Stony Hotels house sweet, sweet music...

Stony Stratford has become an important artistic scene of Milton Keynes, particularly with regard to live music. Indeed, there is more music on offer in the town than in most London Boroughs. How did this come about? Four long-standing "happenings" had the huge effect of attracting musicians to the town and the surrounding area.

In 1968 the Stony Stratford Folk Club opened in the Cock Hotel on Sunday nights, presenting a great variety of guests each week - Jasper Carrott received a princely £8.00, which included expenses! The folk club closed in '72, but in '76 one of the original hosts, Matt Armour, brought the concept, now renamed The Song Loft, and on alternate Fridays, back to the town, where it has continued ever since (apart from summer holidays) presenting the best in British and touring artists, in its home venue of the Cock Hotel.

In 1971, under the aegis of the now migrated Rod Hall, a music and dance event was launched on Horsefair Green on the second Sunday of June, aptly titled Folk On The Green. Despite being a once a year event, its impact on music in Stony has been incalculable, with many musicians and music lovers gaining their first experience of the town at that event and deciding that, sooner or later, this is where they wanted to be. The event remains the live music "showcase" of the town.

In the mid seventies, The Bull Hotel, then under the command of Howard Willis - one of Stony's most influential families - opened a long disused bar and called it the Vaults. One Sunday lunchtime, soon after the opening, three musicians, John Brooks, USAF Captain Ted Witsie and Matt Armour, got their guitars out and sat in the corner, swapping songs. From this virtual accident grew the Vaults Bar Folk Workshop, where innumerable local, and not so local, musicians have cut their performing teeth and gone on to greater things. Again many now-local performers cite their experiences here as the reason they moved to Stony.

The Cock hotel has had a long history of presenting jazz.  This tradition still continues on Sunday lunchtimes and the venue now caters for more modern tastes with weekend discos held in the large Marquee suite. 

For R&B fans the Fox & Hounds is a must.  Music ranges from raw folk to rock and most sessions are free. Check the Stony Stratford calendar for what's on at The Fox & Hounds and, if you want a seat, get there early.

So, the stage was set long ago.  As more and more musicians and fans moved in, so more and more venues got involved, either regularly or now and again - The Bull, The Crown, The Old George, The Forresters, The Plough, the Duke of Wellington. 

The table on the right shows all of the hotels and public houses in Stony Stratford, as well as restaurants, takeaways, guesthouses, bed and breakfasts, cafes, coffee shops and caterers!

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