Category: Manchester

Manchester Venues 168 to 169

Nearby to Manchester Victoria station and opposite the Next shop in the Arndale Centre you will find the Printworks complex. The large area was originally the Withy Grove Printing House which was established in 1873 by the Hulton family. It operated as a newspaper printing factory for over a century before finally closing in 1988. In its final days it was bought by Robert Maxwell who true to form then instantly sold it off for a quick profit.  

It lay unused for a decade and was in a derelict state before in the late 1990’s it was subject to a £110m transformation as part of the Exchange Square project. It was turned into an urban entertainment centre and was renamed as the Printworks to reflect the heritage of the location and it also retained some of the original features.

Manchester Printworks. Image Credit Visit Manchester

The four storey 33,900 square metre site concentrating primarily on nightlife was officially opened on November 9, 2000, with the special guests including Sir Alex Ferguson and Lionel Richie. In 2024 it underwent a major refurbishment which included the installation of the largest digital ceiling in Britain and its modus operandi is now geared more towards health and digital technology.

It now features a state of the art 20 screen cinema, gym with swimming pool but they still have the unhealthy option of over 20 bars and restaurants and also tenpin bowling and quirky modern pursuits such as Treetop mini golf! It is an area I have only sporadically visited over the years, and I remember visited the O’Neills Irish bar and also one visit to the Seven Stars Wetherspoons prior to a gig at the nearby Arena.

Also contained within this complex is the Manchester Bierkeller, which opened in 2013. It is a large venue over a couple of floors and contains within four individual bars. The first on entry is the Ski Lounge followed by their Around the World Bar serving 100+ beers. There is then the Shooters Sports Bar, which is allegedly the largest sports bar in Manchester.

In November 2015 Uncle George and I made a visit here prior to attending a gig at the much missed Ruby Lounge. We headed to the fourth bar, namely the Bavarian Bierkeller where we had identified before that there was daily live music taking place.

Manchester Bierkeller. Image Credit tagvenue.com

We purchased a stein of ale and grabbed a pew on the bench style seating and on a small stage an indie band from Stockport called The Instigators were playing. They regularly vary their size of their roster and can sometimes go up to eight members where brass is then included in the mix. On this particular day they were pared down to a three piece.   

In 2000 Gill and I made our thus far only visit to Italy where we backpacked around the country on their highly efficient trains. We commenced and also finished the trip in Florence and also stayed in  Rome for a few days. We also spent a week down in Sorrento where we took the opportunity to visit the enchanting island of Capri and foolishly imbibed a little too much Limoncello prior to a visit to Pompei the next day, a hangover in oppressive heat is not a recommended combination!

Whilst in Sorrento I sampled my favourite ever pizza in a restaurant off the main square. The nearest I have been to replicating that pizza quality within the boundaries of our fair isle is when we visited the Manchester Don Giovanni restaurant on Oxford Road near St Peters Square. It opened in 1984 and is the longest standing independent Italian eatery in Manchester.

Don Giovanni’s. Image Credit dongiovanni.com

It was originally located on the city side of the street located next to the now long gone Dutch Pancake House. It was a small, homely trattoria and that is where we had one of our finest meals. The restaurant then moved across to the Manchester Central side of the road, expanding in the process and also for a short time opening a deli next door. Unfortunately, I personally thought the quality dropped as a result though it just seemed to get busier and is a popular location for post-meals after nearby graduations.  

In 2024 they celebrated their 40th anniversary and also dropped Don from their name at the same time. In May 2015 we met up some old friends who Gill had undertaken her nurse training with many moons ago. We booked in the restaurant on the Saturday night, and we were treated to a set from the house pianist Antonio.  

Manchester Venues 166 to 167

Directly outside the Manchester Oxford Road station in an old coffee shop and cycle hub they have now opened the Oxford Road Tap which completes the trilogy of tap bars at Manchester stations alongside the already existing Victoria and Piccadilly Tap. I have had one visit thus far to this small tidy craft beer spot where it has a large repurposed National Rail sign and also a live timetable, so you know exactly how much time you have to drain your pint!

