eel pie yacht club

RICHMOND YACHT CLUB

Founded in 1934

Club History

The clubhouse, club history.

THE CLUBHOUSE

Our purpose-built clubhouse, with a bar and dance floor, can accommodate up to 70 people for a sit-down meal or up to 100 for a party.

The clubhouse is available for hire and, with wonderful views of an idyllic stretch of river, makes a great venue for a party, conference or wedding reception – and guests can arrive by river!

SOCIAL EVENTS

Social events take place at the clubhouse throughout the year, both during the day and in the evening, to include: lunches and suppers, live music and film screenings, presentations and gatherings.

In addition to the above events, every Sunday throughout the year, there is free Coffee and Cookies 11am till 2pm at the Clubhouse.

Members' club events are a great opportunity to discuss boats and boating with like-minded people and to exchange information and advice on boat and river-related issues.

All our events and related tickets are listed on the Club's membership system and accessible after you become a member.

Some dates from the Club's Social Calendar for 2023 included:

• January Spanish Feast & Movie Night; Middle Eastern 12th Night Celebration; Burn's Night Music Evening
• February Scottish Folk Evening
• March St Patrick's Night Celebration; Movie Night; River Talk
• April Greek Easter Feast; Movie Night; Fish & Chips Night
• May BBQ to celebrate the King's Coronation; Movie Night & Pizza
• June Midsummer BBQ
• July Movie Night; Cream Teas at the clubhouse to coincide with the EPI Studios Open Weekend
• August Tex Mex under the Stars Evening Extravaganza
• September Movie Night; Folk Music Evening
• October BBQ with the Groovy Boys; Laying-up Lunch; Movie Night
• November Live Music evening with Steve Knightley; Photo Competition; Greek Movie & Food Evening 
• December Christmas Balkan Music Evening & Supper; Carols & Cookies

In the summer months we organise club cruises up and down the river. Windsor, St Katharine Dock, West India Dock and Limehouse are popular destinations. The cruising programme for the year is  planned at our annual Skippers Meeting in January.

Cruising events in 2023 were unfortunately adversely affected by river conditions. However, some events from the Club's 2022 Cruising Programme can be seen below:

• Friday to Monday 15 -18 April London Ring (Clockwise)
• Saturday (Sunday) 7 (8) May Spring Cruise River Ember Discovery
• Friday 24 June to Monday 27 June Medway Progressive Cruise
• Saturday, Sunday 10, 11 August Cruise to Sunbury Fireworks (If happening)
• Saturday, Sunday 27, 28 August ATYC Rally (TBC)
• Saturday, Sunday  17, 18 September Sunset Cruise to City

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• Eating And Health
• Food For Thought

For Foodies

From a british king to rock 'n' roll: the slippery history of eel pie island.

The Kitchen Sisters

We were in London, searching for Hidden Kitchen stories, when we came upon an Eel Pie & Mash shop. It was full of old white marble tables, tile walls, pots of stewed and jellied eels, and piles of pies. These shops are now a dying breed, along with the eels they serve. Our search for the source of these vanishing eels led us to southwest London — to Eel Pie Island, a tiny slice of land with a flamboyant history that stretches from Henry the VIII to the Rolling Stones.

"Eel Pie. Think of an apple pie, with eels in it," says Dan van der Vat , author of the book Eel Pie Island . The pies, when you can find them these days, are round and mounded like apple pies, but they taste meaty and rich. Van der Vat has lived where it all began — on Eel Pie Island — for 30 years. It's the only inhabited island on the tidal Thames, 18 miles upriver from the center of London.

"The traditional eel [pie] is from the Londoners in the early 16th and 17th century, when the Thames was full of eels, and they were cheap," says Ruth Phillips, owner of Cockney's Pie and Mash Shop , one of the few remaining eel pie shops in London.

But the story of how eel pie became a staple of the London diet is legendary — if a bit slippery.

Legend has it that Henry VIII was being rowed up the Thames on the Royal Barge one day, and while passing the island, he was overcome by hunger, says van der Vat. "He said, 'Stop the barge and bring us a pie! Bring us an eel pie!' He sent a minion ashore to buy him one from Mistress Mayo's famous stall, acquired a taste for her pies, and then frequently indulged it." But, as van der Vat says, "the tale is highly suspicious. The hotel was built by the Mayo family, and Mistress Mayo ran it — but in 1830, not 1530."

