The Merry Fiddlers , Dagenham

A Memory of Dagenham.

The first pub I used to drink in when I was 16yrs old. The main bar was made to be similar to the Cavern Club in Liverpool, all rough brick and cedar wood. The stage was at the far end. It was quite dark apart from the stage and used to get very hot.
It was the year of mods and the "groups explosion" (Rolling Stones, Beatles and The Who etc.). The pub made the most of this serge of interest and had groups from all around play there. It was the "in" place to go and people used to come from miles around to listen to the groups. It was packed every weekend.
I used to live at Rush Green at the time which is a couple of miles away. I used to get a bus to Becontree Heath where the Fiddlers was, have about 5 or 6 pints then buy a bag of chips across the road then get another bus home and still have change from a pound in those days! I can hardly believe it myself looking back. How times change!
Can anyone give me information about the football team that played behind the Merry Fiddlers? My dad used to take me there when I was a small boy. You had to pay to go in, so it must have been a good standard. My dad took me to the Carlton Cafe after the match to have a boiling hot milk coffee. I remember it was really hot inside after standing in the cold watching football and thick with smoke where all the men were puffing away on their fags. I could hardly breath.