Preston Venues 63 to 65

I am returning this week to the town of Chorley, which was one of the key lynchpin locations during the Second World War as its sister village Euxton was the home to the Royal Ordnance Factory which provided vast numbers of munitions which greatly assisted the war effort. When I used to sporadically play golf very poorly, we made a few visits to nearby Duxbury Park.  I recall on the 10th hole they had a lake in situ on a very steeply inclining fairway that I could never clear and lost a plethora of golf balls in that pesky water hazard.   

This is now the continuing tale of the evening of my debut attendance at the ‘Deadwood Dog’ Foxtails bar. Prior to attending there we made a visit to the nearby Chorley Last Orders at the Lamplighter on Market Street, which adopted that name in 2015.

Lamplighters. Image Credit proper-pubs.com

The town is intrinsically linked to the market, and this goes all the way back to them initially receiving an official market charter from King Henry VII in 1498. This authorised for a weekly market to be instigated which has continued for over six centuries and takes place every Tuesday. The street like many other provinces contained a Woolworths, this time in an art deco building prior to its untimely demise in the 1990’s.     

The Lamplighter is one of the oldest remaining hostelries in the town and dates back to around 1793. The current name pertains to the role of lighting streetlamps in the evenings which was phased out in the 1930’s when they began to be automatically controlled, before electricity was introduced in the 1950’s.  

Its original moniker was the Joiner’s Arms, and this was exemplified by the initial landlord Thomas Green who was listed as a joiner and cabinet maker alongside his innkeeper status. As in keeping with the many pubs of that era, they were listed as one of the lodges of the Freemasons and many such ‘dubious handshake’ meetings took place there. It was in later years called Dicey Riley’s and then The Entertainer.  

It was a renowned local music pub in the 1960’s with singers Julie Jones, The Golden Girl and Ozzy Williams performing there. Ozzy was reportedly very well respected to the stage that at his funeral in 1970 he apparently stopped the traffic on Market Street. It is a traditional large room establishment, and they stage music at the weekends and on our foray, we saw a singer called Desmond playing.

Market Street back in the day. Image Credit wwwpinterest.com

Post-gig we also had a quick visit into Chorley White Bull’s Head which is a large double-fronted terrace pub.This is another one from bygones times and records indicate that it is the oldest public house in the town residing in its original building and still bearing its primary name. It was in its early days a meeting point for traders after their day at the nearby market.

Apparently, members of Boyzone and Westlife were spotted in there after their surprising purchase of the local football team in 2023. Thankfully, there are no reports of them performing any tunes whilst there! When I attended, there was a local performer called Tommy playing on a stage in the corner.   

A couple of years earlier on a previous skelp over we darkened the door of Chorley Nelipott Bar on Chapel Street nearer to the railway station. It has an affiliation back to the ‘dark satanic mills’ by being housed in what was previously a weaver’s cottage.

White Bull. Image Credit beerintheevening.com

It opened originally in 2016 as Speakeasy Bar, one of the first small micro bars to appear but since then many have followed suit, and I think Chorley is up to double figures now in this regard. It briefly changed to Warp & Welt, another reference to earlier times, then in June 2019 to its current name. It is independently run and has two lounge rooms downstairs and stairs that take you up to a function room. It also has a small outdoor space at the rear for the ‘days of summer’ and on my particular visit I saw a singer called Eamonn.

Manchester Venue 205 – Lost Cat

In comparison to previous years, due in part to a short period of ill health, I made a sluggish start to my gig going adventures in 2025. Thus, experiencing some admittedly self-imposed gig scoreboard pressure, (but that is my own personal cross to bear!), I made strides to rectify this anomaly.

So, on a cold Thursday night on January 29th, I sourced a gig in the Northern Quarter area of the city at Manchester Lost Cat on Oldham Street. In 2020, the Lost Cat moved into the space which was previously held by the Eat New York bagel company and sits a couple of doors away from the Castle Hotel. It is under the same ownership as Crazy Pedro’s and is not to be confused with the nearby Mean Eyed Cat bar, perhaps this area should be renamed the Feline Quarter!

Lost Cat. Image Credit manchestersfinest.com

The venue closes at 3am every day and is in essence a cocktail bar in the ground floor area where they provide the obligatory bottomless brunches at weekends. You then head up some steps to the venue space which has a 120 capacity with a bar as you enter and a small stage at the bottom end of the room. They have recently rebadged this upstairs area as a DJ space and renamed it under the banner of FOUND club nights. They also have a rooftop terrace and cinema.  

In late 2024 and into 2025 they linked up with the local Beavertown brewery and Scruff of the Neck promotions to stage a monthly sonic showcase session with upcoming bands on the roster. I picked up one of these events and obtained my free ticket and arrived there reasonably early as the ticket did not absolutely guarantee entry as it was a first come, first served principle. 

Thus, my hand was summarily stamped and a bonus token provided to purchase a Beavertown beer, which I obviously took immediate advantage of. On stage was a singer/songwriter Issy Sutcliffe and she provided an enjoyable fiery fuzzy set. She is now based in Manchester but was brought up in a small Lancashire town called Ribchester.

Issy Sutcliffe. Image Credit live-manchester.co.uk

If you may allow me to deviate to the named latter town where there are three hostelries contained within it, and I have had some fine tucker at the gastropub Ribchester Arms. It is an ancient area and in 1796 they discovered a roman artefact which was in exemplary condition due to the sand protection. This became known as the Ribchester Helmet which now resides in the British Museum.   

More interestingly on a musical angle it contained back in the day an utterly renowned punk venue called the Lodestar Nightclub, which I never visited because I was far too young! I am always entranced by the fact that in those days there appeared to be famous venues that were in such obscure locations where the only option was to drive.

It was open from the 1950’s to the 1990’s and run throughout that period by Margo Grimshaw who was so ingrained in the establishment that she bought the actual building in 1992. It then morphed into the DeTabley restaurant and bar before closing in 2007 and then sadly but predictably turned into housing, though they did endeavour to retain the original features where they could.  

Her son Andy was the promoter and alongside the music, he held comedy nights with Phil Cool, Ken Dodd, Jim Bowen and even actor Peter Adamson (who played Len Fairclough in Coronation Street) on the bill.

On the 18th of September 1976 the Sex Pistols famously performed there prior to any record deal and played two subsequent gigs. In that period there were also shows from Adverts, 999, Rezillos, Sham 69, Lurkers, Slaughter and the Dogs and John Cooper Clarke.

Lodestar Nightclub flyer. Image Credit Analysis.

In May 1977 Boomtown Rats allegedly played their first ever UK gig where the indomitable landlady wasn’t overly impressed with them and demanded her money’s worth by making them play two sets. The 7-piece band were then paid a princely £40 in total as a result and there was apparently around twelve people in attendance, including Paula Yates.

They stayed like many others at the Clitheroe Vic hotel where Mr Geldof later referred to the night and rather ungenerously but somewhat typically called the town a ‘s#£$#*&e’, such a charmer! They returned the following year with ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’ flying high in the charts and generated a significantly larger crowd.    

It had the proper punk ethos, warts and all which is exemplified in the tale of when the London band the Motors played. The story goes that the crowd en masse purchased bags of crisps, urinated in them and then slung them at the band, delightful behaviour! Uncle George attended there a few times but has no recollection of who he saw.

In 2017, rather obscurely a message was displayed on the big screen at a Blackburn Rovers match announcing that Andy Grimshaw was looking to undertake an information gather on the Lodestar and was canvassing for opinions. This subsequently evolved into the Lodestar Project released in 2024 which contained illustrations, poetry, flyers and recollections from the venue’s heyday.