Regardless of exactly how it began, for the next couple of centuries, Eel Pie Island became a retreat, known for its music and food, and for the clean air upriver from the polluted heart of London. Charles Dickens came by paddle steamer to visit the hotel in the 1830s, immortalizing it in his novel Nicholas Nickleby .

But eventually, people forgot about the island, and the fancy hotel went downhill.

Fast-forward to the mid-20th century, when Eel Pie Island was rediscovered by Arthur Chisnall , an untrained sociologist who wanted to set up a kind of living laboratory to study this new creature of leisure who cropped up after World War II: the teenager. He opened a club there and used music to attract young people.

Word spread, and soon the island and the club became a rock 'n' roll mecca. There was still some eel pie to be found, but times were changing, says actress Anjelica Huston, who grew up in London in the 1960s.

"Eel Pie Island was where they used to fish out the eels through the 1960s. The eels would be sold in the front of fishmonger shops — big, fat, some as thick as your arm," she says. Huston often made the pilgrimage to the island, although, she admits, eel pies were never on the menu for her.

Chisnall's club became a draw. The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, John Mayall, The Yardbirds, Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart, Cyril Davies and dozens more did some of the earliest gigs there, tromping over the bridge and carrying the "EELPILAND" passports issued like modern-day membership cards.

Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood called it a great melting pot. "You might bump into Mick Jagger in the bar, Pete Townshend, Ray Davies, Keith [Richards] or [David] Bowie." The Stones played 13 dates in the dance hall in 1963.

"The room would just be throbbing, Anjelica Huston tells us. "Hot, humid, full of cigarette smoke. People didn't take a lot of baths in those days in London. There wasn't a lot of shampooing going on. Music would blare. Those who weren't dancing were snogging. Kissing. Necking. It was a ritual thing."

After 11 years, Eelpiland was forced to shut down in 1967 for being a health hazard. At that time, 30,000 young Londoners were members of the club.

Today, Eel Pie Island is a lot quieter. Twenty or so artists and craftspeople maintain studios on the island, keeping the bohemian atmosphere of its past.

But the eels are largely gone, thanks to overfishing and pollution.

Just a handful of the old eel pie shops remain in London. Robert Cooke owns F. Cooke's at Broadway Market in London's East End. His grandfather opened the shop in 1900; his great-grandfather opened his shop in Brick Lane in 1862. "We've been selling pie and mash in the East End for 150 years. Eels were very cheap, caught from the canal or the Thames. Now we get a lot of eels from Holland. They're farmed and very expensive. The new generation wants chocolate, coffee and cheese, not eels."

Still, a generation of people remember both scenes. "Eel Pie Island. It's a very specific little place in space and time," says Huston. "A little point of liberation on the Thames, very alive — just like the eels."

If you're feeling adventurous, here's a traditional recipe for eel pie, likely dating back to the mid-1800s, from the book Eel Pie Island :

Richmond Eel Pie Recipe

Skin, draw and cleanse two good-sized Thames eels; trim off the fins and cut them up in pieces about 3 inches long, and put these in a stew pan with 2 ounces of butter, some chopped mushrooms, parsley and a very little shallot, nutmeg, pepper and salt, 2 glasses of sherry, 1 of Harvey sauce and barely enough water to cover the surface of the eels. Let them on the fire, and as soon as they come to a boil, let them be removed and the pieces of eels placed carefully in a pie dish. Add 2 ounces of butter, kneaded with 2 ounces of flour, to the sauce. And having stirred it on the fire to thicken, add the juice of a lemon and pour it over the pieces of eels in the pie dish. Place some hard yolks of eggs on the top. Cover with puff-paste. Ornament the top. Egg it over, bake for about an hour, and serve either hot or cold.

• British food
• rock history

Thames Rowing and Sailing Clubs

Richmond Yacht Club

Eel Pie Island Twickenham TW1 3DY

Tel: 01932 231391 E-mail: [email protected]

Additional information To find out about our friendly family club, its river- and land-based activities and its picturesquely situated clubhouse (available for hire), and to see issues of our newsletter The Signal, visit our website  www.richmondyachtclub.co.uk

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Eel Pie Island – Twickenham’s Eclectic Artistic Enclave

Eel Pie Island – Twickenham’s Eclectic Artistic Enclave .

