Mod to Suedehead - Page 695

 

Your right.  I bought my first pair in 69.  Probably 6 or 8 hole and we used to rub in loads of 'dubbing' to keep supple.  DMs did not have a very long life span on building sites and never lasted more than a year no matter how much you looked after them.

 

I have not had DM boots for say 20 years although I have the DM dealers boots but these only get used for walking to the pub about once a week so little use.

 

I have in the last 10 years used DM shoes on a daily basis but in the last 2 years they have been hard / near impossible to break in and have left me with severe heel blisters and finished up in the Euro bin.  I have now degraded to wearing Clark shoes and when visiting sites wearing free issue safety boots that are cheap and extremely comfortable and do not need any 'breaking in'. 

 

Its a shame I am not looking to purchasing DMs again.  Perhaps they have run their course?

Did you wear brogue boots back then?
Anyone remember?
I've spoke to a couple of lads that did. Didn't seem that common though and very area-dependent. Many had never heard of them at the time.

Oneflewover - welcome mate - great crack and very interesting.

I was asked where I got my Harrington in Portsmouth in 1970. They did not really have Squire/ Ivy shop stuff either. Different league outside of London.

Whereabouts was the Marina club. I remember a big Top Rank type ballroom and a smaller place near Fratton and there was Southsea pier for concerts as well. Pompey had a pub on every corner as it was a garrison town. Great pubs too with decent jukeboxes and bar billiards. Brickwoods beer was poor but you could get scrumpy on draught in a lot of pubs.
Edited by Kingstonian - 1/31/13 at 7:25am

here are the ones you are talking about...



and here is a pair of mine..

find on fb 1972!!!

 

 

287945_577567695592470_242882653_o.jpg 125k .jpg file

Yes, they look like them. Where did you buy your boots? Are they new or vintage? Without being anal I notice that yours are 7 eyelets. I thought mine were 6 but I could be wrong. The first photo look 6 eyelet but not very clear on my screen.

don't know what I did be4???

The Marina was outside Fratton Station.As the Train came in(from London),you saw the top of the Club outside.Could not stand Brickwoods Beer.

OK been in that one. I did not know they did all-nighters though.

We would get the 28 late night bus from the Cavalier Golders Green to Kilburn, The whole bus would be full of Skinheads..the poor Conductor had a hard time, but no one would be violent towards him,
If we really got out of hand the driver would stop at West Hampstead Police station and run in for help, that was the signal to pile off the bus,:D
One Conductor came from the Kilburn area, He had a way of handling us.he never got a problem.

The Kilburn was a violent lot...but we would not dream of attacking an innocent person, passers bye had no fear of us. We also had a rule...even if you hated someone and he was on the wanted list..If he was on his own and with a girl he was left alone, but with a warning.

All our violence was channeled against other Skinhead and Black gangs, and football crews, plenty to keep us busy ..

We did not have brogue boots in 69 /70 but I did in 77 they were the all leather dealer boots but laced ups.  A favorite with the gypsies but for a while popular with us

Later-about 1970ish,I think.

I don't particularly recall picking on the bus crew but i clearly remember a crowd of 30 of us piling on a double decker bus after a disco in the next town in 69 .  One of the lads ringing the bell and leaving the conductor behind.  No one to try and collect the fares.  We then tried to turn the bus over by charging from side to side on the upstairs (these buses can go to 45 degrees before e they topple over) but we were nothing like that.  The driver did not stop at any bus stops on route and we assumed he was driving straight to the police station .  so we all jumped off.  Great fun for 15 year olds.

 

Another occasion with a bus i was told happened with our predecessors the 1964 Mods when they were in Margate they stole a double decker and drove along Margate front with the old ladies on board cooing and waving oblivious of the change of driver and conductor

 

It makes 'On The Buses' mild !!

There was a coupe of different types, depending on when and where they were from.
I've got couple of pairs of Solovair ones (without the stitching on the welt). These 6 hole ones are from before February '69 (according to the lad that got them as they were part of a stock that were transferred into storage that month and forgot about). Got the same ones in brown but they've had a lot of wear.








Interesting what you said about the change over to the black trim by 1970. Do you not remember mates buying them without white trim before then?
By '69, Hawkins were doing their range as well in many different heights. Plus there were others who'd licenced the Air Wear sole to use on their own variations.

Great stuff of late.Welcome to the new contributors.Your stories have been great.browniecj.you can't row the boat with one oar,gotta have the two.Maybe thats where you went wrong.