Random Memory #6

I watched a 1979 “road movie” called Radio On by Chris Petit, shot by a German cameraman called Martin Schäfer, in black and white. Half of it was shot in Bristol, in a weird hotel called the Grosvenor which was stranded like a submarine’s conning tower in the middle of Bristol ring road. My friend Gavin and I noticed the hotel said “Bar Lounge” so we popped in for a sherbet. Gavin and I were the only pair of 50 people not in our pyjamas and dressing gowns, as it was a DSS hostel. I asked the barmaid if she knew about its kinematic history and soon realised she was not au fait with das neue Kino. She then perked up a bit and said they’d shot an episode of Softly, Softly in the bar, and Frank Windsor was a gentleman.