Category: Manchester

Manchester Venue 205 – Lost Cat

In comparison to previous years, due in part to a short period of ill health, I made a sluggish start to my gig going adventures in 2025. Thus, experiencing some admittedly self-imposed gig scoreboard pressure, (but that is my own personal cross to bear!), I made strides to rectify this anomaly.

So, on a cold Thursday night on January 29th, I sourced a gig in the Northern Quarter area of the city at Manchester Lost Cat on Oldham Street. In 2020, the Lost Cat moved into the space which was previously held by the Eat New York bagel company and sits a couple of doors away from the Castle Hotel. It is under the same ownership as Crazy Pedro’s and is not to be confused with the nearby Mean Eyed Cat bar, perhaps this area should be renamed the Feline Quarter!

Lost Cat. Image Credit manchestersfinest.com

The venue closes at 3am every day and is in essence a cocktail bar in the ground floor area where they provide the obligatory bottomless brunches at weekends. You then head up some steps to the venue space which has a 120 capacity with a bar as you enter and a small stage at the bottom end of the room. They have recently rebadged this upstairs area as a DJ space and renamed it under the banner of FOUND club nights. They also have a rooftop terrace and cinema.  

In late 2024 and into 2025 they linked up with the local Beavertown brewery and Scruff of the Neck promotions to stage a monthly sonic showcase session with upcoming bands on the roster. I picked up one of these events and obtained my free ticket and arrived there reasonably early as the ticket did not absolutely guarantee entry as it was a first come, first served principle. 

Thus, my hand was summarily stamped and a bonus token provided to purchase a Beavertown beer, which I obviously took immediate advantage of. On stage was a singer/songwriter Issy Sutcliffe and she provided an enjoyable fiery fuzzy set. She is now based in Manchester but was brought up in a small Lancashire town called Ribchester.

Issy Sutcliffe. Image Credit live-manchester.co.uk

If you may allow me to deviate to the named latter town where there are three hostelries contained within it, and I have had some fine tucker at the gastropub Ribchester Arms. It is an ancient area and in 1796 they discovered a roman artefact which was in exemplary condition due to the sand protection. This became known as the Ribchester Helmet which now resides in the British Museum.   

More interestingly on a musical angle it contained back in the day an utterly renowned punk venue called the Lodestar Nightclub, which I never visited because I was far too young! I am always entranced by the fact that in those days there appeared to be famous venues that were in such obscure locations where the only option was to drive.

It was open from the 1950’s to the 1990’s and run throughout that period by Margo Grimshaw who was so ingrained in the establishment that she bought the actual building in 1992. It then morphed into the DeTabley restaurant and bar before closing in 2007 and then sadly but predictably turned into housing, though they did endeavour to retain the original features where they could.  

Her son Andy was the promoter and alongside the music, he held comedy nights with Phil Cool, Ken Dodd, Jim Bowen and even actor Peter Adamson (who played Len Fairclough in Coronation Street) on the bill.

On the 18th of September 1976 the Sex Pistols famously performed there prior to any record deal and played two subsequent gigs. In that period there were also shows from Adverts, 999, Rezillos, Sham 69, Lurkers, Slaughter and the Dogs and John Cooper Clarke.

Lodestar Nightclub flyer. Image Credit Analysis.

In May 1977 Boomtown Rats allegedly played their first ever UK gig where the indomitable landlady wasn’t overly impressed with them and demanded her money’s worth by making them play two sets. The 7-piece band were then paid a princely £40 in total as a result and there was apparently around twelve people in attendance, including Paula Yates.

They stayed like many others at the Clitheroe Vic hotel where Mr Geldof later referred to the night and rather ungenerously but somewhat typically called the town a ‘s#£$#*&e’, such a charmer! They returned the following year with ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’ flying high in the charts and generated a significantly larger crowd.    

It had the proper punk ethos, warts and all which is exemplified in the tale of when the London band the Motors played. The story goes that the crowd en masse purchased bags of crisps, urinated in them and then slung them at the band, delightful behaviour! Uncle George attended there a few times but has no recollection of who he saw.

In 2017, rather obscurely a message was displayed on the big screen at a Blackburn Rovers match announcing that Andy Grimshaw was looking to undertake an information gather on the Lodestar and was canvassing for opinions. This subsequently evolved into the Lodestar Project released in 2024 which contained illustrations, poetry, flyers and recollections from the venue’s heyday.     