Oxford Road Tap. Image Credit uk.news.yahoo.com

Opposite the train station access road and the Palace Theatre you will find the Grade II listed Principal Manchester building, though it is more widely known as the Refuge Assurance building. The Refuge company was founded in 1858 and moved to its Oxford Road location in 1890.

After purchasing the site, they worked with the renowned Victorian architect Alfred Waterhouse in designing their new head office, whose previous work included London’s Natural History Museum. The grand ornate high ceiling interior was built in 1895. There were further extensions in 1905 and 1912, the latter incorporating the impressive 220ft baroque clock tower which formed the new main entrance, with clock quarters stylised with a Manchester bee, which is now synonymous with many other contemporary artefacts in the city. The latest incarnation accommodated up to 1900 clerks.

During the Second World War they constructed two air raid shelters in the basement but thankfully avoided any direct hits. The Refuge company relocated to Wilmslow in 1987, the building then becoming Charterhouse Hotel and in 1996 it was renamed as the Palace Hotel. It changed hands again in 2016 with the Manchester Refuge Bar taking over one half of the building.

Refuge Bar. Image Credit we-heart.com

There are many separate spaces in this vast space, and these include the public bar that you encounter immediately upon entry. Behind there is the Dining Room where we have visited once for a very decent Sunday lunch, it is exceedingly popular, and we had to book a couple of months in advance. Next to there is the Winter Garden area and there is additionally the Den and a Private Dining Room which can both be booked with capacities of 80 and 10 respectively.  

I had walked past this building for many years on the way to the station, but it was around 2018, a couple of years after opening, before I finally made a visit to the bar. It is also handy as an alternate though tad expensive venue to contrast the nearby fine grungy pubs and has been utilised prior to late trains and for post Ritz and Gorilla gig drinks.

They have regular DJ’s on there but in April 2024, the day we sampled our Sunday fodder, I was delighted to find that my ‘bonus gig’ banner was flashing as there was a jazz band playing in the main bar.

The aforementioned attached Manchester Principal Hotel (now renamed post-covid as the Kimpton Clocktower Hotel) was subject to an extensive £25m refurbishment in 2016 which resulted in the creation of the largest hotel ballroom in the whole of the Northwest of England. The hotel is alleged to be haunted by a grieving war widow who committed suicide by throwing herself down the staircase from the top floor and this area was only accessible to the menfolk at that time! Room 261 is also to be avoided with reports of the sounds of children playing in the hours of darkness.  

The annual Manchester Literature festival has been in place since 2006 and was built on the legacy of its forerunner the Manchester Poetry festival. It is a two-week multi venue event that occurs every October and also provides a year-round Creative Learning programme which supports the next generation of readers and writers.

Principal Hotel. Image Credit Country and Town House Magazine

One of the selected venues for the 2018 event was the Principal Hotel. Marcus had a spare ticket for an audience with the Wedding Present lead singer Dave Gedge and this took place in one of the numerous function rooms on a Sunday afternoon.

As we exited the lift I ran into Jo Davies (nee Brewer) who was one of the large crew that I used to attend the Raiders/Warehouse indie nightclub with in the early 1990’s. I was a regular there between 1985 and my last attendance on John Dewhurst’s stag do in 2005. I know the next generation of sons and daughters now attend, though I did hear last week from one of those old timers on a recent attendance that one of the DJ’s was playing Taylor Swift, by heck that would never have happened in my day!

Dave was there to talk about a book he had recently penned with the interviewer Richard Houghton called ‘All The Songs Sound The Same’. The theme of the tome was to present 300 Wedding Present stories from fans, friends and band members including one from our current PM Sir Keir Starmer. He then followed the chat by playing acoustic versions of four of the band’s finest tunes.