Our Regular feature on music Venues continues with The Top Rank Cardiff Suite
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A regular venue for up and coming signed bands in the 60s and 70s would have been the Top Rank Suite in Queen Street.
Created under what was the old Gaumont Theatre, Top Rank's opening on November 22, 1963, was overshadowed by the assassination of US president John F Kennedy, but over the next four decades it thrived. With a capacity of 1,500, it was to feature some rock’s greatest bands with The Kinks, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, The Clash, The Jam, The Police, to name just a handful.
The Top Rank was also one the Capital’s premier ballrooms and held regular evenings as a discotheque whilst also featuring its own in-house band.
It closed as the The Top Rank in 1982 but continued as a night club and live venue under various names like Ritzy Astoria and Panama Joes.
Planning permission for its demolition was granted in late 2004 and by 2005 the old Top Rank was gone for good.
