Jake’s Leeds

[mark sturdy]

Can anyone add to this collection of locations in Leeds relevant to Jake’s years there?

8 Old Oak Close (family home, till he got married I think?)
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&q=8+old+oak+close+leeds&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x48795920860c7aaf:0x2264aac144d8421d,8+Old+Oak+Close,+Leeds+LS16+5HD&gl=uk&ei=pXbjUNC2DJOR0QXKjoHgBg&ved=0CDMQ8gEwAA

Intake High School (now redeveloped as Leeds West Academy – not very visible from the street in any event)
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=leeds+west+academy&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&sa=N&tab=wl

The Swan with Two Necks (where Jake met Sheila – now flats but the pub’s still visible on Street View)
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=14+raglan+road+leeds&ll=53.813755,-1.556562&spn=0.000301,0.000603&sll=53.811272,-1.556251&layer=c&cbp=13,314.69,,0,-6.2&cbll=53.813755,-1.556562&gl=uk&hnear=14+Raglan+Rd,+Leeds,+West+Yorkshire+LS2,+United+Kingdom&t=h&z=21&panoid=DLbQWzb1x4iUm6omgbQRoQ

The Pack Horse (regular drinking hole by all accounts – Jake’s mates are interviewed here in the upstairs pool room on the BBC4 doc)
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Packhorse+(The),+Woodhouse+Lane,+Leeds&hl=en&ll=53.810321,-1.555949&spn=0.000298,0.000603&sll=53.810420,-1.555862&layer=c&cid=8830187456093609691&cbp=13,41.73,,0,-8.2&cbll=53.810321,-1.555949&gl=uk&hq=Packhorse+(The),+Woodhouse+Lane,+Leeds&t=h&z=21&panoid=jNZe9S42Aw22zmeR0qlTrw

Anyone know of any other haunts? It’d be nice if we could get enough together for a tour / pub crawl. It’d be especially interesting to know where his early pre-fame performances took place – I’m sure he must have played the Packhorse (which is still a live venue, and probably little changed from the ’60s), but where else? Of the places that still exist, maybe the Chemic, Primrose, Fenton, Cardigan Arms?

[Paul]

I believe that he made his professional debut at Leeds City Varieties.

[mark sturdy]

Ah yes, of course – there’s a playbill for one of his appearances at City Varieties here. I’d be staggered if it was his first gig though – it’s a big place, not the sort of establishment you start playing out of nowhere.

The sleevenotes to the first LP refer to him playing pubs and clubs, so I reckon he must have tread the boards of some of the boozers of North Leeds like those mentioned in my above. Why, the Cardigan Arms is on Kirkstall Road itself!

[Paul]

Thanks for tracking down the Leeds City Varieties poster – Jake makes reference to the striptease artist in some of his writing. I have no doubt that he did play in pubs and other venues as well – on the 4th CD of Jake in a Box he introduces one song as being another ‘public house’ song.

[mark sturdy]

Oh – and of course there’s the old alma mater St Michael’s Catholic College (now also closed, but still on Streetview). Some great photos and tales from people here, most of which could pretty much have come straight out of one of Jake’s songs.

[richardtobrien]

Hi all,

How certain are we that Jake’s Leeds address was 8 Old Oak Close? I have seen 8 Old Oak Drive on another site, and having been in Leeds recently and looked at both I’m not convinced the Old Oak Close house is old enough to have been where his mother lived in the early 60s – unless it was demolished and rebuilt, or had the whole facade redone?

With apologies to the current residents, this is what Close looks like from the outside: https://photos.app.goo.gl/VbJ7jsCYEk8tJPKdA

And this is Drive, which seems to me more age-appropriate: https://photos.app.goo.gl/BaznwQS7YW4D3wCz5

Any thoughts welcome!

[mark sturdy]

If you have a look at the Jake documentary that’s on YouTube, about 25 minutes in, Sheila gives the address as 8 Old Oak Close. I know what you mean about the house looking more modern, but it’s not uncommon for those pebbledash houses to have been reclad – I think with those type of houses, there were issues with the steel frames they were originally built around.

[Paul]

I have seen the house too. I think the brick facade has been done up (as the council has done to lots of property in Manchester, to improve insulation).

[Author]

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