History Pics
Click to see bigger picture Goat 1971. Triumph 650 rigid
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In Brief

It is the Beatles, that can take partial credit for the coming about of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, London.

From the mid sixties onwards the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club in California started to become world famous, spawning many imitators, especially in England.

In 1968, the Beatles invited a couple of members of the San Francisco charter of Hells Angels to come over and stay with them at Apple in London. When they arrived and looked around they saw a myriad of imitations, all wearing the Hells Angels logo on their backs, in various shapes and forms.

Now there was a problem as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is but one club, and not a term for bike enthusiasts in general, as the media would have people believe. With San Francisco being about 8000 miles from London, the solution was to start a chapter in London. Eventually, two people went from London to California and joined the club after "prospecting" first. Two charters were issued on July 30th, 1969. One to South London and the other to East London. In 1973 the two charters came together as one, simply called London.

Nowadays, if you see anybody wearing Hells Angels on their back in this country, you can be sure that that is what they are. If you see somebody sporting other names then that is what they are.