QUEEN’S BALLROOM – ASTORIA DANCE HALL – II RONDO – CUBAN BAR – ASQUITHS – SNOOTY FOX – FLASH HARRYS – JUG & JIVE – RYTHM ROOM – ORANGE HOUSE, 22 SILVER STREET

This was the place, as the Il Rondo in the 1960s was not a traditional pub, more a dance hall and music venue – describing it as that does not do it justice. In the history of entertainment in Leicester the Il Rondo not only rivaled the Palaise de Dance, but surpassed it by miles for the sheer atmosphere and buzz. Names such as Fleetwood Mac, the Yardbirds, Rolling Stones, the Who, Howling Wolf, and many more blues greats played the Il Rondo. A small yet intimate venue with a capacity of 400 max, there are no apologies for including it in the pub section. Silver Street in the 1960s has been described as Leicester’s Carnaby Street – a slight exaggeration, perhaps, but if you lived through that period you all know what I mean.

Barry Lount

Two or three doors away from the Antelope in Silver Street a small backwater off of High Street became a Mecca for the young, doesn’t look much here not a corporate image but most iconic music venues weren’t.

After the heady days of the Il Rondo during the 1960s, there seems to be a gap in the building use before (JR) records the Cuban Bar.  Asquith’s opened up during the 1970s (see undated photo below).  It was possibly followed by the Snooty Fox circa 1979. (Kim Gamble reports Snooty Fox came before Asquiths, teach me to always out put dates on my photographs, thanks Kim)

Clarifications on the fate of this site in the 1970s would be most welcome.

All changed to Prezzo chain, a pizza outlet. Now closed.

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