The dance floor that shed its glittering past
IT’S been the site of first kisses, ballroom dances and the place to let your hair down and party on a Saturday night.
Now the dance floor of one of Cardiff’s best-loved clubs has been unearthed three decades after it closed its doors – in the least likely place you would expect.
The most popular venue in Queen Street in its heyday, the Top Rank suite in Cardiff saw the likes of The Beatles, Elvis Costello, U2 and the Sex Pistols grace its stage.
Every weekend hundreds would flock to the city centre to dance the night away alongside its lunchtime discos and teenage nights.
And for those that remember it, its legacy continues – in an old shed in Ely.
For furniture deliveryman Bob Coles the closure of Top Rank’s Cardiff suite in 1982 also created the opportunity to take home a piece of the capital city’s history. And he didn’t just lay it down on the floor – he built the whole structure out of it.
“My dad was working for Cavendish Woodhouse on Queen Street and I’m sure it was next to Top Rank so when they pulled up the floor and took it he asked if he could have it. He wasn’t one to waste anything,” said Bob’s son Matthew Cole.
“My parents were living in Illtyd Road at the time so he took it home and built a shed. According to my older brother he also built a fence with it.
“The slats are only a foot and a half long and about two inches wide so it must have taken quite a while to put it together.”
After opening in 1963 the iconic venue saw its image change over the years to the keep up with the times.
In 1966 the Top Rank played host to the Welsh Open Professional Dancing Championships, with the polished wooden dance floor gleaming underneath couples pirouetting in glamorous ball gowns.
On September 5, 1984, it saw the appearance of South Wales’ first light jockey after it reopened as The Ritzy, complete with a (then) stateof-the-art lighting rig.
From there it took on a host of names, from Panama Joes nightclub in 1992 to the Forum in 1998.
For father-of-seven Bob his attachment to his dance floor DIY project grew so strong that when it came time to move home the shed came with him too.
Matthew, 28, said: “My dad would have a go at everything, especially if it was free.
“When my parents moved house I think he may still have been working for Cavendish or for another furniture delivery company so he borrowed a lorry from them to move house and it could fit in the back.
For the Cole family last week saw the end of an era after the shed was taken down following Bob’s death in April at the age of 76.
To complete the circle one last floorboard remains in Matthew’s own shed a few houses away.
He said: “I always remember being told about the shed and all the neighbours knew about it.
“The whole family has been talking about it. My dad passed away in April and my mum wanted the shed gone.
“After all its years as a dance floor and all its years as a shed it had gone past its best so I thought as it’s a piece of local history I would share it.”
Since posting pictures of the shed online Matt has been inundated with people’s memories of the club.
One of those people is Garry Marshall, who met his wife at the age of 18 on the Top Rank dance floor.
Gary, now 70, said: “My wife was with her friend, it was three days before her birthday, she was going to be 18 in January. “My mate chatted up her friend.” “Then she contacted me a couple of days later. We got engaged 18 months later and married in 1969.
“We’ve been together ever since, we owe it all to Top Rank.”