Who recalls going to the Royal Star Hotel in Maidstone High Street?

Now absorbed into the Royal Star Arcade shopping centre, the hotel was once very much the focal point of the music scene in the County Town.

In the late Forties and the Fifties, all the big bands played there: Ted Heath, Oscar Rabin, Acker Bilk, Geraldo, Victor Sylvester, Eric Delaney and Ken Mackingtosh.

Tony Mulcuck was among the many young men and women in the audience.

He said: “They were fabulous nights out. Of course it was ballroom dancing. All the boys wore charcoal grey suits and ties.

“Later, towards the end of the Fifties, we started getting the new rock and roll bands, and the ballroom gave way to jiving.”

At the end of the night, Mr Mulcuck and his pals would have to walk home to Blue Bell Hill village, having missed the last bus.

He is pictured here on the right of the group. The dapper gent in the bow tie and double-breasted suit was the Star’s manager.