Sherrys Dance Hall
Country of Issue: UK Manufacturer: J.R.Gaunt Diameter: 38mm
Coin Dates: (Known to Exist) 1916, 1919, 1922, 1923, 1925,
1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1936, 1938, 1939
Reverse Legend: “Sherrys Dance Hall” above farthing, “West Street Brighton” below in between stops Obverse Legend: “Keep me and you will never be broke”, Initials J.R.G below (J.R.Gaunt)
(Images & Information Courtesy of Mick Foster U.K.)
Brighton’s premier ‘Palais De Dance’ was Sherrys, which opened on the 11th November 1919 in West Street; an elaborate Italianate style building similar to the nearby Grand Hotel once occupied as West Street Concert Hall. The height of Sherrys popularity as the Mecca of dancing on the south coast came during the Second World War when all nationalities of allied servicemen and Brighton girls kicked up their heels and jitterbugged.High energy dancing for high energy
times which carried over into the post-war years. Then the atmosphere in the dance hall was elevated by something different; the presence of members of Brighton’s criminal
underworld – the gangsters immortalised in Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock (1938) who most certainly went to Sherrys. A decline in Brighton’s passion for dancing saw Sherrys close in September 1948. It re-opened briefly after this but eventually succumbed to being a roller-skating rink, then bingo hall until it was
demolished in 1969 and remodelled as a night-club and
amusement arcade.
Encased Farthings 