It’s almost three years since husband and wife Graham and Clare Jenkins turned one of Shrewsbury’s most historic buildings into popular restaurant, music and comedy venue Henry Tudor House.          

What’s On recently met up with Birmingham-born Graham to talk about HTH, his unexpected encounter with Robert Plant, and his formative years spent hanging out with Duran Duran.

What first drew you to Henry Tudor House, Graham?

Both Clare and I had jobs with long hours. I was running a utility business in Cardiff and Clare was working in Birmingham. Neither of us were getting back until late in the evening, so we decided we’d stop commuting. 

We were on holiday in Italy and got talking about what we’d really like to do. We decided it would be really nice to do something on the restaurant/hospitality side of things, so we came back off holiday with that in mind. 

We were actually looking at another property in town when we heard that the Lion Tap had come on the market.

As soon as I saw the top floor, I knew it would make an amazing music venue. Yes, it was going to be a restaurant and a bar - that was always going to be the core business - but I instantly recognised the potential of the top-floor space. 

So while Clare was still wandering around the venue with its current owner, I picked up the phone and put in an offer. I didn’t know the background of the place, but I offered what they wanted there and then, and the offer was accepted. It all happened so quickly. I suppose there was a slight sense of destiny about it.

So the fact that the venue had potential for live music swung it for you?

It was the icing on the cake, really. To be fair, we didn’t have the conversation when we were in Italy about opening a music venue, but when we saw the space, it became really obvious that it would be good for that. 

We wanted it to be a venue rather than just a restaurant. The commercial risk of it was a bit of a leap of faith. There was a ‘build it and they will come’ element to it. I have this view that if you’re going to do something, you’ve got to do it properly - and that means you’ve got to speculate to accumulate. It’s not a trophy restaurant, it’s a commercial business and profitability is important. But I had the luxury of a cushion, thanks to my previous job, so was able to slightly indulge my dream - but with a commercial pragmatism.

So the restaurant isn’t a front to feed your passion for music?

No. I do jokingly say the restaurant is just a front for the music business but that’s not true. It’s the core business. The music does make a very positive net contribution to the overall business, though, and there’s a transfer between the two. 

When you’re booking acts, which wins over - personal preference or commercial appeal?

Initially it was very much personal preference, but as I’ve learned more about the business, I’ve become more commercially hard-nosed about it. One of the saddest parts of our success, because the standards are slowly going up and up, is that I’m having to say no to bands. I audition everything that I get sent and I genuinely listen to everything that comes through. It’s hard saying no but we do try and balance it. We have artists who’ve been there, seen it, done it. We have people who’re perfect for the venue and it’s a no brainer - like Paper Aeroplanes - and then we have the up-and-coming.

Who’s your favourite act?

I have two. Paper Aeroplanes and Scott Matthews. Scott was our first act and I’m indebted to him. My son was a huge fan of Scott’s and he’d introduced me to his music. I rang Scott completely stone cold - first venue, first gig. We’d only been open six months and he didn’t know us from Adam. I spoke to his manager at the time who told me I might be lucky because Scott wanted to do a few intimate gigs before he launched his new album. Then he phoned me up out of the blue and said he’d do it. I know now that isn’t such a big deal, but for me at the time it was. 

Is there anyone up and coming that you’d really like to champion?

I quite like the idea of musicians who you know are good but who’re unknown in the UK. I quite like bringing over musicians from the States. People like Ernie Halter, who’s played at HTH twice now. He’s coming over again next year with Toni Lucca, who’s another brilliant American musician. In the States they’re very well known but are completely unheard of over here, so I quite like championing that. You know they’re going to deliver on the night.

One of my other passions is music production. The idea is that we take local musicians with original works into the studio, record them and then put together a compilation album for people who’ve never done anything in the studio previously - people like Michaela Wylde and Dave Busby; artists who we know from our Friday night circle. The idea is to take their best track and put together a compilation album of local music.

What other productions would you like to be involved in beyond the boundaries of HTH?

I’d like to do more production. We have a lot of artists performing solo or as duos who’re also part of a bigger band. Paper Aeroplanes, for example, also tour as a five piece. Although I like the stripped-back acoustic - and that’s what HTH is all about - I’d also like to move in another direction and produce a festival, or something along the lines of the House In The Park. 

