CHAS and Dave have been writing hits for almost 40 years but the pair have been making music for much longer than that.

The pop rock duo marked half a century of friendship last year and it was on nights out together in their youth that the idea for a band began to form.

"We’d ring each other up and go and see a band somewhere and probably end up at a party," said Charles 'Chas' Hodges.

"When I think about it, unbeknownst to us, it was the start of Chas and Dave.

"Because if we went to a party Dave would take his banjo and quite often there would be a piano there. So I would jump on the piano and do a bit of Jerry Lee stuff."

By 1975, Chas and Dave had created 'rockney', a pub sing-a-long musical style about life in London. Influential Radio One DJ John Peel was among their fans.

A string of records followed including number two hit, Ain't No Pleasing You, and Rabbit, which got stuck in people's heads for eight weeks in the charts.

But after 1995's Street Party album everything went a bit quiet.

Chas and Dave continued to tour but almost 20 years passed before they released their follow-up record, That's What Happens, in 2013.

They came back in style with Grammy-winning blues man Joe Henry on production duties and a host of special guests including Buddy Holly and The Crickets’ drummer J. I Allison and Jools Holland and Hugh Laurie on keys.

"As the old saying goes – it was the phone call," added Chas, who plays piano, banjo and guitars.

"Warner Bros said they fancied putting an album out so to cut a long story short we went to Abbey Road and we came out with an album we were pleased with.

"We never went away really but since the turn of the century we’ve been getting more popular. So the timing was right for a new album."

That's What Happens also saw Chas and Dave collaborating again after the death of Dave's wife Sue.

The duo split up in September 2009 but announced plans to tour in June 2010.

Chas said: "When you have a bereavement everything goes out of the window. You don’t want to do anything. You can’t see a way forward.

"But as time goes on it gets a little easier and you begin to do things you used to do before so it’s simply that.

"Dave’s back. He’s happy and we’ve got a nicely paced tour with full houses. Getting out there and playing has always been good therapy."

Indeed, Chas and Dave's April tour last year saw them sell out the Royal Albert Hall and one of their fondest memories is playing at Glastonbury in 2005.

Chas, who used to play with Jimmy Page at the King's Head in Edmonton before he was in Led Zeppelin, added: "We walked out and there was just a sea of faces.

"You couldn’t see right to the horizon. We found out later that 32,000 had just trekked across the muddy fields to see us so that was a great feeling."

In the 1970s Chas and Dave were session musicians for the recording of the Labi Siffre tune, I Got The, which was sampled by Eminem.

They are one of The Libertines' biggest influences and were even given a comedy nod in I'm Alan Partridge.

So what does Chas think is the secret to the duo's enduring success?

He said: "All the recordings that we’ve had out, we wanted to put them out. That’s why we love doing the hits now.

"There are a lot of artists that hate doing their hits as they were given the songs early in their career by the record company or publishing company.

"They put it out and it’s gone in the charts and they made their money out of it but they have to live with it for the rest of their lives.

"We also pride ourselves on being good musicians and we love entertaining.

"Put those things together and you have a winning combination and that is why we are still out there doing it."

- Chas and Dave perform at the Parr Hall on Saturday, October 18. Tickets are £22.50. Visit pyramidparrhall.com or call 442345.