The Shrimpers Club was a key Southend Punk friendly place during the late '70's / '80s. Started by Jon Paul after moving on from The Queens, it soon started putting on Punk bands, with a key early Machines gig being played there in 1977. Many more nights followed, and the Sunday Night Rock Club became a great place to watch both local and touring bands.

Steve Hooker, The Vicars, Grinder, Acne, Deeno's Marvels, Idiot, Sta Prest, Psychopaths, The Youth, The Shocks, Speedball, and many more played here frequently, and the club built up a solid reputation as a place to see some good bands, with the aforementioned Sunday nights especially being a Punk focal point.

Rock contests, consisting of several heats where the winner of each heat went through to a final were held here annually. Everyone from the aforementioned Vicars, Grinder, School Bullies, Captain Strange, Decibels & Icons to Janifacy Farm, The Screaming Ab Dabs, Crucifixion and many more took part, often to packed audiences. 1980 -1981 also saw great shows at the club by The Stray Cats and Dr Feelgood.

By the early 1980's, the action switched upstairs to the Boardroom Club, which hosted special nights put on by The Taste Experience and Club Dada, as well as several other Club nights. Bands would still perform too, often at nights promoted by organizations such as Time Was magazine and several others.