Skegness Magazine

The Sands Show bar was opened in 1976, underneath the Pier. The interior design bore a striking resemblance to the Fiesta Club in Sheffield. The tables were staggered on different levels, looking down on the stage. Each table had its own romantic, soft-glowing lamp.

I think I remember that the stage was quite revolutionary as it moved to create a dance floor. When the Sands Show-bar first opened, big-name celebrity acts, like The Three Degrees, Harry Secombe, Freddie Star and Guys & Dolls were booked, but these were soon abandoned for lesser-known acts just a few weeks later.

March 1976

Pier manager Mr Mike Blee (centre) discusses plans for the new Sands Showbar with its newly-appointed manager, Mr Peter Grimston, on site. Looking on (left) is Mr Ray Grange, Mr Blee’s new deputy.

August 1976 Review by Alan Bird
Sands Show bar – death of a dream?

SADLY, following the statement this week by the management of the Sands Show bar that they are replacing top name cabaret with `relatively unknown’ acts, we may be seeing the death of a dream.
So what went wrong? Quite simply the Sands could not attract the people necessary to make it a viable proposition.
The inquest begins. Why couldn’t they attract the audiences? Was it because, as the management say, the stars charge so much the ordinary public could or would not pay the admission fee. And the holidaymakers. Couldn’t they get to the Show bar because some hoteliers closed their doors at midnight and the cabaret did not finish until about this time or later? I think not.
I know that the management have tried to put on big names to attract the crowds, and apparently this did not succeed. Could it be that people don’t want to see the ’stars’ that they were offered.
Basically I think that the failure of the Sands to attract people is a combination of all these factors and perhaps one other.
The cabaret that was offered mainly at the Sands was aimed at attracting the older person, the middle aged couple, and not youngsters and people in their 20’s was mainly a ‘young ‘ audience that went and very nearly filled the place.
Could it be that the management of the Show-bar were getting the wrong acts altogether. Should they have tried to attract the ‘younger’ person?
It is no good putting artistes who have not got a single in the charts, or at least had one in recently.
Why do the stars charge so much for a performance? Quite simply the people, however young, are prepared to pay to follow their idols.
Already the Pier company caters for the mainly middle age group with the Norman Wisdom show at the end of the Pier, and are enjoying another successful season there. At the other end of the structure is the Variety Bar, which presents ‘relatively unknown’ cabaret.
So what for heavens sake, is the management of the Pier doing? They will be presenting the same type of entertainment in two of the three venues on the Pier. Don’t they realise that in making the Sands pay by putting on lesser known cabaret they may take away the people that are presently going into the Variety Bar?
The Pier company has a history of taking risks and making them pay off. They were the first people in recent years to put ’stars’ in a summer show at a theatre.

They opened the Variety Bar and people said that it would never pay. It did.
They then built and opened the Sands, when everything, especially the economic situation generally, was against it. And finally has it proved too much, and are they backing down from the challenge? It would appear so and it is a pity and very uncharacteristic.
When the Three Degrees stepped onto the Sands stage it was like a dream come true — international cabaret had come to Skegness.
But the dream soon developed tarnished edges until Showaddywaddy appeared on stage. Then the dream was given new life.
Changes had been made to the Show bar. There is now a bar where people can go and get their own drinks and generally the place has greatly improved — all the snags have been ironed out.
Now the Show bar has been relegated to the standing of a ‘flash’ Variety Bar, with little more audience appeal.
There is only one hope. That is if the big name acts in future, like Brotherhood of Man, though they may be well spaced out, prove to be a success then the Show bar will rise like the Phoenix from the ashes and international cabaret will be a regular, not occasional, feature in the resort.

Do you remember the Caribbean Steel Band often entertained at the Sands Show bar, pictured below in May 2003 (photo by paulgoochimages.org)

The Sands Show Bar closed down, reopening as Tufty’s Wine Bar (Tufty Gordon) in 1985. More about Tufty’s Wine Bar coming soon.

Do YOU remember the Sands Show Bar?