Year: 2023

Preston Venues 57 to 59 – Garstang

Throughout the blog lifecycle I have had to create lines of definition in relation to regional areas and I have undertaken this via the utilisation of postcodes. Therefore, applying that principle, the town of Garstang falls under the jurisdiction of Preston postcode venues!

Garstang is a small market town that lies equidistant between Preston and Lancaster and was recorded in the Domesday book under the name Cherestanc. Situated on the Great Northwest Highway it was an integral staging post for coaches between London and Edinburgh in the 18th century and was also famous for its cattle and cheese fairs. In 2001 it had the distinction of becoming the World’s first Fairtrade Town.  Famous residents include Rugby World Cup winner Jason Robinson and 6 music DJ Mary Anne Hobbs.

Garstang town centre. Image Credit lancashirecaravanparks.co.uk

My first memories of Garstang were making a visit every May bank holiday to an Aunty who lived there, and this always coincided for when the fair was in town, and I recall we were well fed as there was always a reet good spread!

My first job after leaving college was at a car components shop on North Road in Preston called Partco. I was employed on the old YTS scheme and the weekly ‘pay’ in 1985 was from memory £27.20 for a 40-hour shift. This was 13 years before the national minimum wage was introduced so I was paid a princely £0.68 per hour!

In December of that year, I attended the Christmas works do on a Friday which was at the Vineyard restaurant and then onto Snootys nightclub. In the club I ran into Uncle George who was also on his works shindig, and we got to chatting about having a night out in Garstang the following evening.

Thus, after attending the PNE match on the Saturday afternoon, I headed out to the bus stop at Withytrees to catch the No 41 bus and we had a fine sally around the numerous hostelries in Garstang.

At the end of the evening the last bus coming through from Lancaster simply did not turn up. A discussion ensued and despite George having enough funds to pay for a cab we somewhat inexplicably decided to walk the 11 miles back in the pouring rain! Most of the route is via the busy A6 with a portion of road at that stage with no clear pavement, which in our merry state made it a tad perilous.

Picture of a No 41 bus in Garstang, one of which decided not to keep to the schedule! Image Credit dreamstime.com

We eventually arrived at Broughton traffic lights on the outskirts of Preston where a cab pulled up alongside and offered us a free journey home but being stubborn buffoons, we wanted to finish what we had started, so politely declined. I landed home about 3am and slept like Marty McFly in Back to the Future! I was awoken by my brother to attend the gym on the Sunday morning but understandably had an ineffective session, before going to the Exchange pub for a lunchtime ‘hair of the dog’, and then back to work on the Monday for a rest!      

Garstang town centre has a large Booths supermarket which embraces local produce and has plentiful stocks of the Preston staple of Butter Pies and also has bottles of the high-quality Lancaster brewery beer. They also until recently had a large branch of M and Co where I had obtained many bargains.

Located adjacent to the River Wyre you will find the Garstang Th’Owd Tithebarn. It dates to 1710 and its original purpose was a post-medieval grain storage tithebarn, hence the name. In April 2018 we visited some friends in the town and had a meander into the centre and grabbed a seat overlooking the marina. It so happened this coincided (honestly unplanned) with an outdoor performance by The Lune Valley Jazz band.   

Th’Owd Tithebarn pub. Image Credit tithebarn.pub

We then progressed onto the High Street and another old boozer called Garstang Kings Arms and there was a blues band called Whistle Test playing in the corner. Finally on the music front we visited Garstang Wheatsheaf. The pub first opened its doors in 1717 originally named the Wheat Cake before morphing into the Dog Inn in 1820. On the night we visited a band called The Section were playing who were a rhythm and blues combo hailing from down the road in Lancaster.   

Lancaster Venues 11 to 13

When attending a gig at Lancaster Library earlier this year we made our first visit to the new Tite and Locke bar on the station platform and noted a poster outlining the upcoming 13th edition of the Lancaster Music festival which piqued our interest. Thus, it came to pass on 14/10/23 that a group of seven made our debut appearance at the event.

It is an excellent well attended free festival taking place over three days over the weekend (Friday through to Sunday). It is a very wide ranging encompassing over 50 venues across the city including events within schools, musuems, theatres, cinemas, busking stops and also in a novel addition, even gigs taking place on a floating mobile stage on a barge on Lancaster Canal! The local legends Lovely Eggs headlined the festival on the Sunday night.

After an initial meeting and whistle wetting in the Tite and Locke at 1pm, we left the station and headed down to the nearby historic Lancaster Castle which I had not visited for a very long time. There was a decent crowd already gathered at this early hour and there were a suite of merchandise and food and drink stalls scattered around and there were festival programmes on sale.

Lancaster Castle. Image Credit melodromestage.co.uk

They had also set up a small outdoor stage within the castle grounds embossed in medieval ‘Game of Thrones’ style and named it the Melodrome Stage and a band called 2nd Leg were performing. They were a vibrant seven-piece combo complete with fiddles, harps and mandolins performing Irish and Scottish jigs and they had evolved from the Irish dance group Absolutely Legless. 

Nearby and standing as a gateway to Castle Hill is the Lancaster Storey Gardens Craic Inn where a stage had been set up in the gardens adjoining the building. The Grade II listed Storey building was constructed in 1887 and funded by local philanthropist Thomas Storey. It was built to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee and was designed as a creative hub and covers diverse events such as business conferences, films, music and theatrical recitals.

Lancaster Storey building. Image Credit Visit Lancashire

On the outdoor stage we saw the Dundee folk singer Rhuari Campbell play. After playing in many other bands for a few years he was now heading out as a solo artist. There were also bands playing in the grand indoor building setting, but we unfortunately landed between the scheduled sets, so it didn’t allow me to tick this off as visited venue, at least not yet!  

A further short walk away and you arrived at China Street and the established rock venue in town The Pub. The establishment has been around for many years, and I recall visiting as far back as the late 1990’s but had never yet encountered a live act there. On the day they were rotating bands across two stages with Space set up as the headliners.

We landed at Lancaster The Pub Outdoor Stage set up in the beer garden and we shuffled out to there after purchasing an aperitif from the indoor bar. It was extremely busy and reputedly the most well attended venue on the day. On stage were a noisy rock band from Manchester called Luna Market and these kids could play. They were covering 1970’s standards and had a powerful female lead singer and an excellent guitarist, though I think he had played one too many games of ‘Guitar Legend’.

The Pub. Image Credit flickr.com

Whilst I stood there, I had a moment of clarity as I was thinking what more can there be in the world than watching a commendable rock band in an outside space at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon with a cold beer in hand and in attendance with good friends and like-minded punters, sounds like my kind of heaven!