Manchester Venues 212 to 215

Last month I returned to the vibrant Sounds From the Other City (SFTOC) festival in Salford for my sixth attendance, with my debut being back in 2012. The ticket collection point at the earlier festivals was Islington Mill, and even though this has now been replaced by Maxwell Hall within Salford University, it remains a central focus point.

The Mill is a Grade II listed, six-storey Georgian building located just off Chapel Street. It was originally purpose-built in 1823 and underwent a structural collapse a year later resulting in eighteen deaths before then being swiftly rebuilt. Like many of the dark satanic cotton mills of that era it was intertwined with the horrific slave trade.

As manufacturing industries declined in the 1960’s it evolved through retail and storage phases before falling into partial disrepair. It then moved into its current bohemian multi-occupancy arts status which has been greatly assisted by ample funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and they now trade under the name Islington Mill Arts Club.

Islington Mill. Image Credit Manchester Evening News.

They are ever expanding and a current example of this is that they own and are regenerating the adjacent Regent Trading Estate with the support of Salford City Council. Bands that have previously played the Mill include Acid Mother Temple, Ariel Pink, Boris and Peaches. There have also been one-off shows from the likes of Elbow, Grimes and Bjork.   

I have previously covered many of the venues in the building but was excited to see a new one on this year’s listing. There was an element of levitation and physical endeavour required to access the gig at Manchester Islington Mill 5th Floor. When I disembarked the metal stairs, I rewarded myself with a cold beverage whilst watching a rapper by the name of Cartier.

Back over on Chapel Street there is a small café originally known as GK Gallery & Tea Room when it first opened its doors in January 2016. As the name implies, they have an Art Gallery within where their mission is to support emerging artists by staging exhibitions. Many of these are graduates based at nearby Salford University. For me however their chief but dangerous pulling power is the ready availability of tasty homemade cakes!

Manchester ‘Beatz’ Cafe. Image Credit tripadvisor.com

More recently they have changed their name to Kith and Kin and for the first time were included in the SFTOC roster under the one day pseudonym Manchester Beatz Café. I saw an artist called Beatz Nails performing there.

As you progress back onto New Bailey Street there is a new bar called Manchester Tangerine which sits directly opposite Salford Central Station. The venue was opened in 2025 after a period of 12 months transformation work on two previously derelict railway arches and is modelled to a degree on other city centre venues, Diecast and Ducie Street Warehouse. It is owned by the existing team behind the Mala hidden garden bar and Want Studios.

It encompasses three individual areas, the first being Platform 1 which is the daytime Canteen Club which utilises seven independent kitchens including a bakery, in-house coffee roastery, florist and wine shop. Platform 2 then contains an art, dance and music performance hall, mainly used in the evenings, and the Grand departures bar is a specialist martini bar with a taproom with 40 taps. The building overall has a 300 person capacity.

Manchester Tangerine. Image Credit themanc.com

It is believed the colour scheme is a nod to Salford FC who are reverting to their original orange and black kit from the upcoming 26/27 season. This was their kit colour until the Manchester United boys of 1992 took over the club in 2014 and in a slightly narcissist touch changed it to red.     

Now, as a Preston North End fan I reacted in an allergic way when I first heard the name of the bar as it is the kit colours of our arch enemies Blackpool FC! But in the interests of ‘new venue’ research I took that on the chin and made an appearance.

I attended prior to heading down to the SFTOC event and my initial observations pertained to its unexpected size and a blazing orange hue everywhere. I had to admit grudgingly that it was quite impressive from a cocktail bar style viewpoint. Whilst I was there an act called Jazzy John was performing in one of the rooms.     

Whilst undertaking a rare foray to the Christmas Markets in 2025 and when traversing between St Anns and Cathedral Square, I noticed there was a pop up stage just to the side of Manchester M&S on Market Street where I saw a full band under the moniker of Dad and Lad playing.

Liverpool Venues 31 to 32

On the days when I am navigating my way back to Lime Street train station after a visit to the Liverpool office, I quite often skelp down Mathew Street, where you enter into an alternate ‘Beatleland’ area with music assailing your ears at every point.

Towards the bottom of the road is Liverpool Grapes Inn which resides in a building that dates back to 1804. There is little documentation on the earlier hostelries that were in that very spot. Considering how busy the thoroughfare is today; it is remarkable to recall that in the early 1960’s it was only pub on the whole street, and in those days, it was surrounded by warehouses.

Grapes Inn. Image Credit creativetourist.com

It was a customary watering hole for the young Beatles after their regular Cavern gigs as the club at that point was unlicensed. There is a famous photo of them in the Inn circa 1962 with what looks like pints of Mild! It was for a short period the Famous Grapes and like many others, including the Dog and Partridge at Didsbury, was renamed the Beautiful South when the said band went on a month long promotional tour.

It has been through many refurbishments, but they have always endeavoured to retain the original features, some which continue to be discovered to this day. On the day I passed there was a tour party being entertained by Eddie and Edie on a makeshift stage in front of the pub, they were somewhat predictably singing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’.

I have just learnt that the song was given its debut in the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel and is in fact sung twice at separate occasions in the production. This being prior to the universally famous cover by Gerry and the Pacemakers in 1963, which then was further adopted by the Liverpool fans on the Spion Kop at Anfield.   

Beatles having a bevy. Image Credit Liverpool Echo.

Returning now to my Sound City Festival 2025 review and having quickly adopted a lessons learned from having accessibility issues to the Jacaranda we headed next door in good time for the next band in the Liverpool Shipping Forecast. It was previously a Flares branch pub and looks like it has been open since 2010 in its current format.

There is a welcoming wood panelled main ground floor bar and then there is the upstairs space (known as the Top Deck) which stages mainly DJ events with the likes of Calvin Harris and Mark Ronson having played there in the past. They have held periodic vinyl fairs, and their kitchen is linked to Ruby Jean’s diner, which churns out ‘Americana’ tucker (basically anything unhealthy).

The lavatories used to have a special touch in that the actual shipping forecast, first broadcast on Radio 4 in 1925, was piped into them, alongside relaxing sounds of waves and seagulls. However, the kit was subsequently stolen, and I shall respectfully refrain at this stage from any Scouse ‘hub cap’ references!    

Shipping Forecast. Image Credit creativetourist.com

Our destination was reached by heading down the steps into The Hold venue which has a capacity of 200 and it fits perfectly into the archetypal category of a sweaty cellar bar, in a good way!  The brickwork is exposed with a low wooden beam roof, which served to enhance the acoustics, however you do face the inevitable ‘pillar viewability’ challenge.

Despite the venue size they do admirably attract a decent level of band with Ghostpoet, Four Tet, Deary, Futureheads and Pulled Apart by Horses having graced the stage there. The main bar was not open that day, but thankfully they had some cold cans available at a pop-up table bar.

On stage was a young Liverpool singer/songwriter called Dylan Robert (no prizes for where his first name derived from!). He commenced his musical journey at the age of ten when he played guitar with his best mate Ben Harper. These two chaps have stuck together as Ben is now his producer. He also had a shared passion with football but a broken collarbone at the age of eleven resulted in him turning 100% down the musical path.

He had progressed up onto the main bill from a spot on the Sound City showcase roster in 2024. He has already released a slew of singles and I enjoyed his set, where he reminded me a little bit of another Liverpool act Shack.