Category: Manchester

Manchester Venues 161 to 162

The Sounds from the Other City festival I attended in 2024 sensibly decided to reincorporate the venues contained within Salford University grounds, and I believe they are also to be retained on the roster for the 20th anniversary edition taking place in 2025.

Manchester Peel Building is the University’s oldest structure that remains in live usage. It was originally designed by architect Henry Lord and was the site for the Salford Royal Technical Institute when first opened by the future George V and Queen Mary in 1896. The distinctive red Accrington brick Grade II listed building changed to its current moniker in 1967 and is currently home to the University’s School of Environment and Life Sciences.     

Salford Peel Building. Image Credit confidentials.com

On the lawn outside there is an elaborate brick gazebo also designed by Mr Lord, however it is visually misleading as it is in fact a disguised ventilation duct for the laboratories in the old Technical college.

Within the edifice itself, there are various lecture halls and in one of those seated auditoriums there were bands performing on the stage which was curated on the day by the Band on the Wall venue and Manchester based Reform Radio. The first act we saw was ISHA who is a producer and artist who gravitates between living in London and Amsterdam. She was a multi-instrumentalist one woman act who primarily concentrates on bass playing and released her debut EP ‘Bending Colours’ in 2023.

Later, we witnessed Muva of Earth who is a London based Nigerian singer who has morphed now into Divine Earth and is a solo act but is also one half of Divine Angel, hopefully you are still with me! She was also named by the Face Mag as ‘London’s new Alt-Jazz superstar’. Though I must report she certainly didn’t cause me to transcend when I watched her!    

Next door resides the Manchester Salford Museum and Art Gallery where I had visited once before in its daytime guise for coffee and cake prior to Gill’s graduation.  Back in 1849, Salford City Council allowed Lark Hill Mansion to be designated as an educational site and converted it into a public museum and library. A year after opening it had expanded to have the capability to house 12,000 volumes, a further year later the art gallery was added to the complex.  

Salford Museum and Art Gallery. Image Credit hotels.com

This site then turned into its current modus operandi and is located in Peel Park, so named after Robert Peel and commemorating his contribution to the subscription fund which the council used to originally purchase the Mansion. The gallery and museum are faithful to the history of Salford and Victorian art and architecture. The location for many decades held over 400 artefacts by local painter L.S Lowry, before they were transferred in 2002 to a purpose-built gallery within the Lowry in Salford Quays, next to where much of the BBC and 6 music radio is now located.    

When we attended in the afternoon it was close to capacity, so I grabbed a perch on a windowsill that then transpired to be a sweltering sunspot. On stage was an engaging singer songwriter called C Duncan who was being very well received by the audience. Christopher Duncan is a Glasgow boy and is signed to the renowned Bella Union label, he has recorded output going back to 2014 and his debut album ‘Architect’ was nominated for the 2015 Mercury Music Prize.

C Duncan. Image Credit bbc.co.uk

A single from his third album ‘Health’ was produced by Elbow’s Craig Potter at Salford’s very own Blueprint Studios. He has had support slots with Belle and Sebastian and his tunes have appeared on various TV programmes including Waterloo Road. The muse was obviously always in his bloodline as both his parents were classical musicians and though they are now retired they have ‘reformed the band’ to provide string sounds on his most recent recordings. He had a dreamy folky style and was a fine accompaniment to my window basking!  

Much later we headed back to the library to endeavour to catch the last artist on the day’s roster. It was still busy, so after queueing for a little spell, we finally gained access to catch the last song on Laura J Martin’s set.  She is a Liverpool lass and on her first album in 2016 she recruited members of Lambchop, Silver Jews and Jesus Lizard to assist her. Prior to her recently released fourth album ‘Prepared’ she undertook an apprenticeship with renowned local flute player and maker Willy Simmons.    

