Nigel ‘Smutz’ Brickell is the entrepreneur who opened the punk rock shop Smutz in Beaufort Market on the Kings Road during the height of punk. A larger than life character who had his finger on the punk rock pulse and would visit The London Leatherman to order and buy stock.
Questions by Dave Carroll
Edited by Bridget Veal
Inside the shop Smutz with model wearing a LN6 Ciré T-shirt in black wet look nylon which Nigel would order along with studded belts from The London Leatherman.
Q. As a teenage punk rocker Smutz was my (like many young punk rockers) prelude before working up the courage to go into Seditionaries, it was where you could go to get your punk rock look together, where you’d hear about gigs and what was happening on the scene, it was a real hang out. How do you describe Smutz to anyone just discovering its history? When did you open? And what was the spark that lead you to opening Smutz?
A. I left my home in Dorset at 18 to go to the London School of Printing to study. I come from an old print family. The only thing that interested me was screen printing. I had a small grant and to supplement it I had cycled around the East End and discovered vintage clothing warehouses so I bought wholesale and sold to friends and also had a stall in Portobello Market, around 1975.
On leaving the L.S.P I didn't want to return to sleepy Dorset so took a small downstairs stall in Beaufort Market, (which was) then an antiques market.
I used to shop in Acme Attractions and became friends with Don Letts and Jeannette, also John Kirvine the owner and Steph Rayner and his partner Helen. This is where I first heard about the Sex Pistols.
I had been into (the shop) SEX and purchased a pair of red Winkle Pickers on a cold Saturday at closing time and liked some of the pricey clothes.
As the punk thing was developing I took an upstairs stall in Beaufort Market with Mike McManus, later of (the shop) Robot, and we bought old stock ourselves and from Dave Fortune. After a while, Mike, not into the punk scene, teamed up with Dave to form Robot.
When the rumblings of punk started I had a friend James Holdsworth who had just left Chelsea Art School and he was interested in the screen printing I was doing, and with our friend James Henderson we started designing our own prints and also manufacturing punk clothing. They were my best pals, and still are from those days. To be honest it was one five year long party!
Whenever I encountered any problems I had an ace in my pack, John ' Biffo ' Bindon. John and I were good…umm acquaintances, he was everything the edit portrayed him as, a hard man gangster. He helped me out of a few situations. Through him I became friends with Richard Coles, Zeppelins tour manager and then Jimmy Page. One afternoon in the shop I was with Les McKeown of Bay City Rollers, Jimmy came in and I introduced them and we all went off for an afternoon of fun together. A very strange combination but they were both superstars in their fields. Another good friend was the great News at Ten Reggie Bosanquet. I from the early days of the Roebuck (pub on the Kings Road) knew the landlord Jack Hayes aka fat jack. The downstairs bar at weekends was usually full of 60s rockers, Zeppelin, the Who etc and whizz kid ad men like John ' Kings Road Cowboy' Cigarini. John became a great and still is friend, he knew everybody who was anybody from the music and film business. Fat Jack knew my crowd of punks, some underage and took me aside one day and said I have a empty function room upstairs, can you get your punk crowd up there? He did not realise that he had let the genie out of the bottle! It was not long before it (the Roebuck pub) was wall to wall with young attractive punk girls and us dudes. And then the rockers one by one ventured up and realised that's where it was happening. I first met Marianne Faithful up there and Phill Lynott, the great Frankie Miller, Mitch Mitchell, Chris Stamp The Who manager Terence Stamps brother. It was sex, drugs and rock and roll heaven!! And Reggie Bosa quite loved it, he lived very nearby. I often played pool with him, drinking, then getting a last minute taxi to present the News at Ten, slurring his way through it, sometimes wearing underwear garments from SEX and winking to let the shop girls and the lovely Jordan know. I was a lucky survivor from a moment in time.
After Beaufort Market closed I then took a lease on a ex-supermarket next to the Roebuck. This was 1981 but punk was just dwindling and the New Romantic thing was happening. My heart was not in it. For me, honestly, the Bill Grundy interview ended it (punk rock), the media jumped on it, your grannies knew those ‘awful Sex Pistols’! It was a gift to the media, punk was very short lived. At the time I was mates with Stuart Goddard aka Adam Ant. I also knew Derek Jarman, Adam and I went for lunch with Derek who explained the plot (of Jubilee). We went and filmed, I buggered off bored after a day, the only shots of me ended up in the advert for Jubilee (1978).
