Year: 2023

Other British Gigs 5 – Ayr

I always readily jump at every opportunity available to head North of the border and one of my favourite places to visit is the town of Ayr. The town is situated on the southwest coast of Scotland and lies just south of Prestwick Airport.

The main musical claim to fame of the airport occurred on the date of 3rd March 1960 when a certain Sergeant Elvis Presley had a stopover as he was just finishing up his national service. Upon alighting from the plane, he reputedly asked ‘Where Am I?’. Due to the astonishingly unhealthy control his ‘manager’ Colonel Tom Parker held over him this was rather mournfully the only two hours he ever spent on British land!

Elvis has left the plane! Image Credit pinterest.com

Ayr is a popular tourist destination due to its railway links and the fact that it has a fabulous beach slap bang in the centre of town. Robert Burns was born nearby and there is also a considerable musical heritage with Stuart Murdoch (Belle and Sebastian), Simon Neil (Biffy Clyro) and Mike Scott (Waterboys) having been born there.  It was also obscurely recognised as the second healthiest town centre in the UK in 2014 by the Royal Society of Public Health.

I missed an opportunity to visit in the late 90’s when John and Tony Dewhurst and Uncle George had a very merry night in the many hostelries before the following day heading to catch the ferry at Wemyss Bay over to the Isle of Bute.

The reason for them visiting this unusual location was to witness a famous Mogwai gig in Rothesay on the island. I was always then under the impression that the band headed back on a chartered boat with fans to the Port of Glasgow whilst undertaking a DJ set, but Stuart Braithwaite corrects me on that take of events in his recent autobiography where they actually stayed on Bute that evening and had their own private party.    

A random fact for you now, Rothesay Castle is one of a very small list of castles in Scotland that still has a remaining moat. The source of this information was from a line in an Iain Banks book Raw Spirit, purchased in a charity shop in Settle, that I am currently reading where he went in search of the perfect Whiskey dram. Iain remains my favourite ever author and his early untimely death in 2013 still stings alongside the corresponding loss of the delightful anticipation of waiting for his latest novel to be released.

Gill and I have visited Ayr a couple of times to attend the Gold Cup and the Scottish Grand National meetings at the nearby racecourse where they have been held since 1965. On the second occasion I recall it being absolute carnage on the packed shuttle bus back into town, but in a Scottish high jink’s fun kind of way!

On our initial visit in 2011 we stayed the night before the races due to the long commute journey involved getting there. There were some fantastic restaurants located in the town including a superb ‘cheap as chips’ Chinese place next to the Wetherspoons and Gill still contends she sampled the best ever Lasagne in one of the Italian restaurants.   

On the Wednesday night, I was corresponding with my pal Tony Dewhurst who was down in Somerset to potentially witness Lancashire Cricket Club win their first County Championship title for 77 years, but it was looking very unlikely at that stage. On the Thursday morning, we took a life-affirming walk along the beach trying to pick some winners for the day and the sunshine was thankfully cracking the flags.

Ayr ‘Riviera’ Beach at night. Image Credit Pinterest.

After the meeting had finished, we headed into the Ayr Racecourse Horseshoe Bar to allow the crowds to clear before heading back into town.  As we were chatting to another couple a local band called Sistrum booted up and played a set in the corner of the room.

In the taxi back into Ayr I got a text from Tony informing me that Lancashire had just sealed the title, so a glass was thus raised to their historic achievement in an Irish bar near to the station, prior to having a superb curry to finish the trip in style.  

Preston Venues 45 to 46 – Withytrees

The Preston Withytrees Pub in Fulwood first appeared on the Withy Farmland around 1849 and was a thriving establishment when I first encountered it in the 1980’s, so much so it used to have its own taxi rank outside in those days for punters heading into town. I remember visiting in the late 1980’s prior to watching the Superbowl on a Sunday night and the place was packed to the rafters!

It was owned by the local Matthew Brown brewery, and it had two distinct rooms and I recall being in the vault area in 1985 watching the culmination of Live Aid before walking home to watch Neil Young appear on the Philadelphia leg of the shindig. They subsequently refurbished the pub into a large single open space room.  

It was within fifteen minutes walking distance of Preston North End via Moor Park, and I have watched a few World Cup matches and other sporting events there. PNE players used to periodically frequent and David Beckham whilst on a loan spell at the club was spotted there. The local boxer Tyson Fury when during one of his darker periods was also spied boozing in there one drizzly Tuesday afternoon.

Withytrees Pub in 1979 with Matthew Brown brewery signage with the edge of the taxi rank in bottom left. Image Credit Flickr.

Our last property in Preston before moving out to Manchester was in the Fulwood area and situated about 200 yards from the pub, and we lived there between 2006 to 2017. On our first night in the house, we visited the hostelry, and the place was thriving but about three years later the landlord and his staff departed, and the pub began its slow decline until it’s very sad final closure in 2019 and the last I heard is that the site is planned to be converted into a Muslim Girl’s school.

There was a chap who lived on the next street who we labelled ‘Mr 5 o clock’ as that was his daily arrival time for a pint or ten, he must surely have mourned its subsequent closure! On the night of the legal landmark of opening hours first being extended beyond 11pm we made a visit to raise a glass to that small piece of history.

Two streets away was the locally famous Hardcastle Road Chinese takeaway which I visited regularly; it is unusually situated between houses on a residential street but remains open to this day. On the other side of Garstang Road (A6) Checcos Italian restaurant opened its doors in 2009 and Gill and I had some fine meals there over the years. The restaurant and pub became advocates of each other until the restaurant suddenly closed its doors in 2017 without any warning.  

Very occasionally the pub used to have live bands and I saw a local acoustic singer called Daisy play there in 2011 and another local band with the quirky name of Hybrid Flower Monkeys perform there five years later.  

Withytrees Interior. Image Credit tripadvisor.co.uk

To the rear of the pub was the biggest beer garden in Preston which had been built on the bowling green that was originally located there. The only local beer garden I can think of to compare size wise would be the Red Lion at Withington. We spent many a sunny summers afternoon perched on the numerous benches located out in the garden.

In September 2016 they decided to utilise the Preston Withytrees Beer Garden space and hold what I am sure was the only ever occurrence of the Withyfest. It was an all-day charity event, and they were thankfully blessed with wall-to-wall sunshine. I could only attend a small portion of the festival, and I witnessed a band called Kathy and the Hornbeats play who featured my old school chum Mick Duffy as one of the guitarists.