Manchester Venues 157 to 160

The central thoroughfare in West Didsbury is Burton Road which contains a profusion of independent shops, bars and restaurants. As you turn into the street from Barlow Moor Road you initially encounter Didsbury Mosque followed by a 200-yard stretch of houses before Withington Hospital appears on the left. I first visited there in 1993 when Gill’s mum was gravely ill but remarkably 32 years later, she still remains with us.

Around that time, there was a famous photo taken in the lounge of the one properties on a side street that then adorned the cover of Oasis’s debut album ‘Definitely Maybe’, the house belonging to the guitarist Bonehead. They still have sightseeing tours that visit the house in question but that is always a logistical challenge for them as it is a very thin road with cars parked on either side.

Definitely Maybe album cover. Image Credit musicbrainz.org

Returning back across the road takes you to Manchester Withington Hospital Car Park, which is the location of a large monthly maker’s market. Thus, one Sunday morning in April 2024 Gill and I alongside Tris made our debut visit and were met with the sight of a proliferation of market stalls of every hue. Down at the bottom end of the market was a tiny stage where the local Cancer Research band were playing a set.

On the corner of Nell Lane, you will find one of my favourite bars, the George Charles where they serve Thai food by night. Across the road is in my view the best stocked Co-op in the city which then invokes the old advertising adage ‘if Carlsberg did Co-op’s’!  

Just beyond there after you pass the Folk and Volta bars, you reach the Old Bakery. When I first visited, I discovered to my astonishment and pleasure that they served the Preston delicacy, Butter Pies. However, it obviously couldn’t be as simple as picking up a stash of those healthy snacks there and then, they had in fact to be ordered two days in advance, so naturally that’s what I did!

A butter pie ready to be devoured! Image Credit qualitypies.co.uk

The pie reference then brings to mind the animated heroes of Wallace and Gromit who were created around 40 years ago by the proud Prestonian Nick Park who went to the same secondary school as me, though attended about 10 years prior to myself. There is a bench commemorating his achievements which now sits proudly alongside Preston Market.

Contained within the movies over the years, he has always thrown in sly local references and the odd patently obvious one like the character of Preston the Dog. His piece de resistance though was on his latest film shown on Christmas Day 2024 when Feathers McGraw was escaping on a canal barge and a crate was pictured behind him containing Madam Butter Pies, priceless television!   

Selfie with Wallace and Gromit. Image Credit John Dewhurst

Further on you arrive at Manchester Rustik, which is an independent family run Irish bar. It is a homely establishment with additional tables and when surveying the menu, it appears they serve what look like wholesome belly busting food portions!  

They have live music on from Thursday to Sunday each week and I enrolled Marcus to accompany me on 02/05/24 as I was deeply ensconced in my Project 200 (to visit 200 different Manchester venues) at that stage. On the night of our visit there was an Irish trad band playing.

There is then a trio of Indian restaurants, namely Namaste Nepal, Great Kathmandu and Indique, the latter on the far side of the Burton Road metro stop. These establishments have been visited by Gill and me, quite often with Jo and Paul in tow and alongside sampling their cuisine, we have also naturally compared their Onion Bhaji quality, but still in our combined view nowhere surpasses the Royal Tondoori in Burnage in this regard!

As you arrive at the corner with Lapwing Lane, there is the large Elizabethan pub and across the road is the Manchester Railway. This hostelry for many years was a John Smiths brewery house before being taken over by Joseph Holt in 1999. Apparently prior to a transformation in 2004, it was recognised as the smallest pub in England. The refurbishment and increase in square yards was a result of taking over the cobblers next door and the removal of the archaic outside lavatories!  

The Railway pub. Image Credit zomato.com

It is a cosy old-fashioned venue, and they have regular live music and on the same night as visiting Rustik we saw a singer called Jeff Smith perform there. On one side of there was Simon Rimmer’s Greens vegetarian eatery which recently closed after around 30 years, however that site has recently been reopened by the Porta tapas restaurant. On the other wing is Manchester Zaranda, a soulless cocktail bar where I once witnessed a local singer called Sophie play.