Category: Lytham

Manchester Venues 126 to 128

I am returning this week to the annual Sounds from the Other City (SFTOC) multi venue festival held in Salford. I first attended the event in 2012 and have one outstanding gig to cover from that year. The selected roster of venues shifts each time and at this particular one stretched all the way down the A6 in the direction of Victoria station.  

Manchester Rovers Return is a big old-fashioned boozer with some original features dating back to the 1840’s and sits on the corner of Chapel Street and Barlow’s Croft, its previous moniker was the Lord Nelson. Geographically it is located nearby to the fictional Rovers Return on Coronation Street! I walked past very recently, and the hostelry is currently closed, and its future looks uncertain. On the day of the festival, we saw a short-lived Manchester band called Waterworld performing.

Rovers Return. Image Credit Pinterest.

A further dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s exercise on the 2018 shindig brings us to the Manchester Five Four Studios Attic. I have talked in a previous blog about this venue so will not belabour that here apart from to say we were positioned in the sunlit small attic room right at the apex of the establishment.

The lass on stage was called Anni Rossi who is from Minnesota and plays an electric viola that was intriguingly hand crafted by Thor Harris who is the former percussionist of the noiseniks Swans.  Her debut album was recorded with the recently departed Steve Albini and she has toured with amongst others Camera Obscura and the Ting Tings.

There were always colleges and institutes in the Salford area dating back to the 1850’s. From these evolved the University of Salford which received the Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth II in 1967. There was a further expansion in 1996 when University College Salford fell under the University’s auspices.

Their community covers 23,000 students, 2,500 staff and 170,000 alumni worldwide and their site covers 160 acres of parkland next to the River Irwell and in close proximity to Salford Crescent railway station.  Contained within is Peel Park which was allegedly in 1846 the first public park in the world. They have appeared on University Challenge only periodically but on their appearance in 2016 they had John Cooper Clarke as their mascot!

The initial chancellor was Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, and the current is the TV journalist Lucy Meacock. Previous alumni include comedians Peter Kay and Jason Manford, actors Christopher Eccleston and Maxine Peake, artist L.S Lowry and TV presenter Sarah Greene. From a musical slant there is punk rocker Jon the Postman, Courteeners Liam Fray, Everything Everything lead singer Jonathan Higgs and of course John Robb.

Jon the Postman (on the right) outside Thirsty Scholar. Image Credit mdmarchive.co.uk

Jon the Postman is an interesting life tale as he was a local lad who was so named because he was in fact a postie by trade. His first ever gig on 29 May 1977 was in support of Warsaw, who later evolved into Joy Division. At the final ever gig at Manchester’s Electric Circus venue he closed the show with a rendition of ‘Louie Louie’, the backing band being the Buzzcocks. His debut album ‘Jon the Postman’s Puerile’ featured the first ever appearance of Mark E Smith who introduced the above-named track. He then ran the Fall’s fan club before travelling around Europe and living in San Francisco for five years. He was also featured in the 24-Hour Party People movie where he was portrayed by Dave Gorman.  

Manchester Electric Circus with AC/DC on stage in 1976. Image Credit Pinterest.

The venues within the University were reintroduced to SFTOC in 2024 for the first time in a decade and the central hub was Manchester The Green, a grassy area situated in front of the Museum and Art Gallery. They set up a music and beer marquee and I saw Atike B2B Una Lee, Good Afternoon and Good Afternoon v Matthew Rothery (Kiss Me Again) play there. They also had some tasty food options, with some salt and pepper chips being sampled in the afternoon and a pizza later in the evening whilst lounging on one of the plentiful deckchairs.

Lytham Gigs

One of the things I have missed since moving to Manchester is not having easy access to the seaside, there is something wholly soothing to me about gazing out into the blue expanse! The nearest point to Preston was about 10 miles down the road to Lytham/Lytham St Annes. It can sometimes be a ‘ladies who lunch’ type of place but I am nonetheless very fond.    

As a train buff there is the bonus of a single-track line which rolls through en route to its final destination of Blackpool South Shore. In St Annes, there is a terrific Chinese restaurant called Zen which we visited a few times. I recall also on my stag do alighting and visiting the pub by the station (there is always one!) and at that point PNE being 3-1 down to Lincoln with 20 minutes to go but then turning it around much to our merriment into a 4-3 win!

It is about 30 minutes’ walk to Lytham from there either down the wide sand strewn streets or the beach/sea front. On the way you pass the white church, numerous beach huts and Fairhaven Lake where there is a decent pitch and putt course where a group of us use to salve our hangovers on a Sunday morning. Nearby is the Royal Lytham golf course utilised by the British Open approximately every 15 years and savvy residents rent out their houses to international golfers in much the same way Wimbledon residents do every year.  

Also, in the 1980’s there was a terrific open-air pool with a couple of water slides, I remember in one of the summer holidays (1982/83ish) visiting regularly as my mate’s mum used to drive us over. The only downside was that it contained sea water which was very unpleasant to swallow! It reminds me also of another open-air pool nearer home in Haslam Park Preston which I used to visit.

See the source image
Fairhaven Lake. Image Credit Geograph Britain and Ireland.

Those roads between Lytham and St Annes are a challenge to cycle due to considerable cross winds which I can testify to as it formed the last few miles of the 100km Manchester to Blackpool ride which I completed once in 2012. On arrival in Lytham, you reach a mile-long pleasant grassy area facing the sea and the incumbent old lighthouse.

In the early 2000’s a group of us went to watch Lancashire play at Lytham’s cricket ground on a ridiculously hot day. I was a tad over cautious with the sun cream earning me the temporary nickname of Casper the friendly ghost! It was so close to town we had time in the lunch interval to scoot down to the County Arms for a refreshing pint of Boddingtons – the Cream of Manchester.

There are many cafes and restaurants dotted around the main square. In that vein and again, on my stag do we feasted on Square Pizzas from one of the establishments, I don’t know why but I found the simple concept of the shape of the pizza rather appealing, and I am sure it tasted better as a result!

There are around half a dozen pubs in town and my favourite is the Malt and Hops with its olde worlde charm. They are also blessed with a plethora of real ales, and I once had the dubious pleasure of sampling coriander beer there!

There is a huge pub called the Queens on the coast road facing the sea. Uncle George and I once had a lively session in there downing several pints of Old Peculiar before a hazy trip back on the last bus!

On the musical front, Lytham has developed its own niche with its very own festival which has just passed its 10-year anniversary and is held on the green opposite the Queens. In its early days it was an 80’s festival throwback but has burgeoned its reputation in the last few years with Tom Jones, Stereophonics and Kylie gracing the stage. I have never yet made an appearance, but Gill has attended a couple of shindigs there.   

Nearby on Station Road lies a posh Wetherspoons, if that is not an oxymoron? In its previous life it was a spit and sawdust pub called the Hansom Cab where bands occasionally used to play. In May 2000 I saw a noisy covers band called Discovery there.

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Lytham Hansom Cab. Image Credit lsacivicsociety.org.uk

Much like St Annes and any town worth its salt there is a pub right next to the station. The last train back to Preston was at a commendable ten to midnight meaning you could amble out of the pub at 11.45pm and walk the 50 yards to the platform in time for the train.  

The pub Is called the Station Hotel and the bands used to play on a stage right in the middle of the long thin hostelry. In 2012, I saw two gigs there and the bands in question were Stonecycle and Dance Hall Giants.