Stockport Venue 18 – Cheadle Village

Cheadle is a small suburban village contained within the borough of Stockport which has a 15k population and is a gentle 30-minute walk from our current residence. It is the home of the large sportswear company Umbro, who were founded originally in 1924 and used to supply the British Olympic kits for a couple of decades and also the kits for my football team Preston North End in the 1930’s and 1940’s.

Famous Cheadle residents contain the sci-fi writer Christopher Priest, actress Diane Darvey who used to appear on the Benny Hill Show, novelist Nigel Williams who provided the screenplay for the Emmy award winning Elizabeth I TV dramatisation in 2005 starring Helen Mirren and the current England international footballer Kobbie Mainoo.

Diane Darvey. Image Credit www.imdb.com

From 1866 onwards Cheadle contained two separate train stations, the last one closing in 1964 but you can still see the original line which runs past the Cheshire Line Tavern pub. The former one was located in the centre of the village and shut in 1917, but there is now formal approval to build a new station on the existing Altrincham to Stockport line. The development has dragged its feet for years, but it is now believed work on it could commence imminently.   

Our walking route takes us from the Parrs Wood cinema complex before crossing the River Mersey and passing the aforementioned Cheshire Line Tavern hostelry. You then walk past Victorian Abney Hall which was the location of Cheadle Town Hall for a period, and which contains bonny parkland grounds to potter around.  Opposite there is the Alexandra Hospital, which is the largest private hospital in the UK outside of London.

After you mulch past the Ashlea pub you reach the traffic lights at the main Cheadle High Street. If you take the road to the left, you reach the Wobbly Stamp which opened in Covid by taking over an old post office and they occasionally stage live music, with Tom Hingley of the Inspiral Carpets having played a couple of acoustic shows there.

It is a lovely little bar and stocks some strong ales resulting in us seeing some ‘wobbly’ punters on our maiden visit! Prior to there is the Red Lion which is run by a member of the Emmerdale cast and in my humble opinion they serve the best Sunday roast in the district.

Wobbly Stamp. Image Credit www.facebook.com

Back at the lights you will find the Royal Oak which was a rundown establishment when we first visited but following an extensive refurbishment by the local Robinson brewery it is vastly improved now. Next to there is a locally run carpet shop which we have frequented and bought their wares. There also used to be a Nationwide building society branch which I once had to make an emergency dash to for some outstanding paperwork when buying our current pad.  

As you enter the busy high street there are a suite of charity shops and many food outlets and I can recall us having some fine tucker at Aamchi Mumbai, Bellini’s and Istanbul Grill restaurants, the latter is one of a number of kebab joints in the area. The George and Dragon and White Hart pubs are a tad too brassy for my tastes, but the James Watts and Crown Inn are very fine destinations and have been visited on a regular basis. 

I also recently visited one of their charity shops following a clear out of my CD collection so there was a swathe of obscure but high quality indie albums for sale for a while which replaced the usual pot pourri of Julio Inglesias and Celine Dion CD’s.  

Further down the road is the Grade 1 listed St Mary’s Church which has been in that spot since the 12th century. On one particular bank holiday Sunday a couple of years ago we were having a sally around the village and reached the church grounds and discovered much to my chagrin that there had been an outside gig taking place for which I had just landed a little too late to hear the musical notes!

Caffe Grande Luna. Image Credit facebook.com

There is also a plethora of independent cafes in the village, with one of these being the Stockport Cheadle Caffe Grand Luna. It is a homely, licensed café bar and we have visited just the once and whilst in residence and imbibing a cold beverage we saw a singer/songwriter called Shirley.     

Manchester Venues 226 to 227 – Aviva Studios

In an earlier blog (Manchester Venue 113) I referenced the Aviva Studios and how it was directly affiliated with the Manchester International Festival square which was located alongside the building. Thus, I will not repeat myself here, but it is worth noting that after a scratchy start including seating number confusion, the Studios have now gone from strength to strength with many more gigs now taking place there.  