I saw the Pistols many times, my best memory is of the all night Screen On The Green show with The Clash, Buzzcocks and The Slits.
I also bought from Malcolm McLaren the Sex jukebox that (Johnny) Rotten had auditioned to for his role in the Sex Pistols. It was always upstairs in Beaufort.
Newspaper clipping with Nigel pictured on the right with his curly hair and wearing a leather jacket.
Q. I first visited Smutz in 1978 I was standing out the front of Beaufort Market with friends and punk rock ace face Jock McDonald was talking about an Adam and The Antz gig which sounded so exciting, Smutz really was the place to immerse yourself in everything punk rock. That same year I remember when The Clash and PiL were meant to play on the roof of Beaufort Market, but it turned into a riot, which as a 13 year old kid I thought was absolutely great fun. What recollections do you have of this day?
A. We all at Beaufort Market became aware the place was closing. Jock McDonald, a likeable rogue and chancer put it about that The Clash would play one Saturday on the roof, it was always going to be a non-starter. It ended up as a memorable day though!
Q. We’d casually see our punk rock hero’s in Smutz and in Beaufort Market. I saw 999 at the café, The Clash and The Lurkers hanging out. Who would you say were the Smutz regulars?
A. We used to sell to many punk bands, I was involved with Gene October and Chelsea. Boy George, then just George, used to hang out with Philip Sallon, also Steve Strange, Daniel James and Rusty Eagan. Blondie and The Tubes, Poly from X-Ray Specs had a stall, XTC…only making plans for Nigel! Johnny Thunders and The Heartbreakers, and Sid and Nancy who I ejected after catching him stealing! I was friends with Steve Jones and Paul Cook. A good friendly community developed consisting of Lloyd Johnson, Carlo Manzi, Dave Klouber, Johnny Moke and Paul Forte, all rag traders. Lauren Bacall used to buy punk presents for her granddaughter, Mick Jagger used to cycle with Jade as a baby and pull up and come in, he was the original punk.
Boy George (left) and Philip Sallon (right) wearing the LN6 Ciré T-shirt in black. A real punk rock piece of clothing made by The London Leatherman and sold in shops such as Smutz.
Q. You used to visit The London Leatherman shop on Queenstown Road to order stock for Smutz. How did you come to know about Ken and The London Leatherman? Do you have any fond memories of Ken and the shop?
A. I went to the London Leatherman after wanting to buy the ciré T- shirts. I liked Ken, who liked me, a curly haired fresh faced boy. He once took me upstairs to check out his leather bedding, he was always a kind gentle man, though but very flirtatious!
I remember going to collect some ciré T-shirts and studded belts from Ken early one Saturday. James Henderson was petrified to come into Kens Den! Ken was always very kind and helpful to me, almost fatherly, but maybe a hint of sexuality! I once met him at the Coleherne (pub), I was living next door, literally, with a lovely girl Natalya Citcovitch.
Punk rock entrepreneur Nigel Smutz. Photo Courtesy Nigel ‘Smutz’ Brickell.
Q. The London Leatherman LN6 ciré wet look nylon T-shirts really were a true punk rock piece of clothing but also crossed over into other youth cultures like the soul scene and disco. You stocked them in Smutz, did you sell any other The London Leatherman made items at Smutz like the studded belts and wristbands or have anything specially made?
A. I asked him (Ken) to make the ciré shirts for me and also the studded belts etc.
I am still in the game, I now paint and I collect 1950s and 1960s motorcycle gear and 70s and 80s painted punk leather jackets. They are works of outsider art and I love their naivety. I get such a buzz from finding them and travel all over to get them. Sometimes I meet people who used to come to Smutz, like you they say the same thing to me. We were never elitist, we outfitted kids who could not afford high prices. Sex or Seditionaries was sometimes an intimidating space to go into. I like to think that we were a party anyone could gate crash, none of the ' your not on the list' thing. I met some A listers, yes, but the real fun originals were the true punks from the streets of England.