How to find it
Sited on the wall of the Fox and Hounds Public House 51 Gosbrook Rd, Caversham at the corner of Gosbrook Rd and Elliotts Way
About the plaque
The plaque to mark this 1960s gig, which paved the way to superstardom which followed, was erected on BBC Music Day 15 June 2017 by Paul Mc Cartney’s second cousins Kate and Jane Robbins, who grew up in the pub. It was awarded by BBC Radio Berkshire and erected by the British Plaque Trust.
This plaque was one of 50 plaques unveiled by the Trust that June commemorating local music legends blueplaquesite.com
A Bit of background
On two nights over Easter 1960 the Nerk Twins performed at the Fox and Hounds for the first and only time. They were two struggling musicians who found gigs wherever they could.
The name Nerk twins is hardly encouraging. In Liverpool a Nerk is a derogatory term for someone completely without street cred.
They had been invited by Betty Robbins, who owned the pub with her husband Mike, to come to stay and help out in the pub. Betty was a cousin of one of them, Paul.
The “twins” duly hitchhiked down from Liverpool to visit them for the Easter weekend, helping out behind the bar. Mike however was aware they were musicians asked them to play on the Saturday and Sunday nights 24and 24 April.
Imaging walking into the pub and being faced with a couple of young lads perched on bar stools, strumming on acoustic guitars and singing without microphones. The small audience was probably more intent on chatting about football and drinking than listening to a couple of lads from Liverpool. Their handmade posters did not seem to encourage people to turn up as the audience is said to have been small, one report suggests just 3 people.
One of the “twins” later said Mike turned me onto showbiz in a big way and the talk about how we should do the show was very formative. He asked “what are you going to open with?” . We had planned Be Bop a Lula. Mike’s reaction was “No good. You need something fast and instrumental for this pub on a Saturday night. What else have you got?”. We had The World is Waiting for the Sunrise (by Les Paul and Mary Ford). We played it and Mike said “Perfect, start with that then do Be Bop a Lula” . The rest of the set was mainly rock ‘n roll and country and western songs.
However the locals don’t seem to have been too impressed. According to Mike Robbins, the owner, one of the locals reacted with “They were a load of bloody rubbish but I suppose they brought a bit of life into the pub”.
This gig was clearly very formative as Paul McCartney and John Lennon (who were the Nerk Twins those two days) shortly after adopted the name of the Beatles and in their final line up were joined by Ringo Star and George Harrison.
The first Beatles single record Please, Please me was released in March 1963. Their last was Let it be released in May 1970.
As for the name. They adopted various names including; The Black Jacks, The Quarry Men, The Silver Beetles before setting on The Beatles.
Unfortunately no photos of the gig in The Fox and Hounds are understood to exist.
Information Credits: Woodstock Whisperer 2016, Berkshire Live April 2022