Category: Other British Gigs

Other British Gigs – Part 8

In the 1970’s and 1980’s, our family holidays utilised locations across the length and breadth of Britain and I did not catch a flight abroad until 1986 when Rick Clegg and I made our debut sojourn to Majorca. Many Pontins and Butlins camps were visited including trips to the Middleton Towers complex, which was situated on the outskirts of Heysham, near Morecambe. I have fond memories of the area and days playing on Middleton Sands.

Heysham dates back to Viking times and was originally a quiet farming community before it was transformed in 1904 by the opening of the port which began to provide ferries over to Ireland and the Isle of Man. The ferries then connect up with the next travel leg of trains from Heysham Port through to Lancaster. Additional local job opportunities were introduced by two nuclear power stations being located there and my father in law worked at one of the sites for a few years.

One historical aspect in the coastal village is that it contains stone hewn graves, carved from solid rock which are located in the ruins of St Patricks Chapel, which date back to the 11th century. A picture of the graves was chosen to adorn the CD cover of ‘The Best of Black Sabbath’. There is also the tale of the one of the ships of the defeated Spanish Armada that shipwrecked in the bay in 1588. It is said that many of the dispersed crew settled there and there are apparently Spanish surnames remaining to this day in the village.

Black Sabbath album cover. Image Credit rockemetal.forumfree.it

A few years ago, I happened to be walking those streets on a clear still day and began to hear the unmistakable sounds of rock music bouncing off the walls of the nearby houses. Obviously, in a Scooby Doo gang style I had to go and solve the mystery of the source of the racket and upon investigation I identified it was emanating from the Heysham Strawberry Gardens pub.  

The Strawberry Gardens was originally a pleasure park containing an entertainment complex, formal gardens and fruit picking and was located at the then end point of the tramway. It closed just prior to the Second World War being replaced by housing and the aforementioned pub. It is a traditional Greene King brewery hostelry occasionally having live music, on this occasion a local band called Moon Rising were playing.

Strawberry Gardens back in the day. Image Credit redrosecollections.lancashire.gov.uk

Telford is a town in Shropshire and was born in the same year as me in 1968 and was designed as polycentric under the New Town Acts, reflected in the originally intended name as Dawley New Town. It is based around a shopping arcade and a public park and intentionally has no specific centre and as a result it is an unsightly concrete jungle with a plethora of roundabouts!

It was named after the local civil engineer Thomas Telford, and it is nearby to Ironbridge which I recall from history lessons at school as it pertained directly to the Industrial Revolution. In 1983, the town was linked up to the M6 with the construction of the M54 link and a train station was built on the Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury line. Thankfully, in 2007 the centre was regenerated with the addition of cafés, bars and a cinema.

There is the Telford International Centre, which for a few years was the home of the UK Snooker Championship. Nearby is the ice-skating rink that has periodically hosted gigs, including Status Quo and T’Pau. Telford were also a famous non-league giant killing team, especially in the 1980’s and once battered my Preston team 4-1 in a humbling FA Cup tie, before going on to lose narrowly to Everton in the Fifth Round.

Famous Telford alumni include Jeremy Corbyn, comedian Stewart Lee, footballer Billy Wright, horse racing’s Sir Gordon Richards who won a record 26 champion jockey titles, the previously mentioned T’Pau, Babybird’s lead singer Stephen Jones and the quaintly titled death metal band Cancer. There are also some bonny local towns not too far away, namely Shifnal, Shrewsbury and Wem.

Telford’s Albert Shed Southwater. Image Credit albertsshed.co.uk

I have attended many work meetings and overnight stays in the town, a couple of times on my own which was astoundingly dull. Though I must say during the lowest points of Covid where a trip to Tesco was a highlight, I rather worryingly stated I would even take an all-day workshop in Telford just to be able to leave the house!

On one such trip in 2023, we discovered a new bar where live music takes place 4 nights a week, and on the night of our visit, the Jam Band were performing. The venue was Telford Alberts Shed Southwater, which is a sister venue to their Shrewsbury branch. They were both opened in 2017 by an elderly chap who was remarkably called Albert who when reminiscing about the London music scene of his youth decide to create a couple of live music spots on his doorstep.     