Did you know there are around 180 islands and islets in the Thames? A quarter of these are man-made, and associated with locks, but most of the rest are natural. While not even approaching the size of the comparatively behemothic Isle of Sheppey (23,000 acres), the 9-acre Eel Pie Island in London’s Twickenham district is still one of the larger islands on the Thames and has a rich musical and artistic history which continues to this day and makes it an interesting place to visit on special ‘Open Day’ weekends each year.

Eel Pie Island, supposedly named for the pies served here to visiting tourists in the 1800s, was the home for what became the infamous Eel Pie Island Hotel. This hotel, built in 1830, was originally a popular stopping point for users of leisure craft on the river, and pleasure steamers and other boats would discharge passengers to take tea at the hotel or on its lawn. The hotel began holding tea dances in the 1920s, and this marked the start of its life as a music venue. By the 1950s the hotel had become dilapidated, but, with it’s large dance hall and licensed bar it caught the eye of an enterprising second-hand goods seller and entrepreneur called Arthur Chisnall, who established a weekend jazz club there which played host to jazz greats such as Acker Bilk, Ken Colyer and George Melly.

Although, or perhaps because, it could only originally be reached by boat, the club grew in popularity especially among local youth, and the musical billing shifted to bands from the emerging rhythm & blues and rock and roll scene. In the 60s, remarkably, Cyril Davies’s All Stars, Long John Baldry and the Hoochie Coochie Men (including Rod Stewart), the Rolling Stones, and the Who all performed here, as well as Pink Floyd, Cream, David Bowie and Eric Clapton.

In 1967 the authorities insisted on safety repairs to the hotel which its owner was unable to afford, and the hotel closed. There was a brief respite in 1969 when a second musical entrepreneur rented the building and relaunched gigs under the moniker ‘Colonel Barefoot’s Rock Garden’ under which guise played further bands including Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and, in an early incarnation,  Genesis.  The events, and the island itself were by now beginning to attract increasing numbers of people attracted to an ‘alternative’ lifestyle and the hotel became home to a commune of squatters which expanded to a reported 100 members – the largest such group in the UK. One member of this group, quoted in The British Beat Explosion: Rock ‘n’ Roll Island , a book on the island’s musical history, described the commune as consisting of “Dossers, hippies, runaway school kids, drug dealers, petty thieves, heroin addicts, artists, poets, bikers, American hippie tourists, au pair girls and Zen philosophers from all over the world.” By 1970 however, with demolition due to its condition already on the horizon, the hotel burned down, more or less bringing the island’s remarkable musical history to a close.

Today, Eel Pie Island is populated by around 50 residential dwellings, two boatyards, a rowing club, a yacht club and, in some ways continuing the island’s cultural heritage, a community of around twenty artists. The northern and southern ends of the islands are wooded and designated as nature conservation areas. From the (mainland) south side of the river, walkers can stop and watch sand martins dive in and out of an artificial nesting bank that has been built on the upstream tip of the island to replace natural sites lost to erosion and development. The more interesting views of the island are from the Twickenham side, as, despite interest from developers to repurpose the land for offices and housing, Eel Pie Island retains working boat yards providing repairs and maintenance, dry docks and mooring facilities. The activity at the yards and the passing boats can be observed by walkers from the riverside paths and the Twickenham Embankment which lie on the north side of a 40-metre channel that separates the river from that side of the island.

The island is only accessible via a footbridge, installed in 1957. The original two-pence toll is no longer levied but visitors are greeted by a somewhat forbidding sign on the island side stating: “Private Island – No Thoroughfare”. Nevertheless, there is nothing to prevent the unabashed interested walker proceeding further along the footpath which runs for a few hundred meters along the centre of the island. Most days of the year all you are usually likely to see is the fronts of some of the various houses or cottages (admittedly some of them quite quirky), locked gates obscuring other residences, or a larger set of closed doors to the Eel Pie Island Boatyard. However, twice a year there is a much more interesting opportunity to visit the island when its artist community opens up the normally private studios and invites visitors to an “Open Studios Weekend”, usually in June/July and December. Most of these artists are based in and around the boatyard itself (interesting to see inside in its own right) where they rent small studios and workshops, and access is made available on these weekends through the boatyard entrance to the outdoor studios area where visitors will encounter all manner of painting, sculpture, ceramics and other art intermingled with boat paraphernalia and cats!