The surrounding area has also developed with the introduction of restaurants like Felix and Caravan and bars including Courts Club, Trading Route and The Stables. Also in that vicinity is an indoor golf centre called Pitch, Crystal Maze and Chaos Karts. There is an outdoor bar area designed for summer days with big screens recently showing Wimbledon and the football World Cup.

When I was chatting to Barry Jury one time he referenced that one of his scheduled upcoming gigs was at Manchester Aviva Studios Auditorium, so I tagged along to make my debut at the 1600 seating capacity venue. Thus, on a summers evening in June 2024 we met initially for a parlay and a couple of scoops in the large Dukes 92 beer garden, where his pal Lavin also joined us. As I had only booked a ticket at a later stage than the chaps, they were in the small standing area while I was located up in the gods.

Aviva Studios Auditorium. Image Credit factoryinternational.org

My first impression of the venue was that it reminded me of the huge Odeon cinema I used to visit when I was a young sprog. I reminisced about the Saturday morning showings I attended, including watching the original Raiders of the Lost Ark and later I was also there for a double bill of Chariots of Fire and Gregory’s Girl.

There used to be highly amateurish advertising with Pearl and Dean, a company involved in the cinema business since 1953 and their distinctive theme tune which is called ‘Asteroid’. I recall a crackly staccato encouragement to visit the local curry house after the screening! There were also intermissions mid-film where a hostess would sell you ice cream or cornetto’s.

The adjoining Odeon 2 was much smaller like the ciniplex auditoriums you see nowadays and if you needed a comfort break you would have scamper past in front of the screen! Also in that complex was the Clouds nightclub where I attended early gigs by Jesus and Mary Chain and Stone Roses. Sadly, the old cinema burned down in May 2022 and there is now talk of a car park to be built in its space.  

When the blockbusters were released, Star Wars and ET spring to mind, there were regularly ginormous queues around the corner, and we were turned away a couple of times. Our parents then decided to utilise the smaller but more accessible cinema in Longridge with their settees at the back.

Back at Aviva, I grabbed a cold beverage at the ground floor bar and as I entered the door at my level, the lights went down and as a result I stumbled in the darkness on one of the steps but did not spill a drop of my beer! I heard a punter say that bloke nearly fell over, and I muttered under my breath ‘yes, I am the entertainment’. I found my very comfy seat with a cracking view of the stage.

Bat for Lashes. Image Credit snackmag.co.uk

The artist was Bat for Lashes (Natasha Khan) who is a singer/songwriter and has released six albums in total. Her family has the sport of squash in their DNA as her father, grandfather and uncle were professional players. The latter referenced Jahangir Khan is widely regarded as the finest player ever and between 1981 and 1986 he won 555 consecutive matches, a run which is recognised by Guiness World Records as the longest winning streak by any athlete in top-level professional sport. A young Natasha attended many matches and has cited the experience and the roars of the crowd as a creative influence.   

She was a self-taught piano player by the age of eleven and her debut album ‘Fur and Gold’ in 2006 turned into a golden one and was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize resulting subsequently in support slots for Radiohead. She has also dabbled as a fashion designer. She had a terrific voice but was perhaps a bit too chilled for my tastes. I met back up with the chaps for a post gig debrief in the Deansgate pub before heading home.

In the summer of 2025, my pal Lottie invited Gill and I to join her at a gig she was already attending at the other venue in the complex, Manchester Aviva Warehouse, so two tickets were duly purchased.The Warehouse has a 5000-standing capacity within a 21m high space and can be divided if required by a movable full height acoustic wall. 

Last Dinner Party. Image Credit cultura.id

I had considered a Fontaines DC gig there previously, but my slow ruminations resulted in me missing out on a ticket. By the night of the gig, Lottie and Gill could not attend so it was a solo trip, and I decided to drive which is an astoundingly rare occurrence for myself. The car parks in the city centre were highly expensive, and I found one eventually on Bridge Street.

The venue reminded of a slightly larger G-Mex space and the band performing was the Last Dinner Party who are an all-female five piece. They had managed to purloin a Hyde Park Rolling Stones support slot early in their career and on this tour were promoting their second album ‘From the Pyre’. They had a commendable socially conscious ethos, and they were also good fun live.