Fact #129427

Brian Matthew (presenter, Thank Your Lucky Stars) : We used to record Thank Your Lucky Stars on a Sunday, and after the show we all wanted to go out and get a drink. But there was nowhere you could get one. The pubs were closed in Birmingham. One day, Kent (deejay Kent Walton) was a guest reviewer on the show. We started driving home, and we came to large pub between Birmingham and Coventry that we used to stop at for lunch on the way up. We went in there and had a drink, just one, and that was it - it was closing time. But the guy behind the bar said 'would you gentlemen like another one?'. We said yes and he said 'come with me...' We went behind the bar, through a door, and into this big room - it was packed. And they did this every week! We could stay there as long as we wanted, and they gave us a meal, and a bottle of wine. So I passed the word round at Thank Your Lucky Stars and every week the people who had been on the show started to stop off at this pub, after hours! I got quite friendly with the landlord. I asked him 'Aren't you worried about staying open after hours?' He said 'See that fella over there? He's the assistant commissioner of police. So I think we're all right.'

One one occasion we had about 200 people in there, because it got to the stage where the people on the show were quite happy to come in and do a number. We had Kenny Ball's band, Dusty Springfield came in and sang... oh, everybody sang and played guitars, and of course you can imagine how that built business up even more. There were hundreds of people stopping by to see a free show, in the middle of the night.
(Source : http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4GLw3K75YD8mkbGDCxJtWZg/thank-your-lucky-stars-and-its-official-show-party)