At the bottom end of Friargate you would find the Sun Hotel. On the opposite corner from the Sun, back in the day there was a bakery that used to sell the odd combination of a Cheese and Beetroot sandwich, which remarkably worked but I haven’t sampled that grouping for a while. Now, whilst I am thinking about it, where did I put those cocktail beetroots and Cathedral City…!
Next to the pub you can take a turning into Great Shaw St which runs into Market St West where you pass the Market St Social pub, which is linked to the Plau bar, beyond there is the Playhouse. I used to very occasionally show up there to watch theatre performances but remember it mainly for when it was the location of the Preston film club which I attended a few times, though thinking back the only film I can recall watching was Luc Besson’s Subway featuring Christopher Lambert and Jean Reno. They always rather quaintly used to play the national anthem prior to every performance.
Across the road, in the 80’s was a tiny highly disreputable club called the Cherrytree which I never actually visited, but its reputation preceded it!
Back around on Great Shaw St you would find a former nightclub which had various names over the years including Green, The Club Royale, The Millionaires Club. The club was built in 1920 as a casino but its most famous era was in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s following its name change to the Gatsby in 1970. I remarkably don’t recall ever visiting in that era. It was a recognised Northern Soul/Dance venue, but they apparently also had legendary student nights!
It had two bars and two dancerooms and was a live venue and bands such as Showaddywaddy, Mud and Bay City Rollers graced the stage there.
In the 2010’s it rebadged itself as Blitz, a specific live venue which is not to be confused with the current Blitz next to the bus station, which I know as The Venue which will be covered in a future blog – all still with me?!!
I saw two gigs there, the first on 28/03/13 was Nine Black Alps, who I was watching for the fourth and most recent time. It was to a degree diminishing returns as they were not as sharp and effective as a band as they had been a decade earlier. The place was half full and they were supported by Youth Society. The venue was even less full later that year when I witnessed a rather tired set from old punks the Vibrators. The site was subsequently sold by UCLAN for student accommodation.
Back on Friargate, the Irish themed bar O’Neills opened its doors in 1996 and swiftly became a regular watering hole for Uncle George and I, quite often being the final pub of the night for a cheeky Guinness and Black. We were recognised to a degree so when they launched the Guinness Cold brand, we were asked to review a couple of free pints, and I can confirm unsurprisingly we readily agreed and the beer passed the test!
For a few years it also became the location for Christmas Eve gatherings and the pub in a later year also built a rooftop beer garden. The pub name changed over to Shenanigans in 2017 before being refurbished the following year into a more open plan establishment and reopened as the Northern Way.
In the 2010’s they started having live acoustic acts who played either by the front door or on the raised area at the back of the pub, I have quantified this as a single venue as the ‘stages’ were in effect in the same room.
I saw seven bands there between 2013 and 2017. They were namely The Two of Us, Balls Band, Danny Rose, Marcus and Jaidi, Kevin Harper, Eddy Bland, and Sheena Brown. The first named of those was of interest as this was Uncle George and mine’s 400th gig together!
