Folk singer-songwriter Ralph McTell, famed for his Streets of London hit record, has been reminiscing about his early days performing at The Cross Foxes pub in Chester.

Ralph was in conversation with Danny Baker on The Danny Baker Show on BBC Radio Five Live last Saturday (July 16) when he began talking about the folk clubs that used to be a popular feature of many pubs in the 1960s and 70s.

Ralph, who performed at the 12th Wirral Folk Festival in Ellesmere Port last month, was asked by Danny about the ‘slim pickings’ of being a folk artist back in those days.

The Cross Foxes in Boughton. Picture by Google Street View

He said: “I met a bloke the other day. I went up to the Wirral for a folk festival and I recognised him.

“His hair is white now. I said to him ‘The Cross Foxes in Chester?’ and he said ‘Absolutely, Ralph’ and I had a nice little chat. And he said, just for instance, I looked up to see how much you got paid the first time. ‘Four quid’. He said ‘It must have cost you £3 to get up here on the train though’ so it was a nice little scene.”

Ralph McTell is one of the headline artists at the 12th Wirral Folk Festival in Ellesmere Port
Ralph McTell who was one of the headline artists at the 12th Wirral Folk Festival in Ellesmere Port.

And Ralph also spoke about how his brother Bruce managed the late folk rock singer-songwriter John Martyn who performed at Telford’s Warehouse in Chester many times and even lived on a barge underneath for five years. Danny Baker is a huge fan.

McTell’s Streets of London reached number two in the UK singles chart in 1974 and was inspired by his experiences busking and hitchhiking throughout Europe. It has been covered by more 200 artists around the world.

He said: “I’m so proud of it. I wasn’t at the time. I thought I had moved away from that when it was a hit.”

The website of local folk singer-songwriter John Harper, from Chester, recalls the early days of folk in his home city.

An undated photo of The Cross Foxes in Boughton from the Chester Chronicle archive.

It reads: “John Harper has been singing and playing guitar in folk clubs, festivals, theatres, bars and just about anywhere else for over forty years. His introduction to folk music was back in the late sixties/early seventies in his home town of Chester.

“In those days of course there was a very healthy folk club scene, ranging from singers’ clubs such as Jones’s Ale to The Black Diamond Folk Club run at the Cross Foxes Hotel which, together with the Bull and Stirrup Folk Club, booked guests such as Paul Simon and Ralph McTell, the Ian Campbell Folk Group and the Johnstons.”