In the early days of my Manchester gig going career in the mid to late 1980’s there used to be a requirement for a designated driver on the trips because of the sheer inadequacy of the train timetable. The most visited venue at that stage was my favourite ever Manchester venue International 1.
The route used to take us from the M62 through Prestwich visiting a choice of Holts’s houses the White Horse and the Friendship Inn at the traffic lights, then a couple of Boddingtons pubs The Grove and the Brewers Arms underneath the Boddington’s brewery and adjacent to Strangeways Prison. Once we had traversed through the city and China Town, we could stop for a final drink at either The Garratt on Princess Street or the nearby Lass O Gowrie on Charles Street.
The Lass O Gowrie is a grand old pub in the traditions of other city pubs Peveril and the Peak and Britons Protection. The walls are decked with period pictures of Manchester and it is a real ale haven and they used to serve their own beer called Log 36 and Log 42. There is a decking area at the rear of the pub overlooking the River Medlock originally opened by comedian Johnny Vegas.
For a short period in the 90’s I used to watch Coronation Street and on one anonymous Tuesday night pre-gig we wander in to see the whole cast in the pub. The chap who played Jim McDonald who used to lean on the Rovers Return bar was in the exact same pose thereby encapsulating life imitating art! On that theme I know there have been bands who reference film characters and events. I recall a Japanese death metal band called Keyser Soze named after Kevin Spacey’s enigmatic character from Usual Suspects and another act called 1.21 Gigiwatts from Back to the Future!
In the Corry script they would often say they were going to the new restaurant on the precinct, so in this regard the new venue on the precinct would be on the next corner from the pub! In September 2018 a former auctioneers house and printers press was converted into a four-storey music venue called Yes. Commendable local promoters Now wave were the instigators in this venture.
It houses two gig venues, serves tidy looking pizza in the ground floor bar, and has a roof terrace containing a NASA approved sound system which can be spied from the train running between Oxford Road and Piccadilly stations
I first visited the 1st floor venue Yes Pink Room on 31/01/19 where the décor matches the name. It has a capacity of 250 and it has a cosy feel to it. The band in question were Swearin who are a lo-fi Philadelphia four piece. They had first crossed my threshold when I picked up their terrific sophomore album Surfing Strange released in 2013, which comes recommended.
The band is led by alternate lead vocals from Kyle Gilbride and Alison Crutchfield, the later also has a solo venture called Waxahatchee, who somewhat confusingly sometimes support Swearin on tour. I thoroughly enjoyed their live performance. My other visit there was to see Art Brut who were not in the same class and were very disappointing fare.
On the night we saw Swearin they finished quite early, so we headed downstairs to the Yes Basement and managed to negotiate a half price entrance fee to catch the end of soul singer Otto Hardman’s set. It is a decent venue in its own right, more in the lounge core mould and has a smaller capacity of 60.
