The 2i's Coffee Bar

Founding and ownership The name of the 2i's derived from earlier owners, brothers Freddie and Bakhtyar (Buck) Irani, who ran the venue until 1955. It was then taken over by Paul Lincoln, an Australian professional wrestler known as "Dr Death", and Ray Hunter, a wrestling promoter and professional wrestler known as Rebel Ray Hunter. They opened it as a coffee bar on 22 April 1956. Tom Littlewood, previously its doorman and a judo instructor, became its manager in 1958. Features The basement of the coffee bar had live music; the acts made use of a small, 18-inch-high stage. Lincoln and Hunter started putting on skiffle groups; the first resident group were the Vipers, who included Wally Whyton. According to the band's washboard player John Pilgrim, they secured the residency after Whyton entered the 2i's when it started raining during a set the band were playing on the back of a lorry nearby during the Soho Fair. Within a couple of weeks the band's performances at the venue had begun to attract a large following through word of mouth. Russ Sainty, Lance Fortune, Albert Lee, Johnny Kidd, Paul Gadd (later to be known as Paul Raven and then Gary Glitter), Ritchie Blackmore, Alex Wharton, Mickie Most (as the Most Brothers), Big Jim Sullivan, Joe Moretti, Vince Taylor, Duffy Power, Johnny Gentle, Michael Cox, Kris Kristofferson, Derry and the Seniors and Georgie Fame. skiffle was new to the UK, and the 2i's Coffee Bar and, nearby venue, The Cat's Whisker, founded by Peter Evans, were where "Soho hipsters swelter and suffocate for it... and... generally the musicians were paid with coffee and cokes". Evans later started the Angus Steak Houses from the bar. Songwriter Lionel Bart and music producer Mickie Most worked there as waiters, The 2i's rapid success led to the opening of a second branch at 44 Gerrard Street, in what had been a folk and skiffle club run by John Hasted, before the end of 1956, although it soon closed due to intimidation by organised crime. From July 2016 the site has been the Soho Poppies Fish & Chips restaurant. ==Legacy==

The 2i's was the inspiration for the establishment of the Casbah Coffee Club in Liverpool by Mona Best in the cellar of her family home, which played an important role in the early development of the Beatles. In 1960, Bruno Koschmider, manager of the Kaiserkeller club in Hamburg, visited the 2i's to recruit British rock'n'roll musicians to play at his venue: these included Derry and the Seniors, whose manager Allan Williams was also the Beatles' first manager, and who also arranged for the latter band to play in Hamburg for Koschmider. During their time in Hamburg the band worked with Tony Sheridan, who had performed at the 2i's, and later recruited another 2i's veteran, Jimmie Nicol, to fill in for Ringo Starr on an Australian tour. On 18 September 2006, a green plaque was unveiled at the site of the 2i's Coffee Bar to commemorate its existence, and to celebrate 50 years of British rock and roll. The coffee bar was immortalised in Wee Willie Harris' song "Rockin’ At The 2i’s", and by Tommy Steele in "Two Eyes", a song recorded for the soundtrack of the film The Tommy Steele Story. The film also featured a recreation of the coffee bar, albeit much more spacious than in real life, and also featured Tom Littlewood playing a judo instructor. Ringo Starr mentions "the 2i's Cafe", "That's where Tommy Steele would play", in the song "Rory and the Hurricanes" on his 2015 album Postcards from Paradise. Michael Peppiatt mentions the café in his memoir of Francis Bacon: "As a teenager I'd gone on a rite of passage to the 2i's café to listen to skiffle groups, sipping frothy coffee out of transparent cups and hanging around in the hope of spotting Tommy Steele." ==Resident groups==

• The Vipers Skiffle Group (July–September 1956) • Tommy Steele (July–September 1956) • The Soho Skiffle Group (late 1956) • Les Hobeaux Skiffle Group (summer – late 1957) • Terry Dene & The Dene Aces (late 1957 – early 1959) • The Worried Men (late 1957 – early 1959) • Colin Hicks & The Cabin Boys (early 1958 – early 1959) • The Vagabonds (early – April 1958) • Cliff Richard & The Drifters (early – summer 1958) • Wally Whyton & The Vipers (May 1958 – early 1959) • Vince Eager (summer 1958) • Vince Taylor & the Playboys (early 1959 – summer 1960) • The Jury (1961 – summer 1962) ==References==