Discover more about the Island’s history at the (mainland) Eel Pie Island Museum , get the flavour of an Open Weekend at this video , and watch out for the next Open Weekend at the Artists’ website .

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The History

Eel Pie Island is the largest island in the London section of the Thames and until 1957 it could be reached only by boat. Originally called Paryshe Aite, some historians argue that it was once the site of a monastery and there are rumours that Henry VIII used it as a courting ground. In the 17th century it was used by day trippers and became well known for the eel pies made from locally caught eels.

In 1860 Twickenham Rowing club was established and runs to this day, one of the largest and oldest rowing clubs in London. From the early 20th century ramshackle huts and yards were built on the island and many of these structures exist today as do two of the boatyards built to construct and repair working boats on the Thames. The boatyards are also home to workshops for artists and craftspeople and moorings for houseboats.

From the 1920s the Eel Pie Island Hotel hosted ballroom dances and from the 1950s and 60s a bohemian crowd began to move to the island and it became a venue for jazz and rock musicians including the Rolling Stones, The Who, Pink Floyd - some say that the island is where the 1960s began in the UK. The Eel Pie Island Hotel that hosted many gigs became a hippy commune after concerts stopped in 1967 and it then burned down in 1971.

This little hidden part of London never lost its allure to artists and musicians who continued to move in during the 1970s, many of whom remain to this day and comprise a number of its residents. Today there are 50 houses and 120 residents.

Photo by Mike Peters

The project.

This project is run by digital:works who set up a group of local residents from the Richmond area. They researched the history of the island at Richmond Local Studies Centre, were treated to talks by two local historians and took part in a guided walking tour of the island. In Spring 2017 they undertook oral history workshops with digital:works before researching and meeting current and former residents to record oral history interviews with them.

They explored the rowing club, the history of the music scene, the boatyards and many of the island's quirky residents.

These interviews have been deposited with Richmond Local Studies Centre and the Eel Pie Island Museum and also sit on this project website.

The interviews have been edited to make an oral history based documentary about the island that will be free to view online. The film will also be shown at local events, film festivals, community groups, schools and also at two launch events in September 2017.

Launch Event

Acknowledgements

This project is run by digital:works with the support of the Upper Tideway Branch of the Thames Society , the Eel Pie Island Museum , Richmond Local Studies Centre , Richmond Yacht Club and Age UK Richmond .

We are grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund and the London Borough of Richmond's Civic Pride Fund for their financial support.

All photos by Michele Whitby except when otherwise stated.

Guided History Walk

Visit to Richmond Local Studies Centre

Interviewing

Oral History Training

Developing Questions

Launch Screening

Due to popular demand we had two launch screeenings at Richmond Yacht Club for interviewees, volunteers, funders, friends and islanders. It was a great way for everyone involved to get back together and enjoy the fruits of their labour!

digital:works · [email protected]

Twickenham's rock and roll legacy

by Celia Holman

Celia Holman goes offshore in Twickenham to meet Michele Whitby, the Eel Pie resident fighting to preserve its incredible musical history

Colin Clarke

Clambering over the gently rocking houseboats is like stepping into the much-reproduced image of the Thames at Twickenham. The houseboats in question are moored alongside the working boatyards on Eel Pie Island. And with the ancient sound of hammer on metal ringing out and the smell of wood-burning stoves wafting through the air, it’s hard to believe it’s 2016 and that Twickenham’s busy high street is but a stone’s throw away. 

It’s also hard to believe this island was once home to the famous Eel Pie Club , pivotal in the British Beat explosion of the 1960s. The Eel Pie Club was London’s equivalent of The Cavern Club in Liverpool, and over the summer of 1963, it introduced the nation to an exciting new band called the Rolling Stones.

The club went on to launch the careers of Eric Clapton, The Who, and Rod Stewart (surely Twickenham Station’s most famous busker?) to namecheck but a few, with a 17-year-old David Bowie taking to the stage with The Manish Boys on several occasions.

Fainting teenagers? Famous rock stars? Yup, and all in Twickenham, on an island home to some 100 residents and with a similar number involved in the various small businesses and studios to be found dotted in and around the boatyards. Their existence, and even that of the island itself, flies under the radar of many locals.

