Author: jimmyc1968

Preston Venue 39 – New Longton Cricket Club

Blog number 150 brings me to the sleepy outpost of New Longton, where Gill’s parents have always lived, it is situated about four miles south of Preston. The original formation of the village was sparked by the building of New Longton station on the West Lancashire railway line between Preston and Southport.

Beeching’s astonishingly short-sighted rail review in the 1960’s closed the local station with hundreds of others across the country, thereby negating the direct Preston to Southport link and from then on necessitating a change at either Burscough or Wigan to complete that journey. There was recent talk of building a new station at Midge Hall a couple of miles away on the current line, next to the Midge Hall pub, but sadly this has not yet come to fruition.    

In the late 1980’s in my pre-car days I used to travel over on the Z28 bus, which were especially infrequent on Sundays. I once caught the last bus when it was heading back to the depot on a Friday night before jumping off in town and walking the last leg back to my then current digs in Plungington. I spooked my mate Bicker when I was waiting at the bus stop as he was returning from a night around the Preston hostelries.

When I had no choice but to leave home at the tender age of twenty, I lived in a suite of unhygienic shared houses with a plethora of noisy co-residents, I think the ‘pad’ off New Hall Lane near the Acregate pub was my particular favourite. As a result, I quite often crashed at Uncle George’s flat in town and also on the lounge floor at the in-laws with the faithful pooch Patch keeping me company on the adjoining settee!

I was always well fed with extra portions and have been around that long that Gill’s youngest sister Charlotte and I share a joke that she cannot recall a pre-Jimmy time in her life. I have also been sitting next to Gill’s dad John on PNE matches for around three decades now!   

Around that time, I also used to undertake regular train journeys to Crewe where Gill was currently working, and we used to sally out for regular nights out in nearby Nantwich. I recall utilising my young person’s railcard reducing the fare from £9.60 to £6.35, I know that price is now about thirty years ago, but Avanti still please take note!

My good friend Paul Catterall was in a short-lived band called Debaser (and they did cover that song!) in the 90’s and they used to rehearse at a church hall in New Longton, canvassing local knowledge it was thought this was likely to be the Methodist church on Chapel Lane.   

Though the local corner shop used to serve fresh butter pies which is a massive plus in my book, there are sparse pickings nearby the New Longton lodgings. One of these is the Farmers Arms which resides on Wham Lane. It was for many years a Brewers Fayre establishment and we have had a few decent meals in there. The last time I ventured there was on a particularly soulless Millennium Eve with EastEnders booming on the TV prior to attending an equally soulless party where too much champagne was imbibed!      

Farmers Arms. Image Credit whatpub.com

A fifteen-minute jaunt the other way down Chapel Lane takes you to the New Longton Cricket Club. The club was established in 1921 and last year celebrated its centenary. The cricket club played local fixtures before officially joining the Chorley and District League in 1967. There are also pool, bingo and poker teams affiliated to the establishment.   

It is a homely venue that you can visit via invitation from a current member, with a large lounge split into linked rooms. I have visited several times, either on Christmas and Boxing Day, watching a match on the big screen or simply for a couple of cheeky beers! They regular have cask ales available and have subsidised prices, so much so that Gill’s dad is in shock when he purchases beers in other pubs, based on that I don’t think I will ever take him to Manchester Apollo! 

New Longton Cricket Club. Image Credit newlongtonssc.co.uk

Their big event every year is the President’s Day which takes place on the late August bank holiday, there are numerous food and tombola stalls in place, and it is always well attended. On 26/08/18 I attended the shindig, however the weather that day was somewhat apocalyptic, so the band decided to play indoors.

They took up a fair share of space because they were the Lostock Hall Memorial Brass Band. They had just qualified for the national brass band finals and the following month in Cheltenham they finished in a very respectable seventh place.   

Liverpool Venue 4 – L2

On the November 2001 Mogwai British tour there were rather unusually for them no Manchester dates scheduled, thus plans were hatched to watch them in Wolverhampton and the following week in Liverpool. So, on Friday 09/11/01 we boarded the Northern Ivor the Engine express to Liverpool Lime Street.

John Dewhurst and I deposited our overnights bags at our accommodation and proceeded to have a sally around a few Liverpool bars with Uncle George joining up with us later after he had finished his work shift. When meandering down Matthew Street I unexpectedly heard the hollering of my name, which always throws you when you are out of town. The source of the shouting was a mate from Preston called Pete Lester whose latest band Bridge were playing the famous Cavern that very evening.

We joined him for a bevy in the said venue, whilst perusing the tiny old stage where the young Beatles played, before checking out the back room where a more modern stage had now been erected.  In the final pub before the gig, we were subject to some barracking from a group of Everton fans regarding our status as Preston fans. In retrospect, this all seemed highly ironic when six months later they came to poach our young manager, David Moyes!

Liverpool Cavern. Image Credit thousandwonders.net

The venue that night was Liverpool L2, situated on Hotham Street.It latterly changed its name to Carling Academy and then O2 Academy. There are two halls with respective capacities of 1200 and 500 and I am not sure which one we attended, but more likely to be the smaller one at that point of Mogwai’s career. The venue had a decent pedigree as within the couple of years preceding my visit Mercury Rev, Moby, Flaming Lips, Travis and Muse supported by Coldplay graced the stage there.

My brother was also in attendance at the gig whilst visiting friends in Southport and was aiming to surprise me, but we ended up missed it each other!

I have given this some thought and stand by the assertion that this remains my favourite ever Mogwai performance. It wasn’t the noisiest I have seen them as that would be surpassed by Glasgow and Sheffield gigs, but it was the fact that the sound was so crystal even the quiet elements were loud. It was further assisted by an excellent relaxed venue and their choice of set list and as ever at that stage they finished with their twenty minute ‘hymn’, ‘My Father My King’.

Post-gig, we considered going to the cavernous Krazyhouse nightclub, but deferred on that option, subsequently visiting the club for my only appearance a couple of years later.  Our preferred alternate was to purloin some supper in China Town.

Liverpool Krazyhouse nightclub. Image Credit Liverpool Echo

When walking back to our hotel, a young chap pulled up in a car next to us. It became instantly obvious he was stoned up to the eyeballs and was babbling incoherently to us before driving off. We allowed him a very safe distance before we set off again!   

Our digs were the Campanile hotel on the docks, a somewhat dubious establishment, where we got very little sleep due to the noise levels of other residents. So, the morning dawned finding us hungover and dehydrated, a trio of bumbling nodders traversing back to the station.

On arrival, our dilapidated states were not helped by the fire alarm going off and an evangelist punter who approached us and coined phrases such as ‘you can’t be a winner if you are a sinner’. I had no energy to compose a cutting riposte and thankfully my withering look served to keep him at bay!    

When we landed back in Preston, we refuelled with a couple of pints and a homemade curry in the Welly pub on Glovers Court before heading home for some much-needed sleep.