Recreation of ‘The Madcap Laughs’ album cover helps Syd Barrett’s legacy shine on at new Cambridge bar
A new bar in Cambridge, The Artyst: Cambridge’s Centre for Arts & Wellbeing, will honour Syd Barrett, one of the city’s favourite sons – and it has begun by recreating an album cover image.
Born in Cambridge and showing artistic talent from an early age, Syd Barrett went on to found Pink Floyd, one of the most successful rock acts in history.
He was the driving force behind the band’s early success, before his well-publicised personal problems led to him living most of his life as a semi-recluse in his home town.
Syd passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2006, but the legend lives on.
The man behind this new endeavour is Matthew Taylor, a social entrepreneur who directed The City Wakes festival, a 10-day, multi-activity celebration of Syd Barrett’s life, which took place in the city in 2008.
More recently, he played a key role in establishing Lockhouse Escape Games on Regent Street and in renovating The Engineer’s House bar at the Cambridge Museum of Technology by the River Cam.
Matthew, who knows the Barrett family, notes that the intention of this new bar is to “tell Syd’s story through a collection of original photographs, art and memorabilia, and on a unique walking tour of Syd’s Cambridge, developed with Rosemary, Syd’s sister”.
Matthew hopes that the new bar will be opened and trading in the coming weeks.
He says: “I think Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd need to be celebrated more in Cambridge, and so it also made sense to theme the bar this way.”
Will the site have Syd Barrett/Pink Floyd memorabilia, such as guitars and the like, hanging from the walls, Hard Rock Cafe-style?
“It’s going to develop organically, we don’t know exactly what’s going to be there,” replies Matthew. “We’ve got lots of photographs of him, by a well-known photographer named Mick Rock…
“Syd was known as an artist for most of his life, actually, rather than a musician – but I think a lot of his artwork has probably been sold now, or gone.
“So I’m not quite sure what people will lend us or donate or sell us. It’s going to evolve.”
Matthew also plans to offer a Syd Barrett-themed tour and was hoping to get in touch with Syd’s friend and first manager, Warren Dosanjh, who had done a similar thing in the past, but then found out that Warren had recently sadly died.
The site for The Artyst is 54 and 56 Chesterton Road, and it will consist of a ground floor and a basement, where there will be live music.
“It won’t be a full-scale music venue, it’s quite small downstairs, and there are limits on the decibel levels,” explains Matthew, “so it’ll be very neighbour-friendly, put it that way…
“There’ll be small-scale music events, vinyl sessions, that kind of thing, workshops, talks… we want to really throw it open to the community, and to people who are into music and Syd Barrett, and see what they come up with.”
Matthew says that the Barrett family are “fully behind” the project.
“They’ve put it on the official Syd Barrett website,” he notes, “and we’ve also spoken to Pink Floyd’s management – they put our press release on the official Pink Floyd website as well.”
Rosemary Breen, née Barrett, Syd’s sister, said: “I am incredibly moved by the creation of The Artyst: The Cambridge Centre for Arts & Wellbeing.
“This project is a heartfelt tribute to Syd, capturing the essence of his creativity, his deeply curious and playful nature, and the impact he had on so many lives.
“It’s wonderful to see a space dedicated not only to celebrating his artistic contributions but also to fostering a sense of connection and wellbeing.”
Eagle-eyed fans may notice that the floor in the bar follows the exact same pattern as the striped floor in Syd’s London flat, the one famously depicted on the cover of his debut solo album, The Madcap Laughs, which was released in 1970.
And after an appeal via the Cambridge Independent, Matthew found two fans to help him recreate the image from the back of the album.
Susie Gaffney and Louis Ellis posed this week for the photograph.
Matthew says: “It took a while to find models to do it, and eventually they found us. They came up from Bristol and stayed overnight, they were so keen to do it.
“It all worked really well, it all came together quite quickly, when it finally came together. I was pleased with it and they were too, I think they really enjoyed it.”
He adds that Susie and Louis are both in bands themselves, Susie is in a band called LIQOURICE ALLSTARS, while Louis is a member of Twin City.
Matthew hails the “huge cultural impact” of Pink Floyd and says of the bar: “I think this is a great opportunity to celebrate something that’s come out of Cambridge.
“I just think of somewhere like Liverpool, where The Beatles are really celebrated.”
He also reveals that in a recent poll in Cambridge, Syd emerged as the top choice of most beloved Cantabrigians.
Matthew adds: “The other thing about it is we’re donating 50 per cent of any profits that we happen to make – if we make any – back into the community.
“We want to be very dynamic in that sense and support local charities and arts as well – so this is more like a social enterprise, rather than just a plain old business.”
