Mobile discotheques in UK

Silver Sounds Mobile Discotheque

One of the earliest mobile discotheques in Britain started out in Brighton, Sussex in 1967. At that time the Brighton Pavilion Young Conservatives held a weekly dance every Friday evening when, apart from a live group, vinyl was the only form of entertainment available.

Based on the success of these Friday get-togethers one of the members, Roger Wheeler, conceived the idea of setting up a mobile form of entertainment based on the Friday evening format initially using the Young Conservative's equipment for the first few events. He was joined in this venture by Paul Dennis, another Young Conservative, with the shows hosted by Wheeler and Dennis usually as a pair but sometimes with just one as the DJ.

The partnership continued their venture until Dennis left in January 1970 to travel to and work in Australia and the Far East.

As the original equipment belonged to the Brighton Pavilion Young Conservatives it could not continue to be used by the new venture and an uncle of Roger's was able to construct a system consisting of an amplifier, speakers, a mixer and two Garrard floating decks with the latter used to create stability wherever used.

Steady progress in the early years led to expansion of the areas covered to North Sussex, South Surrey and Kent.

Whilst sounding primitive by modern day standards it was a successful addition to musical entertainment in this era especially as the start-up had been greeted with so much scepticism by many at the time but copied by so many since.