Bury Society refuses to honour infamous 1978 Clash gig at Corn Exchange with a blue plaque

A town's civic society has refused to honour an infamous punk gig by The Clash with a blue plaque - because it caused too much trouble at the time.

The Bury Society's 580 members say it will not support calls for the band's 1978 concert at the The Corn Exchange in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk to be honoured.

The infamous concert was part of the band's 'On Parole' tour and led to accusations of punks causing ‘mayhem' with damage to property, spitting, and drunkenness.

It also lead to certain types of live music being banned in public buildings for two decades.

Now there are calls for the gig to be commemorated as a part of the town's history with a blue plaque in the Corn Exchange which has been a Wetherspoons since 2012.

But Martyn Taylor, the chairman of The Bury Society, said that they could not endorse an event that had such a lasting effect on the town.

Mr Taylor, 73, said: "The Clash did not cover themselves in glory during or after the event.

"There's a fine line you must draw between something that is accepted to moral standards and some that is not - and you must be careful how you tread that line.

"Is this something that Bury wants to be remembered for?"

The calls for a blue plaque have been led by Paul Johnson, 55, a champion of the Bury music scene and founder of the BurySOUND music competition, who believes the event should have more recognition.

But Mr Taylor said there are already eight plaques in the town that honour various people and just one event - the first Zeppelin air raid in WWII.

The plaques are put up by the Bury Society who are registered as part of English Heritage's blue plaque scheme and notify English Heritage of any new ones.

Mr Taylor, said: "We look to celebrate both people and events - people will say The Clash performing was an event.

"But the behaviour of people at the time, the spitting and destruction, might well mean it couldn't go up even if we wanted to.

"English Heritage do not sanction plaques for events that are considered distasteful or nasty - they're there to remember someone or something noteworthy.

"People are remembered for their deeds but if someone looked at the plaque in 20 or 30 years time, what meaning would it really have?

"You have to jump through several hoops to get there, permission from the owner of the building, the conservation officer.

''The meaning of the plaque is easily lost due to limited space for wording."

He added that other music events such as Bob Marley performing had also not been recognised.

The Clash were an English rock band formed in 1976 and were credited as being instrumental in British punk rock.

They disbanded in 1986 after Topper Headon and Mick Jones were both kicked out of the band.