How Birmingham's Club King Eddie Fewtrell Defied the Krays' Takeover Bid
In London's East End during the 1960s, Ronnie and Reggie Kray commanded fear and fawning respect as notorious gangsters. However, when they attempted to extend their criminal empire to Birmingham's vibrant club scene, they met an unexpected and formidable opponent: local nightlife magnate Eddie Fewtrell.
The Krays' Failed Birmingham Invasion
The Kray twins dispatched their feared enforcers, brothers Chris and Tony Lambrianou, to Birmingham with orders to intimidate and take over the city's lucrative nightclub operations. These were men with shoulders wide enough to straddle time zones, both serving 15-year prison sentences for their role in the murder of Jack "The Hat" McVitie by Reggie Kray. They were not individuals easily manhandled or beaten.
Yet when they confronted Eddie Fewtrell at his Bermuda Club in 1961, the Aston-born boxer-turned-businessman delivered a response that would become legendary in Birmingham folklore. According to Fewtrell's own account in his 2007 biography "King of Clubs," he simply told them to "p*** off" and physically threw them out onto the street.
Eddie Fewtrell: The Unlikely Gangster Foe
Eddie Fewtrell, who passed away in 2022 at age 90, built a formidable nightclub empire that included venues like the Bermuda, Cedar, Boogies, Abigails and Edwards No7. He was never a mobster himself, but rather a businessman brave enough to stand up to those trying to take what was rightfully his.
In his biography, Fewtrell explained his mindset: "What you have to understand is that in 1957/58, the Krays were well known in London, but in Birmingham I'd never heard of them. So when they told me who they were, it didn't mean a thing." He added, "They were on my turf, so my attitude was, how could they think of taking me on in Birmingham?"
The confrontation escalated when the Lambrianou brothers returned, throwing their weight around at Fewtrell's establishment. The club owner responded decisively: "I beat them up and threw them out – it's as simple as that."
Verification Through Gangster Literature
Years later, the Lambrianou brothers confirmed the incident in their own book "Inside The Firm," though they claimed it was over Fewtrell's brother's girlfriend rather than his own. Fewtrell addressed this discrepancy, stating: "But it wasn't my girlfriend, it was (my brother's) girlfriend, so she must've said she was going out with me. I suppose she said that to protect herself, but I knew nothing about it."
The story gained additional attention through David Keogh's 2015 book "The Accidental Gangster," which detailed Fewtrell's triumph over the Cockney firm. Fewtrell initially publicly criticized Keogh's account and even burned a copy for BirminghamLive cameras, but his own biography ultimately confirmed the essential facts of the confrontation.
Birmingham's Resistance to London Gangsters
The Lambrianou brothers were not the only Kray associates to experience Birmingham's resistance. "Lovable rogue" Patsy Manning, another Krays associate, received what Tony Lambrianou described in "Inside The Firm" as "a right kicking" for pocketing cash the twins had given him to visit a prisoner in Parkhurst. Manning, who died in 2016 at Erdington's Tudor Rose Rest Home, lacked Fewtrell's fighting spirit and paid the price.
Reggie Kray later wrote a dedication for Manning's 1984 book "Crumpet All The Way," describing him as "a lovable character and a present day Errol Flynn, full of adventure and a yearning for the ladies."
The Mindset of a Birmingham Fighter
Eddie Fewtrell's biography provides insight into the rugged determination that powered his success and enabled him to stand up to London's most feared gangsters. "When I finally got somewhere, my attitude was, no one's going to take this off me," he declared.
He described his approach to dealing with troublemakers in his clubs: "I'd have all my doormen around me, all of my friends and everybody else, then all of a sudden I'd stop the music and say, 'who are you?' After identifying the best fighter among them, Fewtrell would challenge them directly: "None of my men will interfere. Come into the middle of the dance floor and I'll fight you now."
Fewtrell added, "Many of them were much taller than me, but it didn't matter – the bigger, the better. I loved the big ones. I've fought men who were as big as a tower – even slaughterers." This was the kind of man who could tell the Kray twins to "p*** off" and make it stick.
The attempted takeover of Birmingham's clubland by London's most notorious gangsters ultimately failed because the city proved to be no soft touch. Eddie Fewtrell's defiance demonstrated that Birmingham had its own brand of toughness, one that even the feared Kray organization could not overcome.