There are no rock stars hiding from the paparazzi today (although Jarvis Cocker was recently spotted...). However, a large sculpture, made of empty Red Stripe beer cans, sitting on the deck of a bobbing houseboat, hints at some remaining present-day hedonism. Moored next door is the home of Michele Whitby, photographer, graphic designer, author, retailer, curator and island historian. 

“Jack of all trades,” she laughs. Her most recent project has been to curate the Golden Thread exhibition at the Stables Gallery at Orleans House , celebrating 50 years of the organisation.

The presence of Rod Stewart’s autobiography on her desk hints at Michele’s other, more permanent, project that similarly has its roots very firmly in the borough. The co-author of Eel Pie Island , Michele is now looking to establish a local heritage centre focused on the island and its history, both musical and river related. 

“In terms of local history, the island is just the coolest thing we have! If the Beatles can bring £70 million a year to Liverpool, imagine if the Rolling Stones brought just a fraction of that to Twickenham,” enthuses Michele.

As well as being undoubtedly cool, music heritage tourism is most definitely big business. Michele is keen that Twickenham takes its rightful place on the UK’s music map, and benefits from the cultural and economic uptick that results from pop pilgrimages. 

“A couple of years ago, 30,000 people visited Hull’s Museum of Club Culture to see a temporary Ziggy Stardust exhibition. And, having been open for just two years, The Coventry Music Museum has now expanded and it’s directly responsible for regenerating a small patch of Coventry.”

Michele is not a lone voice in the wilderness. In a 2014 report by UK Music , Ed Vaizey, Minister of State at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, sang from the same songsheet: “The huge financial contribution to the economy by millions of music tourists to the UK annually makes it very clear that when combined, the music and tourism industries are powerful drivers for growth.”

For Michele it’s very much not just about the musical past. She is also keen to benefit local talent. “Live music is very much alive and kicking on Eel Pie!” 

Indie rock band Mystery Jets has been based on and off the island for the past 10 years, and up-and-coming performers have the choice of two venues. The Twickenham Rowing Club hosts an eclectic range of contemporary artists under the Eel Pie Island Unplugged umbrella, and Jake Riviera, island resident and former manager of Elvis Costello and Squeeze amongst others, is keen to bring live music back to the newly renovated Richmond Yacht Club (whose president just happens to be one Phil Collins). Off island, The Eel Pie Club , showcasing local bands, is thriving at The Cabbage Patch pub.

Michele has already been able to see first-hand what such a museum/visitors’ centre could contribute. Last summer she hosted a part-time, pop-up version of the centre above the library in Twickenham, attracting over 1,200 visitors with minimal publicity. 

“Our visitors’ book had literally hundreds of positive comments, with many calling for the exhibition to find a permanent space.” 

It’s been a long journey. The seed was planted when Michele first visited the island in 1988, aged 21. 

“I grew up in Twickenham and Teddington, and had heard of Eel Pie Island, but had never been over here. When I did, my immediate reaction was ‘Wow. What an amazing place!’

“There were loads of artists’ studios, lots of nooks and crannies with people working away. I set up a photographic studio, and then started to hear all the stories about the Eel Pie Club .”

Brian Auger

L to R: Long John Baldry, Rod Stewart, Brian Auger, Julie Driscoll

A chance encounter on the island path (“it was very Eel Pie, things just happen on Eel Pie”) resulted in an introduction to Arthur Chisnall, who set up the Eel Pie Club at the island hotel in the late 1950s. 

“West London was such a music scene, with bands coming out of the many art colleges. His whole motivation for setting up the club was to reach out to the post-war, rebellious generation of the 1950s. They were the first teenagers, complete with their rock-and-roll soundtrack.” 

Over the years, Arthur and Michele became friends, and he entrusted his club archive to her. Using many of the objects bequeathed to her by Arthur when he died in 2006, Michele curated the highly successful Eelpiland exhibition at Orleans House in 2013, the contents of which will form the core of the proposed Eel Pie Island Experience , as Michele tentatively calls her visitors’ centre.

“I’m at the stage now where I genuinely need help from people experienced in setting up such centres or small businesses to mentor me to take things forward. Richmond Council has been brilliant, really supportive. So many fantastic people have contributed so much. I need to get a proper proposal together, to work on fundraising, applying for grants, business plans, marketing...”

