops the best-seller charts, whereas in his real life he never made the top ten. The film was directed by Don Sharp, who was married to the leading lady Mary Steele.
Paul Lincoln, better known by the ring name Dr. Death, was an Australian professional wrestler and promoter.
Tommy Steele Stage Show is a live album by English entertainer Tommy Steele, released as a 10-inch LP by Decca in March 1957. A concert recording of Steele backed by the Steelmen at London's Conway Hall, it was his first album release and features a version of the hit single "Rock with the Caveman" alongside several covers of American songs including three previously recorded by Hank Williams. The album's release followed Steele's swift rise to fame as a teen idol widely considered Britain's first rock and roll star, and the success of his UK Singles Chart number one "Singing the Blues". It received a muted critical reception but was commercially successful, peaking at number five on the UK Albums Chart.
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