End of an era as Mr Candlelight blows out the flame

MENTION the name Ken Naylor, and almost everyone of a certain age will have a tale to tell.

For almost half a century, he was one of Oldham’s most colourful characters, and the king of local entertainment as owner of the town centre Candlelight Club.

In the 1970s, he was a local celebrity, bringing to town bill-topping stars week after week to entertain crowds of revellers who clamoured to find out who would be next on his stage.

So it was with a heavy heart that, on Boxing Day, he closed the doors for the final time at the club which has been his life.

He invited reporter Marina Berry into the Candlelight for one final look . . .

THE deserted bar, the bare dancefloor, the gloomy lighting — a far cry from the Candlelight Club in its heyday when it was not only one of the best nights out in Oldham, but one of the best in the North-West.

And it owed its success to Ken Naylor whose determination to make it the best club around was rewarded by sell-out crowds who piled into the venue week after week.

Bill Haley, P.J. Proby, Mike and Bernie Winters, Bob Monkhouse, Freddie Starr, Cannon and Ball, Billy Fury, Billy J Kramer, Alvin Stardust, Aker Bilk, Herman’s Hermits . . . the list goes on.

“The club has been my life,” said now-retired Ken, as he leafed through two hefty scrapbooks filled with newspaper cuttings.

The walls of his office are adorned with photographs of the stars — most including him. Beaming with pride, he told of the days when he rubbed shoulders with the stars and brought them to Oldham.

But it hasn’t all been plain sailing.

Ken bought a half share in the Candlelight Club in 1965, shortly after it moved into the-then Savoy Ballroom.

It was six years after his first attempt at a club — the Ritz Theatre Club in Rock Street.

“That was where I introduced striptease to Oldham -— they had never seen them before,” he grinned.

But Ken rubbed the establishment up the wrong way and, before long, a police raid saw him charged with 84 counts of serving alcohol without a licence.

The Ritz was a members’ club, which meant only they could buy drinks. The charges involved non-members, and although Ken pleaded his innocence saying only members were paying for drinks, he lost his licence and the 84 convictions stood.

“I had only been open for 12 months and I had to close,” he recalled.

There is no bad publicity, so the saying goes, and although it left Ken without a club, it gave him a certain notoriety.

“From then on my name was linked with nightclubs,” he said.

Ken took a lease on a club in Heywood and crossed swords with gangsters. The club closed after 12 months.

With no money, no prospects, and no other way to make a living, Ken was asked to run a club in Milnrow, known as Johnny Spots.

“I had a bright idea and turned half of it into a casino,” he said. But he fell foul of the law. Police raided the club and impounded his gaming tables — undaunted, he had a joiner knock together some more and carried on regardless until an opportunity came to buy into the Candlelight Club.

Ken’s unpopular reputation with the authorities meant he had to keep it quiet, telling anyone who wanted to know that he had been taken on as entertainments manager.

“It was a big time for clubs in the 60s,” he said. “There were a lot of big stars around, and I can honestly say that in my 45 years at the club I never ever had a brush with the law . . . except, possibly, the mud-wrestling fiasco.”

It was 1990, and Ken hit the national news when his female mud-wrestling show landed him in court. Police in the audience decided participation by “one lucky raffle winner” was obscene. He was found guilty.

Ken was well-known as a promoter in the 1970s, and juggled his responsibilities at the Candlelight with organising shows in Blackpool with the likes of Gary Glitter, the Bay City Rollers, Mudd and Sweet.

One of his fondest memories is of world-famous crooner Matt Munroe, whom he paid £10 a session as a supporting act at Oldham’s Ritz Theatre Club.

“He was on contract with me when he asked if I would release him to go to London for a couple of days. He came back with a recording contract. Before that, the only thing he had done was sing in an advert for Camay soap.”

Ken was devastated as he closed the doors for the last time on the Candlelight Club.

“I’m gutted it has come to an end,” he said.

“I hoped it would be a legacy for my son, James. I would have been content see him carry on my life’s work, but nightlife in Oldham is finished.

“I had some wonderful times and I have some wonderful memories. I was a celebrity in this part of the country, and I got pleasure out of working and entertaining people.

“I always catered for the more mature night person — you didn’t need your ear plugs to go into the Candlelight.

“We played music from the 70s and 80s when music, in my opinion, was music.”

Ken blames the demise of the local clubscene on many things, including 24-hour licensing which keeps people in pubs, the smoking ban, town centre barriers and “big” police presence which “frightens” people away from the nightscene.

“It’s finished. The Candlelight couldn’t possibly stay open,” he lamented.

“Twelve months ago I was working to roughly 250 to 300 people on Saturday nights, but before we closed it was less than 100.

“People are like sheep — they will always go where other people go, and there were just not enough people about.

“The floating night-time population plummeted due to all those things, coupled with the credit crunch.