This is Jersey - 1979 - Part 15

From 1979 comes this holiday guide - "This is Jersey". This is a flat brochure which is larger that the later glossy designs, and it doesn't have nearly as many pages - 16 double sided in all, including front and back covers.

It does provide a very interesting snapshot of the tourism scene in 1979, just as it was more or less at its peak, just before Bergerac launched, and before the package tour market and cheap holiday destinations abroad made Jersey's prices suddenly more expensive and the bottom fell out of the market.

Tourism is today rebuilding a new approach geared to the lifestyle of the modern tourist. It still has plenty to offer, but the old style of tourism probably won't sell today. But here's a chance to capture that flavour.





This is one of the few places when the date of the brochure is mentioned!

The New Mediterranean was a hotspot for locals and tourists looking for a good night out, but later became a different kind of visitor attraction. It is currently a base of operations for Jersey Pearl.

The Big Night Out at the New Mediterranean, Five Mile Road, certainly lives up to its name. The show stars the irrepressible comic impersonator Dustin Gee.

He is ably supported by another laughter maker Dave Ismay, And also by the visually and vocally delightful Gai Dunlop, and the highly professional song and dance routines of Joe Chisholm.

The show line up is completed by the Tommy Tucker Dancers and the Barry Taylor Sound.

Dustin Gee: real name Gerald Harrison (24 June 1942 – 3 January 1986), who performed under the name Dustin Gee, was an English impressionist and comedian, best known for his double act with fellow comic, Les Dennis.

Dave Ismay: In the 1970s he worked as Bob Monkhouse's warm-up man on ITV's 'The Golden Shot'

Ismay had met Monkhouse when both appeared at a Birmingham nightclub, later contrasting his own "stuttering, stumbling ineptitude" with the star's "immaculate style, polish, erudition and wit". Despite the disparity the pair remained close. Ismay, having been at Monkhouse's bedside when he died in 2003, co-authored Bob Monkhouse: Unpublished!

David Robert Ismay, comedian, agent, author and journalist: born Birmingham 1 May 1946; married firstly Sheila (marriage dissolved, deceased; one son, one daughter), secondly Dodie; died Leicester 17 April 2013.



Also at the Sunshine Hotel is the attractive Birdcage Bar, where the comedy vocal guitarist provides free entertainment nightly.

Tony Maiden was an actor, known for Keep It in the Family (1971), The Adventures of Black Beauty (1972) and Outer Touch (1979). He died on February 17, 2004 in Torrevieja, Alicante, Spain.

This was on the Five Mile Road, St Ouen.

2012: PROPOSALS to demolish a former night spot and tourist attraction on the Five Mile Road and replace it with houses have been submitted to the Planning department. The owners of the Château Plaisir at the north end of Five Mile Road want to build three homes on the site, which lies within the newly established Coastal National Park.

JEP report:

Once one of Jersey's premier nightspot, Château Plaisir was a top tourist destination in the 1960s.

Last year demolition crews moved in to begin the first phase of a project to build three homes at the prime beach-front site. During the work, a wrecking crew uncovered a water-pumping bunker built by the Germans during the Occupation which had last been seen in the 1950s. Part of the building was latterly used to provide a temporary home for the Holidays for Heroes Jersey charity shop.

It also housed Micro World, a museum of artefacts created in miniature which I once visited.