Other British Gigs Part 7 – York

There is archaeological evidence that gives weight to the theory that the area of York existed as far back as 8000BC. As you cross over into an AD timeline the town was owned by the Romans and the Vikings, and it was subsequently significantly damaged in the Norman conquest of 1066. In later times, it prospered as the urban centre of Yorkshire and remarkably in 1660, it was the third-largest city in England behind London and Norwich.

Famous York folk include Judi Dench, Frankie Howard, former England manager Steve McClaren, composer John Barry and the bands Shed Seven and the 1980’s ‘anarchists’ The Redskins who once famously in 1984 brought a striking miner onto stage on Channel 4’s The Tube to make a speech during their song but his microphone was switched off! They also must have a sweet tooth in the area as the chocolatiers Joseph Rowntree and Joseph Terry (latterly of Chocolate Orange fame) were born there. 

The Redskins. Image Credit Pinterest

York is literally stacked with history and remarkably contains 34 conservation areas, 2084 listed buildings, 22 ancient monuments and a plethora of olde worlde atmospheric old boozers! I have very fond memories of visiting York as a child and tromping along the remnants of the city walls.

We reacquainted about 20 years ago with some old friends that Gill trained with back in the day and geographically York was a mutually agreeable meeting place to have a rendezvous. We had three annual trips and, on each occasion, coupled it with a jaunt to the nearby Wetherby races and I recall one drunken night visiting the local branch of Popworld! On one of those forays, I also remember being in a boozer there watching Michael Owen score two late goals for England to win a terrific match 3-2 against old rivals Argentina.  

The small downsides are that the city can be a tad touristy and has a rather complex one-way traffic system. To mitigate this, we now choose to travel there on the train and tend to stay at the nearby Premier Inn. As a train enthusiast I always try and make a pilgrimage to the terrific and heartily recommended Railway Museum which first opened its doors in 1975. There are even two public houses encased within the station, namely the Duke of York and the York Tap to whet your whistle before the journey home!     

My favourite ever racecourse is located in the city and the races have taken place since 1731 on the nearby Knavesmire accessed via a short shuttle bus ride from the station. The Knavesmire is a large green space where the gallows were originally located, and Dick Turpin was hanged there in 1739. It is such a good viewing course and exemplifies one of my visualisations of the ‘green and pleasant land’.

York Racecourse. Image Credit webaviation.co.uk

When in attendance in 2018 there was a pop-up stage in the York Races County Stand, where we saw Dr Jazz who are a local 6-piece Great Gatsby band who play songs from the 1920/1930’s era and are bedecked in top hat, waistcoats and bow ties. We saw the same band again at our most recent visit a couple of months ago.

In 2018 they also had another band called Dr Thirsty playing on the York Races Tattersalls Stage, who are a wedding and function band. On our next visit the following year we witnessed Superlicks, a locally based three piece ‘party’ band.  On our latest trip they had then set up a bespoke area thus creating York Races Tattersalls Stage 2 where the Irish Jags were performing some woeful covers. Additionally, by the bus pick up area there was the York Racecourse Stage where a singer called Ed Winchard was playing.  

On the 2024 visit we decided to stay a couple of nights and on the Thursday, we discovered a terrific pub called the Market Cat, a three-storey establishment with views of the market and the archaic streets of the city. They had a comprehensive selection of fine ales and tidy looking pizzas. Best of all, they had a fine indie soundtrack, and I heard tracks by the View, Sea Power and most excitingly Husker Du whilst ensconced there. On our way back to the digs we caught a chap called Barney playing in York Brewdog.

Market Cat viewpoint. Image Credit tripadvisor.co.uk

We braved the chaotic local Wetherspoons for breakfast on race day and had a good sally round the city post -racing including a sly return visit to the Market Cat. On the Saturday we were on York St Helen’s Square, off Stonegate which was the original location for the departure point for stagecoaches to London. On a pop up stage, we saw Malachy playing whilst three years earlier we witnessed local four piece King No-One there. The latter recently played at the Year End Festival I attended in Manchester a couple of weeks ago.