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The Mojo Club on Barnsley Road in the 1960s
© Picture Sheffield, Sheffield Libraries
Peter was born in 1940 on Marshall Street in Burngreave, an area of back-to-backs and terraced houses. He left technical school at the age of 15 and did a variety of jobs, including a stint in the Merchant Navy. He then came back to Pitsmoor and joined with his brother, Geoff, to start running nightclubs in Sheffield. This was in the 1960s when the music scene in Britain was beginning to take off. In 1964 they started running a club, the King Mojo, in what had been Dey's Ballroom and School of Dance, on Barnsley Road. It was a large Victorian house with a purpose-built sprung dance floor, a stage and coffee bar at one end of the main room, not exactly ideal for clubbing. Peter then started to bring in the bands. They included Ike and Tina Turner, Rod Stewart, Jimmy Hendrix, Elton John, The Who and many more now famous names. It was at this point that the club became a bit of a legend in the northern music scene and the place was buzzing for several years. However in 1967 complaints from local residents and the council's decision to refuse an entertainment licence for the Mojo resulted in its closure. Peter and Geoff moved to Leeds and the house was demolished in the 1980s. In its place is a modern block of housing, but some people still remember the area's moment of glory in the music scene.
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