In this crowded stiflingly hot atmosphere, with the crowd crushed together close enough to touch the musicians on stage, The Starlight Rooms was the most exciting live music venue on the South Coast.

The teenage audience came from all over the South.  Some came down from London on the train and went back on the last one, or just slept on the beach in the summer months, such was the pull and reputation of the club.

They came to The Starlight to dance and scream to their favourite bands and music and have a good time.  This was their place and the musicians loved it too.  You would never meet anyone who played there who didn’t love it; The Starlight was the place!

Bobby Sansom & The Giants began a regular Thursday night gig at the club in 1962.  The Giants made the longest running set of appearances by a single band that continued through 63/64/65, with Alan Lee (63) and Tony Grant (64/65) also fronting the band.

In 1963, when the club was at its most successful and the country gripped by Beatlemania, one of the most successful bands ever to appear at The Starlight Rooms was Mickey & the Sapphires, making over one hundred appearances in 1963 alone, sometimes four performances a week.

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