Mickey Nold, Dave Allen, ‘Barmy’ Barry and Dave Krynski at The Catacombs club. All club images courtesy of Dave Allen and The Catacombs blog
There’s a tomb on Temple Street in Wolverhampton, where the city has buried something long forgotten.
For those outside of the West Midlands, Northern Soul isn’t typically associated with Wolverhampton. The underground club movement, known for its obscure music and energetic dancing, is popularly considered a- well, northern phenomenon.
But in the late 1960s, a cult following of dedicated soul fans emerged in the UK’s industrialised heartlands. For just seven years, The Catacombs club lived out its short but brilliant life in a former Wolverhampton smelting works, helping to forge Northern Soul from the genre’s earliest days.
Bethan Ackerley 