The Who guitar smashing antics celebrated in Harrow (From This Is Local London)

The Who guitar smashing antics celebrated in Harrow

11:30am Saturday 12th December 2009 in

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A PLAQUE has been unveiled celebrating a piece of history where The Who guitarist Pete Townshend first smashed a guitar live on stage.

It was at the Railway Hotel in Harrow where at a gig in September 1964 Townshend accidentally broke the neck of his guitar during a set by banging it on the ceiling of the pub.

Seeing the reaction of the crowd, he took the broken guitar and smashed it to pieces before picking up another guitar and continuing with the set.

Today, Harrow Council unveiled a plaque on the side of housing block Daltrey House, in Sandridge Close, to celebrate the momentous occasion.

The pub has long since bee knocked down, an was replaced several years ago by two blocks of affordable housing being run by housing firm A2Dominion, who commissioned the plaque.

Cllr Barry Macleod-Cullinane, in charge of housing in Harrow, who helped unveil the plaque, said: "It is amazing to think that the equipment smashing we associate with the heyday of 1970s rock began in a pub in Harrow.

"It seemed to us only right that music fans on pilgrimages around London can see another landmark associated with a true great of rock music."