Michele is also hoping a home for her centre can be found in the new plans for Twickenham Riverside. 

“That would be the perfect location, right next to the island! And if I can’t get space on land, then I am thinking about a floating venue, moored by the bridge to Eel Pie Island.” 

When The Rolling Stones sang Gimme Shelter back in 1969, who would have thought it would one day apply to them?

Are you able to help? Contact Michele via Facebook (Eel Pie Island Museum) or via her website

Sheengate Publishing

Eel Pie Island in Twickenham’s heritage, river sports and business community

• April 13, 2021

Eel Pie Island’s residents, sports clubs, boatyards and other business enterprises are an essential part of the community of Twickenham and the town’s cultural and river-based heritage, sporting activities and business life. 

The town’s music culture was for decades centred on the Eel Pie Island Hotel, an iconic venue in the fifties and sixties for top jazz bands, R&B musicians and rock groups.  Today the island is home to approximately 50 households and 120 residents, as well as providing artists’ and designers’ studios, craft workshops and moorings for houseboats, plus two slipways and four boatyards for building, repairing and maintaining the river’s working boats. 

A large part of the island is a dedicated nature reserve.

The island’s boatyards are among the few still operating on the tidal Thames.  They include a dry dock and can accommodate large vessels. Work is undertaken on more than 30 or 40 boats annually.

Twickenham’s strong connections with the river are also seen in three river-based sport clubs established on Eel Pie Island:

• Richmond Yacht Club was originally founded in 1897
• Twickenham Rowing Club is one of the oldest and largest rowing clubs on the Thames
• Twickenham’s Standing Up Paddleboarding club, affiliated to Canoe England, is based on the island as well. 

Since 1957 Eel Pie Island has been connected to the town by a single footbridge, on which the island’s residents and businesses depend. 

Large equipment, materials and supplies for the boatyards are unloaded along the embankment and ferried across to the island.  Rowing eights and other racing boats are taken across the river and loaded and unloaded for transport on road trailers.

Eel Pie Island is privately owned.  It is not included on the Twickenham Riverside development site, but plans for restricting motor vehicles and developing The Embankment will inevitably have adverse impacts on people who live and work there.

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EEL PIE ISLAND – ‘Eelpiland’

Eel Pie Island Hotel

Eel Pie Island is a small island on the River Thames in Twickenham, Middlesex and in the 1960s, a dilapidated hotel on the Island was part of a music revolution that was to change popular music for ever.

It was trumpeter Brian Rutland of The Grove Jazz Band who first had the idea of starting a Jazz Club at The Eel Pie Island Hotel in 1956. Soon after, Arthur Chisnall, who owned an antiques shop in Kingston, became involved in organising weekly dances there.  Arthur brought fame to the Eel Pie Island Jazz Club as a result of his social work in giving young people a voice, and bringing in name jazz acts like Ken Colyer, Chris Barber, Kenny Ball and George Melly.

In 1961, Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies founded the first home-grown Rhythm and Blues outfit, Blues Incorporated, and founded their own jazz club in 1962 – the Ealing Club.  Early visitors to the Ealing Club included future Rolling Stones Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones and Charlie Watts.  Within a year, these young men were unknowingly altering the course of popular music just down the road – at The Crawdaddy Club in Richmond and on Eel Pie Island.

Eel Pie Island in the 1960s attracted ‘Beatniks’ and ‘arty’ people.  Teenagers were discovering black American blues and new musicians of the era were incorporating this sound with popular Rock n Roll.  Many of the new Rhythm and Blues bands (including The Rolling Stones) were formed at art schools, although Rod Stewart rose to fame after being discovered busking on Twickenham Station by Long John Baldry.  Apart from the fascinating graffiti and footprints on the ceiling of the bar, the Hotel had a sprung dance floor which bounced the audience up and down in time with the music as people danced.

Famous Rhythm and Blues Bands who played at the Eel Pie Island Hotel were The Rolling Stones, Long John Baldry’s Hoochie Coochie Men (including Rod Stewart), John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (featuring Eric Clapton), Pink Floyd, David Bowie, The Tridents (featuring Jeff Beck), The Who, The Yardbirds, The Downliners Sect, The Artwoods (featuring Jon Lord), Screaming Lord Sutch and The Others.