So do you feel you’ll eventually outgrow that top room at Henry Tudor House?

There are things that would be nice to do which would be natural extensions of what we do, but HTH can’t do them. 

Where did your interest in music begin?

I was a DJ from about the age of eighteen. Initially, for a couple of years, it was very reggae/rootsy. And then, just by chance, I got a residency at a pub in Birmingham that had a very strong Afro/Caribbean community. They took me under their wing and introduced me to the reggae movement, so then I had a couple of years of that. My own personal taste at that time was Glam Rock moving into New Romantic. I was a big T Rex, David Bowie and Roxy Music fan, and then that slowly merged into the music of 
the’80s and ’90s.

Tell us about your connection to Duran Duran...

I went to Grammar school with John (Nigel) Taylor. And Nick Rhodes (real name Nick Bates) went to the secondary school down the road. Duran Duran were the boyband of the time and were backed by the Berrow Brothers, who ran the RumRunner in Birmingham. There was this new movement coming up from the Blitz Club in London called the New Romantics, and they could see it was going to be the next big thing. So the Berrow Brothers decided they were going to form this band and stuck an advert in Melody Maker. 

Nick who was the DJ, had started a New Romantic night on a Tuesday in the Rum Runner. From being deserted, the venue became very popular. But as the demands increased on the band, John and Nick decided they couldn’t do it any more. He knew me and knew I was a DJ - albeit reggae - and asked me to take over from Nick for a while. 

They used to practise in the loft above the room in Broad Street, so I know when Girls On Film was written because I was sat there with them while they were rehearsing. I remember all of that era. I suppose my claim to fame is that when they got their deal with EMI, the record company decided that Planet Earth was going to be their first release - they decided to keep Girls On Film until they were more established - and I had the first print of Planet Earth that came out of the studio. I’ve still got it. 

Did you ever consider that DJing might be your career path?

It was a hobby back then and there wasn’t much money, not like now when some of the DJs are bigger than musicians. Behind the scenes I was doing an engineering degree with British Gas, and I used to do block release. I’d spend six months studying and six months in the office, training. I used to dye my hair and wear make-up for six months, and then dye it back to its original colour and wipe off all the mascara for the other six months. I used to occasionally get funny looks when I hadn’t quite washed it off.

What’s your all-time favourite gig?

I’ve built up an eclectic taste but I guess my biggest has to be Marc Bolan at the Town Hall in the mid-’70s for one of his comebacks. Japan at the Hammersmith, Led Zeppelin at the same venue and Black Sabbath at the Odeon are all there amongst my favourites too. But I suppose the person that I’ve seen every time he’s been on tour is Seal. I saw him at Wolverhampton Civic on his very first tour. He had to do Crazy twice because he didn’t have enough material!

Have you ever been star-struck at HTH?

That has to be when Robert Plant dropped in to see Katherine Williams. He has a reputation for turning up at gigs after artists have started their sets and then leaving just before the act finishes, but he ended up staying for the duration. He kept calling me ‘Boss’. That was quite a moment, having him at the venue.

And what’s been your most memorable moment at HTH?

My favourite song of all time is Marc Almond’s Tainted Love - I have one of the original 12” pressings which Marc brought into the club when I was working. Anyway, I was telling this to Robin Nolan of the Robin Nolan Trio - who, coincidentally, has done a Gypsy Jazz version of the track. Anyone who knows me knows that when I’ve had too much to drink - and when I’m in the party mood - if there’s any karaoke going on, I’ll get up and sing Tainted Love. Anyway, at the end of a great gig and after their mandatory encore had gone down very well, Robin asked, ‘Is Graham still here?’. He then invited me to the stage where he replayed the Gypsy Jazz version of Tainted Love and ‘forced’ me to sing the vocals to a full house - and it didn’t clear the room! So that was quite a memorable moment. For me, anyway.

Finally, any plans to further add to the Tudor icons that adorn the walls of HTH?

Funnily enough, we’re going to start looking at some comedians. There’s so much potential there.