Golden Torch

The Golden Torch, usually just called The Torch, was a nightclub in Tunstall, one of the six towns that make up Stoke-on-Trent. The building itself had a long history before it became a club: it started life as a church, was later a roller-skating rink, and then became the Little Regent Cinema in the 1940s. Local entrepreneur Christopher Burton bought the building and converted it, retaining features such as marble pillars and a balcony overlooking the dance floor, along with a Roman chariot mural on the outside wall.

The venue opened as a mod club in the mid-1960s, with Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas headlining the opening night. Acts such as the Kinks and Wayne Fontana played in its early years. By 1967, a performance by Inez and Charlie Foxx helped establish the club's reputation among soul fans, drawing crowds comparable to Manchester's Twisted Wheel. When the Twisted Wheel closed in 1971, Burton took up a suggestion from DJs Keith Minshull and Colin Curtis to run Saturday night all-nighters, and the first of these took place on 11 March 1972, running from 8pm to 8am.

The all-nighters quickly became a focal point of the Northern Soul scene, with the club's soul DJs including Keith Minshull, Colin Curtis, Alan Day and Martyn Ellis, and Peter Stringfellow also holding a residency there at one point. Live acts who performed included the Drifters, the Stylistics, Oscar Toney Jr, the Chi-Lites and Edwin Starr, with a Major Lance live album recorded at the club in December 1972. Although designed to hold around 500 people, the venue is reported to have packed in as many as 1,300 for a 1973 all-nighter.

The club's popularity brought problems, including a regular police presence, drug use and overcrowding, and complaints from nearby residents. When the licence came up for renewal on 16 March 1973, Stoke-on-Trent council refused to renew it, and the club closed without any farewell event. Its closure is often seen as clearing the way for Wigan Casino to become the country's best-known Northern Soul venue in the years that followed.

The original Golden Torch building was later destroyed in a fire. Today, nothing of the venue remains on Hose Street, but a plaque commemorates its history there, installed after a campaign by former club barman John O'Brien and his friend Steve Hoskins.