Frenchman Motel
The Frenchman Motel was built in 1972 and throughout the 1970s and into the early 1980s it was the music mecca for Goodwick, Fishguard and much of Pembrokeshire.
As well as the regular Friday night’s with Charlie’s Disco, the Motel hosted bands and artists who regularly graced the stages of much larger venues throughout the UK. These gigs were infamous and the highlight for teenagers and young people in the area. The following are just some of the concerts which took place:-
26 July 1973 – The Troggs; 10 August 1974 – Blodwyn Pig; 11 December 1974 – Fusion Orchestra; 21 December 1974 – Tremeloes; 24 December 1974 – Sassafras; 12 February 1975 – Medicine Head; 19 November 1975 – Edgar Broughton Band; 11 June 1977 – XTC; 15 March 1980 – Elvis Costello and the Attractions.
other concerts included :- Status Quo; Pans People; Showaddywaddy; Bay City Rollers; Joy Division; Hello; Rubettes; Frank Ifield; Hot Chocolate; Midge Ure; Desmond Dekker; Billy Fury; Dr Feelgood; Alvin Stardust; Disco Tex and the Sex u plets; Billy J Kramer; Mungo Jerry; The Wombles; Herman’s Hermits; Edison Lighthouse; Swinging Blue Jeans; Shakin Stephens; Suzi Quattro; Freddie “Fingers” Lee; The Beat; Duane Eddy;
Were you there the night that Charlie upstaged Dave Lee Travis by riding his horse onto the dance floor?
Comments about this page
Hey, love this it’s so fascinating, my parents actually met at the motel!!
Curious to know the source for the Joy Division listing? Can’t find anything about it online 🙂
My dads proudest moment i think
Hi Pete,
Afraid it is no longer there. If you can recall any groups who you saw and which we haven’t included please let us know so that we can add them in
We used to go there in the late 70’s. I’d drive over the hills from llanboidy in my little mini car . Great memories.
Is the building still there.?
XTC not XTX – my apologies 😳
I was there that night & I remember DLT saying punk was rubbish but the Tom Robinson Band were quite good as he introduced their hit record ‘2-4-6-8 Motorway’. What silly things stick in the mind. I also saw XTX, Elvis Costello and The Beat, who played a benefit gig for the anti-nuclear movement. But what I remember most of all is the Fishguard football boys going bonkers on the dancefloor to ‘Black Betty’, a hit for the Ram Jam band. At a time when pubs shut at 11pm it was great to have a place to go to which stayed open til 2am. The teachers in Fishguard secondary school hated the place 🙂
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