Author: jimmyc1968

Lancaster Venue 2 – The Sugarhouse

Following our relocation from Preston to Manchester the place I miss visiting the most locally is Lancaster. It lies 20 miles north of Preston and it has a refreshing olde world feel to it with the obligatory castle on the hill.

The train station sits squarely on the West Coast main line so a Virgin, or now an Avanti express can complete that journey in under 15 minutes. Even if the last train was cancelled and morphed into a bus, we regularly managed to sweet talk the coach driver into dropping us off prior to Preston town centre as the route took us within 200 yards of our house at Withytrees.

We lived nearby the commencement of the Lancaster canal so a group of us in 2005 once cycled all the way through to Lancaster and due to the winding route of the waterway the trip was extended by an additional 10 miles.  

Once we arrived, we ensconced ourselves in the Merchants pub near the station and were instantly distracted by the first 50 over cricket match of the legendary Ashes summer which was on TV, so we muttered the immortal words ‘should we just watch the end of this….’. Three hours later two hazy looking cyclists were weaving their way home through the quietest possible Preston back streets! 

That epic cycle ride was on the same day as the Live 8 concert so with a large TV dinner I immersed myself into the concert though what I caught was poor fare and the standout act for me was the old troopers Roxy Music.

There is a plethora of fine hostelries In Lancaster including some on the canal and also a couple facing the River Lune. Another one of note is the Sun Inn which is the home of the Lancaster Brewery where they serve a scope of beers, namely Blonde, Red, Amber, Black and IPA, always a tricky choice! There is also a terrific gastro food pub called the Borough on Dalton Square and a small Chinese restaurant called Fortune Star near there where we have finished a few evenings before booking a taxi home.

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The Borough pub on Dalton Square. Image Credit dineclub.co.uk

Lancaster is the home of the legendary Lovely Eggs and they are fiercely proud of their town and play home gigs as and when they can. They have recorded a lot of their material at Lancaster Music Co-Op and have been recently fighting against its potential closure.

There is now a reasonably established festival called the Highest Point festival held in in May each year on the 54-acre Williamson Park on the far side of town, though I have not visited yet. They attract a reasonable line up with Richard Ashcroft announced already as a headliner for the 2022 version.

Now the more observant of you will recall my first ever gig being Slade at Lancaster University in 1983, so what was my second Lancaster venue I hear you ask, well that would be 20 years later in the Sugarhouse. The venue is situated on the site of the original sugar house in Lancaster founded in 1861, on Sugarhouse Alley near the Borough pub. The name is currently subject to review as it has a clear connotation with the slave trade.

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Lancaster Sugarhouse. Image Credit Flickr.

The building was originally leased to Lancaster University Students union by Mitchells Brewery in 1982 and has been a nightclub for nigh on 40 years where they have regular club nights and sporadic gigs. I recall the gig was a challenge to organise due to ticket issues and people pulling out and it is also clashed with a potential Snow Patrol gig at Preston Mill.

The band we saw was the Thrills from Dublin. I had picked up on them via their platinum debut album “So Much for the City” and their atmospheric single “One Horse Town”. The album had a sunny Sixties Californian vibe, obviously influenced by the bands 4-month sabbatical to San Diego just prior to the recording.

They had some good moments with three of four standout tracks, but the sound was a tad low, admittedly a common grouse of mine! My overriding memory was of their exceptionally tall guitarist who seemed to have a predilection for a very low set microphone resulting in regular crouching when providing backing vocals.   

Manchester Venues 48 and 49 – Yes

In the early days of my Manchester gig going career in the mid to late 1980’s there used to be a requirement for a designated driver on the trips because of the sheer inadequacy of the train timetable. The most visited venue at that stage was my favourite ever Manchester venue International 1.

The route used to take us from the M62 through Prestwich visiting a choice of Holts’s houses the White Horse and the Friendship Inn at the traffic lights, then a couple of Boddingtons pubs The Grove and the Brewers Arms underneath the Boddington’s brewery and adjacent to Strangeways Prison. Once we had traversed through the city and China Town, we could stop for a final drink at either The Garratt on Princess Street or the nearby Lass O Gowrie on Charles Street.

The Lass O Gowrie is a grand old pub in the traditions of other city pubs Peveril and the Peak and Britons Protection. The walls are decked with period pictures of Manchester and it is a real ale haven and they used to serve their own beer called Log 36 and Log 42. There is a decking area at the rear of the pub overlooking the River Medlock originally opened by comedian Johnny Vegas.

For a short period in the 90’s I used to watch Coronation Street and on one anonymous Tuesday night pre-gig we wander in to see the whole cast in the pub. The chap who played Jim McDonald who used to lean on the Rovers Return bar was in the exact same pose thereby encapsulating life imitating art! On that theme I know there have been bands who reference film characters and events. I recall a Japanese death metal band called Keyser Soze named after Kevin Spacey’s enigmatic character from Usual Suspects and another act called 1.21 Gigiwatts from Back to the Future!

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Jim McDonald leaning on the Rovers Return bar. Image Credit The Mirror

In the Corry script they would often say they were going to the new restaurant on the precinct, so in this regard the new venue on the precinct would be on the next corner from the pub! In September 2018 a former auctioneers house and printers press was converted into a four-storey music venue called Yes. Commendable local promoters Now wave were the instigators in this venture.

It houses two gig venues, serves tidy looking pizza in the ground floor bar, and has a roof terrace containing a NASA approved sound system which can be spied from the train running between Oxford Road and Piccadilly stations 

I first visited the 1st floor venue Yes Pink Room on 31/01/19 where the décor matches the name. It has a capacity of 250 and it has a cosy feel to it. The band in question were Swearin who are a lo-fi Philadelphia four piece. They had first crossed my threshold when I picked up their terrific sophomore album Surfing Strange released in 2013, which comes recommended.

The band is led by alternate lead vocals from Kyle Gilbride and Alison Crutchfield, the later also has a solo venture called Waxahatchee, who somewhat confusingly sometimes support Swearin on tour. I thoroughly enjoyed their live performance. My other visit there was to see Art Brut who were not in the same class and were very disappointing fare. 

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Manchester Yes Venue. Image Credit getintothis.co.uk

On the night we saw Swearin they finished quite early, so we headed downstairs to the Yes Basement and managed to negotiate a half price entrance fee to catch the end of soul singer Otto Hardman’s set. It is a decent venue in its own right, more in the lounge core mould and has a smaller capacity of 60.