The 50th anniversary of the visit of the punk band the Sex Pistols to Northallerton has been marked as part of Local and Community History Month 2026.
The band, fronted by Johnny Rotten (John Lydon), which was at the forefront of the UK punk music scene, performed at Sayers nightclub (now the Amadeus) on 19th May 1976, in their first ever appearance outside of London. The performance was part of 5-day tour which also took in Middlesbrough and Scarborough.
The 50th anniversary was marked by a talk by historian and punk aficionado Ian Trowell to an enthusiastic audience of 40 people at Northallerton Library. The talk explained the context of the emergence of the Sex Pistols and punk music in 1976 and included the only two photographs known to have been taken that evening. Ian said, “We don’t know how many people attended the concert, but we are sure they didn’t enjoy it! Of course that was the idea: the band was openly committed more to creating chaos than to creating music”.
The Mayor of Northallerton, Cllr Andrew Hugill and Cllrs Phil Eames and Shirley Bell attended the event, and unveiled to the audience a green plaque that has been made to mark the event. The Council hopes that it can be mounted on or near the original venue in due course. Cllr Phil Eames, who commissioned the plaque, said, “Although this was small concert by a relatively unknown band at the time, they went on the become world-famous, and we know that their visit to the town is a special memory for many local residents, as shown by the interest in this event”.
Mayor Andrew Hugill holds the Sex Pistols green plaque in front of some of the event’s attendees
Cllr Phil Eames with historian Ian Trowell and a photo of the Sex Pistols on stage