In 1967, the Hotel was forced to close as the owner was unable to meet the cost of repairs demanded by the police.  In 1969, the Club briefly opened as Colonel Barefoot’s Rock Garden with bands such as Black Sabbath, The Edgar Broughton Band, Stray, Atomic Rooster, Genesis and Hawkwind.

In 1971, the Hotel burnt down ‘under suspicious circumstances’.

EEL PIE ISLAND and THE EEL PIE CLUB

We now jump forward 27 years, to 1998 when The Museum of Richmond put on an exhibition called ‘We’re Really Rocking in Richmond’ commemorating 35 years since The Rolling Stones began their rise to world fame in the area.  Gina Way, a Richmond girl who used to go to the Island as a teenager, had the idea of putting on a Rhythm and Blues concert in conjunction with the Exhibition, to benefit the Museum.  This first concert of its kind since the 1960s, promoted by Gina Way and Warren Walters, was called ‘From Rock n Roll to Rhythm & Blues’ and featured The Yardbirds, The Downliners Sect (with special guest Art Wood), Tom Nolan’s Bluescasters and The Bruvvers.  The concert was sold out six weeks before the event.

The Cabbage Patch, Twickenham

It was local musician, Tom Nolan, who had the idea of forming a music club specialising in UK Rhythm and Blues.  He approached Gina and Warren who agreed to ‘give it a go’ and in 2000, Tom, Gina and Warren formed the new Eel Pie Club.  The first venue was at The Fox in Church Street, Twickenham, but the Club very soon outgrew the premises and in June 2000 moved to The Patch, above The Cabbage Patch Public House on London Road, Twickenham, where it has remained ever since.

The aim of the Eel Pie Club is to preserve and continue the heritage of Rhythm and Blues in the area where it all began in the 1960s.  The Club, now run by Gina and Warren, after Tom moved out of the area, has recently welcomed its 1200th Member.  It has received many accolades, including being voted ‘best place to hear blues’ in England, by The Saturday Guardian.  In 1999, the Mayor of Richmond, Cllr Helen Lee-Parsons, in association with Richmond Council and The Eel Pie Club, erected a heritage site on Twickenham Embankment, dedicated to the bands and musicians who played on Eel Pie Island, and the part played by Arthur Chisnall.  The heritage site can be found by The Barmy Arms Public House, opposite the Island.

Eel Pie All-Stars Xmas Party 2009

The Eel Pie Club recently staged The Yardbirds 50th Anniversary Concert in Twickenham and there are some exciting gigs planned for the remainder of 2013, including Mud Morganfield, the son of the late American blues legend, Muddy Waters, the 50th Anniversary gig of The Pretty Things, The 50th Anniversary gig of The Downliners Sect, and The Amazing World of Arthur Brown.  Full details of Eel Pie Club gigs can be found at www.eelpieclub.com and on Facebook.

The present day Eel Pie Club keeps alive the music of UK Rhythm and Blues and attracts visitors from all parts of the world.  The Club remains a lasting memory to the bands and musicians who played on Eel Pie Island during those creative and heady days of the 1960s.

Gina Way and Warren Walters

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10 october 2024.

£16 (£14 Members). £19 on the door.

"The Best Rock 'n' Roll Tribute Band in the World", this magnificent band returns to The Eel Pie Club for two hours of nostalgia, playing the best of 1964-1969 - Jumping Jack Flash, Brown Sugar, Paint it Black, Not Fade Away, Get Off My Cloud, It's All Over Now, Under My Thumb, Mother's Little Helper, Ruby Tuesday, You Can't Always Get What You Want, Two Thousand Light Years from Home, Let's Spend the Night Together, Street Fighting Man, Satisfaction, and all those eclectic classics you almost forgot about.

The John Idan Group

24 october 2024.

£15 (£13 Members). All tickets £17 on the door.

John Idan is a superb guitarist/vocalist and the long-time frontman of The Yardbirds. Originally from Detroit, John now llves with his wife and family in Germany so this is a rare appearance for John and his blues band at The Eel Pie Club.

Location & Other Info

Club nights are alternate Thursdays. Doors open:  7:45pm.   ​Showtime  8:30-10:30pm (unless otherwise advertised)

Located at:   The Cabbage Patch 67 London Rd Twickenham TW1 3SZ

Across the road from Twickenham Station

Phone :   07732 322610

Email:   [email protected]