How Sheffield's Fiesta club was once the biggest cabaret club in the whole of Europe

“Everyone went to the Ba-Ba,” confirmed Chris Evans, who was assistant manager for a couple of years early on in the ‘70s.

“There was a strict dress code - you certainly wouldn’t be admitted without a jacket and tie. The ladies often wore evening dresses, and some of the younger girls would wear mini skirts or hot pants.”

Open seven nights a week, and with a full complement of staff that included resident dancers, croupiers, a compere, stagehands, and cocktail waitresses, the club was a little piece of big city glitz right in the centre of the South Yorkshire town.

The club had been launched by the well-known hypnotist Peter Casson in the late ‘60s, in the Magnet Bowl on Queen’s Road, and was considered a ‘real theatre nightclub,’ that came close to competing with the neighbouring big boys of Batley Variety Club and Club Fiesta. It was the sister club to Club Ki-Ki in Doncaster’s Kirk Sandall - also owned by Peter – and quickly gained a reputation for its star-studded cabaret.

“I remember seeing Johnnie Ray, The Rockin Berries, Ronnie Dukes and Ricki Lee, and The Grumbleweeds there,” Chris recalled.

“The culture of variety wasn’t an entirely new thing for Barnsley, where lots of the WMCs also had live acts, the Ba-Ba really was another level.

“It ran a full variety show at that time – five or six acts a night, including the top bill, and at least two sets from the resident dancers. Master of ceremonies Denis Lake was always resplendent in his tuxedo.”

Maureen Lawford, then Maureen Hackett, still gets recognised to this day as ‘the Ba-Ba lass’ after a two- year stint as the club’s resident dancer, from ‘70 to ‘72.

“I performed seven nights a week, it was the best job in the world and I have so many good memories,” said Maureen.

“I’d rehearse through the day with the visiting act, and then be back at the club at 7pm. I’d do a bit of everything; tap, jazz, modern, either on my own or with the compere, Denis Lake, who was a great guy.

“I remember once doing this snake charmer routine and my bikini top coming unhooked halfway through. I managed to finish the routine with one arm, as I held my top up with the other. Afterwards, Denis told the audience that I’d been on the verge of giving them the entire Eastern Promise!”

And the glamorous blonde, aged just 18 when she started at the club, earned her fair share of admirers.

“Don Fardon claimed to have fallen in love with me, and I got serenaded by Solomon King,” she laughed.

“The owner Peter Casson offered to take me out too, and Toni Christie used to tell me I looked like Clodagh Rodgers.

“Another time I was bopping about with Russ Abbott and he spun me around, then as I went to grab his hand again, he dropped his trousers. He was a funny guy.”

Taken from the ‘Dirty Stop Out’s Guide to 1970s Barnsley’ by Nik Farah – available from www.dirtystopouts.com for £14.95

Content supplied by Neil Anderson.