Located close by our present abode in South Manchester is the large Burnage Tesco store, where I have frequented numerous times to purchase my frozen peas. Near the entrance, they periodically have had an admittedly ramshackle but ultimately worthy Cancer Research band playing, who I have witnessed four times.
As you traverse out of the shop to the traffic lights at Burnage, a right turn into Burnage Lane and a further right takes you into Cranwell Drive. This street contains the childhood home of the Oasis Gallagher brothers. This is almost opposite the Royal Tandoori Indian where they serve the best onion bhajis in the city! Other notable Burnage residents are actors David Threlfall, Max Beesley and John Thaw.
Heading across Kingsway (A34) brings you to Burnage train station which sits on the Manchester Piccadilly/Manchester Airport/Crewe line and when Northern trains are reliable it is a 10-minute journey to the city centre.
Kingsway was initially built in 1928 and initially contained a tram line in the centre of the dual carriageway. It is an extremely busy road but one of the enduring pandemic images for me is that from March to June 2020 it was virtually deserted, almost resembling a Walking Dead set, minus the zombies!
On 28/04/1910 the nearby Barcicroft fields were witness to the completion of the first ever powered flight in a biplane from London to Manchester. It won the French pilot Louis Palihan a £10,000 prize from the Daily Mail. Two special trains were chartered to Burnage station for spectators and many others waited through the night to witness history.
After the station, there is a row of shops and takeaways including Sifters Record shop where the Gallagher boys bought their first vinyl and the owner who is spookily called Mr Sifter is referenced in the lyrics to ‘Shakermaker’, the second track off their debut album. The shop was also referenced in Liam’s Pretty Green fashion label campaign and is a regular stop on the Manchester Music Tour bus.
A random Gallagher grouse of mine is their perceived lifetime dotage to Manchester City. I don’t doubt their fanaticism however they famously left before the end of the play-off game v Gillingham in 1999, assuming they would lose before their miraculous recovery to win the match. Now, as a PNE fan who arguably have suffered more than any other club in the play offs, all I would say is despite those continual defeats, I have always been there at the end to applaud my team off the pitch!
On the other side of Fog Lane, you will find the rather fabulous Reasons to be Cheerful beer café and real ale bar. The bar opened in January 2017 and is named after the Ian Dury track and is the self-styled best bar in the Kingdom of Burnage and who am I to dispute that worthy claim! I am so relieved it has survived the pandemic, it is a cosy, friendly venue and highly recommended and we visit when we can.
A left turn then leads you to the Parrs Wood pub and behind there on School Lane resides St Catherine’s Club attached to St Catherine’s Church and School. They previously sporadically had music events such as Clint Boon DJ sets, but they now have an excellent comedy night once a month.
It is also the site for the annual Didsbury Beer Festival which is a superb event and utilises most of the school area. Like many events they have been pandemic affected and they had to undertake a takeaway event in 2020 and a reduced capacity event in 2021. I am now a proud owner of one of their Beer Festival glasses. I attended the full event in 2018 and within there I saw the James O’Hara Blues band from Leeds.