Long before the days of the Wetherspoon’s pitcher and the £3.25 pint, The Regal was a hotspot for some of the biggest names in music. In its heyday during the ’60s and ’70s, the likes of Stevie Wonder, Fleetwood Mac, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, and even The Beatles (twice!) graced the local Cambridge stage.

When The Regal cinema first opened its doors in 1937, it was a marvel of modern construction, with ‘neither time nor money spared’ in creating a state-of-the-art theatre for attendees. In modern pop’s younger days, cinemas across the country could host large audiences, with groups of bands known as ‘pop packages’ touring headliners alongside numerous support acts, performing back-to-back shows. Two shows would take place an evening at the venue — one at 6:15 pm and another at 8:30 pm — and, with tickets costing a few shillings depending on where you sat, The Regal had Cambridge frequently buzzing with excitement.

The ’60s at The Regal saw some pretty stellar sets, with its prime years being a whirlwind of unforgettable moments. Take 1963, for example: not only did Cliff Richard play there, but the year also saw The Ramblers (including local teenager David Gilmour on guitar, who would go on to join Pink Floyd five years later). But perhaps most notably, The Beatles performed twice in that very same year — first as support for Chris Montez and Tommy Roe, and later as headliners.

Their stays at the University Arms hotel were the stuff of local legend, with a thinly disguised John Lennon reportedly receiving a private tour of Cambridge’s colleges, courtesy of then undergraduate, later filmmaker, Tony Palmer. Their final performance at The Regal saw them deliver a ten-song setlist featuring classics like ‘Twist and Shout’, ‘She Loves You’, and ‘All My Loving’ — a night etched into the city’s collective memory.

As the decade rolled on, The Regal’s stage saw some of the most iconic names in British music. Gerry and the Pacemakers kicked things off in 1964, followed by Cilla Black in 1965, and multiple shows from The Kinks between ’64 and ’68. The Bee Gees, too, left their mark in 1968. Janet Haggar (1951-2021), a lifelong Cambridge resident and bedmaker at St John’s College, fondly recalled the scenes surrounding The Beatles’ appearances. “I remember girls screaming, ‘Paul, Paul, we love you! ’” she said, while recounting her own elation at seeing Gerry and the Pacemakers up close: “We sat right at the front, and I felt like I was on cloud nine; it was something unbelievable, eyes popped out your head!”

October 1965 marked The Rolling Stones’ first and last Cambridge gig at The Regal, their arrival famously advertised by the slogan “They’re coming your way!!!”, fresh off the release of their hit single, ‘Get Off My Cloud’. Stevie Wonder would join the list in March 1969, receiving rave reviews from local audiences. A month later, Fleetwood Mac hit the stage alongside blues legend BB King, and in 1971, prog-rock pioneers King Crimson played one of the venue’s last major shows.

Few gigs were held at The Regal after the spring of 1971, as the music scene began to shift. Live gigs moved to the Dorothy Ballroom on Hobson Street, where The Velvet Underground and Hawkwind were hosted later that year. The Corn Exchange would eventually take over, though its poor acoustics and lack of seating left much to be desired.

But, for a time, The Regal was the epicentre of Cambridge’s musical culture — a stage that housed stars in the various stages of their careers. Most of these acts played once at the venue and then never returned, but Janet Haggar and the many others who passed through its doors carried those memories with them, marking an undeniable stamp on their lives from a place where music and community collided.

Today, the walls of the Spoons largely overshadow its illustrious past with (understandably) laminated posters of Cavendish Laboratory discoveries and Footlights history. Yet, if you look closely, there are also a few relics of The Regal itself — reminders of a movement that was local, global, and undeniably cultural in its trajectory.

So, the next time you go in for a pint, I would implore you to take a moment to remember the plethora of superstars who once rocked that very space because, for a brief time, 38-39 St Andrews Street truly was the heartbeat of the musical world.