Manchester Venues 203 to 204

Withington village is a small suburb in Manchester which is positioned four miles south of the city centre. It was a largely rural area until the mid-19th century before burgeoning during the Industrial Revolution into its own distinct enclave.

It’s geographical location close to the two Manchester universities results in it being a popular student location, but not as populous in that regard as nearby Fallowfield. In the area is also Withington Community Hospital and Christie Hospital which is home to one of the largest cancer treatment centres in Europe, the latter being the location of the world’s first clinical drug trial which took place there in 1944. The village became linked to the metro network when its own station was created in 2013.

There was a local Souchay family who lived in the area in the 19th century, and they were related to the wife of German composer Felix Mendelssohn. Mr M visited the area several times and his last British tour in 1847 incorporated performing on the freshly installed pipe organ in the local St Pauls Church before he passed away six months later at the cruelly young age of 38.   

Previous alumni include the travel correspondent Judith Chalmers, actors Ben Kingsley, Robert Powell and John Maloney (who played Frasier’s dad), cricketer Michael Atherton, broadcaster Martin Sixsmith and Alan Erasmus the co-founder (alongside Tony H Wilson) of Factory Records and the Hacienda.

Withington is about a 45 minute walk from our current residence via Fog Lane Park, which has a topical reference as it contains the playing fields in the current film The Corinthians of the all-conquering women’s football team in the 1950’s.

As you progress down Wilmslow Road past the Christie you swing by a few shops and takeaways before reaching the oldest building in the village, the impressive 17th century Red Lion pub, which was previously a coaching house. They produce a decent Sunday roast but their claim to fame in my book is their outdoor space.

Red Lion beer garden. Image Credit Facebook.

Now, I was blessed in Preston to live across from the Withytrees pub which had the biggest beer garden in the city, but the Red Lion has one twice that size with room for at least 100 punters and is tree fronted on two sides which provides a perfect sunspot to imbibe a couple of cold ones.  

Further on you reach the Orion public house which was named after the original landlord who served on the HMS Orion in the 1850’s and it is a proper no frills throwback hostelry. Nearby to there is a mural commemorating local footballer and campaigner Marcus Rashford.

Across the road, down a side street was the Wilderness Record Store, which was a small bar and music venue. I was lined up to go to a gig there in 2022 but unfortunately it closed permanently before I was able to make a visit. 

Back on Wilmslow Road you then arrive at Manchester Fuel Café, which is a thriving vegan café and bar that has been in situ there for around twenty years. It is a cosy establishment, and they undertake quiz nights and host gigs in the small, cramped space upstairs.

Manchester Fuel Cafe. Image Credit Facebook.

I discovered Fortitude Valley around the time of their excellent self-titled debut album which I highly recommend and I was then delighted to discover they were to play at the Fuel Café in July 2022. The driving force of the band is Laura Kovic, originally from Brisbane, and their name is derived from an area within the city. She then relocated to the UK and is now based in Durham. She served her apprenticeship as a keyboardist in Tigercats before forming the current combo in 2018.

It was a steaming hot day, and you could feel the humidity as your headed up the stairs. It was on a par with summer gigs in years gone by to see Snuff in New Cross and Big Black at the Boardwalk.

Thankfully the band were excellent and created a joyous energetic sugar-coated racket on stage and I was thoroughly entranced with my fave tracks on the night being ‘The Right Thing’ and ‘It’s The Hope That Kills You’. The evening concluded with a couple of drinks in the downstairs bar.  

Fortitude Valley. Image Credit punknews.org

Literally across the road is located Manchester Café Blah which from the outside has a Parisian look and indoors has subtle lighting and lots of retro film posters pasted on the walls in synch with their Thursday night Café Blah Film Club. They also host poetry nights, with the name (have you guessed it yet?) of Blah, Blah, Blah. I have also just discovered they have an Alphaville Emporium upstairs which I have not yet visited which sells art, books, vinyl and in a commendable retro step, cassettes (or mix tapes)!

A couple of months ago I heard they were staging a monthly showcase music night and was kicking my heels that evening, so I had a mulch over, obviously not influenced by it being a new venue! The gig took place in the basement which must not hold more than fifty people and I saw an abrasive set by Itchcoin.

I subsequently visited the ‘other’ Sand Bar further down the street where I had an unexpectedly terrific pint of Theakstons, which took me back to its 90’s heyday.  I enjoyed it while perched on a hugely comfy settee obviously reciting the lines in my head, ‘on the chaise longue, all day long, on the chaise longue’.