Leamington Spa is a beautiful town with a lot of night life, however for too long it didn’t have a large capacity, live music venue. Groups were confined to local pubs that had the space and the enthusiasm to host a live band.

This has thankfully changed! For the past 12 months Leamington Spa has a brand new live music venue called the Assembly. Although the venue is new, the building is not – it’s a beautiful 1926 Art Deco construction that has been lovingly restored by its new owners.

The theme of the interior design has been taken from the statue of a lady that has stood on top of the building since the 1920’s. When I talk about this to other Leamington residents, many of them are not aware of the statue. The Assembly is in a narrow road, and to see the statue you have to crane your neck back.

I have always been a star gazer, so looking up comes naturally to me. Since childhood I have been fascinated by the Assembly statue. I used to go to Saturday Morning pictures at the nearby Clifton Cinema, Spencer Street, in the 1960’s.

I spent my 1/6 pocket money (7.5 new pence) on sixpence for the bus fare, sixpence for the cinema, and sixpence for a bag of monkey nuts. When I was eating the monkey nuts I always gazed up with admiration at the statue on top of the Assembly.

The recent renovation designed by Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, has the statue featured in the carpets, the wallpaper and in stained glass windows. The result is probably the best 1,000 capacity, live music venue, in the UK.

John McNally