This month’s object of the month is a fantastically colourful door panel from our ‘Every Object Tells A Story’ exhibition.

Here’s what Phil Godden, former co-owner The Flying Teapot Café, said about it:

“The Flying Teapot Café was situated at the top of Lawford Road. We opened in the mid-1990s, the teapot was a café by day, serving fry ups and milkshakes, with MTV playing on TVs suspended in the ceilings and a seating area of old car seats salvaged from the scrap yard. We also had Rugby’s first virtual reality machine, which meant the teen scene came flocking.

At night something magical happened, we opened up the doors to bands and hosted gig nights. The psych scene was at the heart of Rugby’s music scene, and we had the likes of Spiritualized play. It wasn’t really intended to be an evening music venue, but it soon became clear that there weren’t any venues for these emerging bands to play.  Unfortunately issues with alcohol and music licences and noise complaints meant the teapot only ran for a few years. 

This door panel was from the ladies’ toilets, we asked local artist Sean Cook and Nicholas ‘Natty’ Brooker (from Spacemen 3) to create murals for us, they had a signature style that really added to the atmosphere of our gigs.”