30 years ago on January 1st 1977, the Roxy Club in London’s Covent Garden opened with a gig by the Clash and Chelsea. In April 1978 the doors were shut for the last time.

The nostalgia industry has sold us a view of Punk dominated by the Sex Pistols, Clash, Sid Vicious and the usual suspects.

The Roxy London WC2 redresses this imbalance by drawing together a history of that infamous Punk club. It argues that without the Roxy Club giving Punk a space where bands and fans alike could gather and develop a scene it may never have turned out the way it did.

A club that in its short life span was frequented by all the major faces on the scene. A club that featured nearly every major and minor Punk act of the time including the Clash, Stranglers, Damned, Slits, Adam & the Ants and even the Police. All with stories and incidents to tell including…

· The band that blagged their first gig and got featured on a top 20 album
· The time Led Zeppelin met the Damned
· Sid’s first night of passion with Nancy and wetting the bed
· The day Jimmy Pursey of Sham 69 headlined and cleaned the club so he could buy food
· The band that rented out their van as a passion wagon outside the club
· The band Blitz enjoying card playing in the early morning with gun toting gangsters and Welsh opera singers
· Charlie Harper of the UK Subs forced with 5 other bands to do morning chores as the Farewell to the Roxy tour rolls into the local YMCA

This is the story of a club in the eye of the Punk storm in the words of the bands that played there, the club owners and just as importantly, the club goers who made the place their own. All fully illustrated with dozens of never before seen photographs and fliers.

Evoking the late ‘70s of crap telly, early pub closing and when being a Punk meant being regarded as Public Enemy #1, The Roxy London WC2 captures vividly the music, fashion, attitude, sex and violence of Punk Rock - all against a backdrop of London clubs, gangsters and criminals!