Preston Venue 27 – The Wheatsheaf

Preston Docks was a thriving metropolis back in the 1960’s and at that point boded well for the future of the town but its luminous period gradually faded and the whole area was regenerated in the 1980’s.

One of the famous spots that appeared in the area around that time was the Manxman, which was original a ferry between Isle of Man and Liverpool before became a floating nightclub which I frequented only the once on a Tuesday night in 1988 at Dave Keane’s 21^st. It was also the venue where my pal Tony Dewhurst met his future wife Pam.

It was then towed to Liverpool where it remained as a nightclub in the Trafalgar Dock area before subsequently landing in Sunderland where it was dismantled in 2012. Two lesser-known facts I discovered are that it was used a location for the Barbara Streisand film Yentl and a pre-married Richard and Judy recorded a Granada series called Scramble there.  

I also spent 7 happy years working at Albert Edward House in that area in the 90’s. The building used to have a canteen where for the first time since school I re-encountered the culinary delights of Manchester Tart. They also used to have a pool room where I arranged a couple of large tournaments between work colleagues, I also now and then did a little bit of work!

When we used to venture out at lunch, we walked through a suite of industrial units prior to accessing Strand Road. The end unit was Oyston Mill which for a period in the 80’s/90’s was a band rehearsal space.

My good friend Paul Catterall was in a band at the time and used to frequent the there and a local metal band called Xentrix often occupied the adjacent rehearsal space. The band achieved some short-lived airplay with a Ghostbusters cover.  

The landmark breakthrough Dinosaur Jr track ‘Freak Scene’ was recorded in 1988 and within the wonky video there is a yellow Fisherman statue. I recall this video being played mercilessly at the time by Snub TV, a BBC2 teatime programme devised by Janet Street Porter. The video was recorded in a garden in a West Didsbury house which was rented by John Robb.

However, I have seen incontrovertible video evidence provided by Paul that this statue used to reside in Oyston Mill, though it remains unclear whether this was before or after the recording of the video. 

In those days there was a thriving work social scene, and many Friday lunchtimes were spent in local hostelries, one of the regular boozers was the Ribble Pilot sitting right on the dock side. As you progressed round onto Watery Lane you passed the Ship Inn which I believe used to occasionally have bands playing in their large function room. My one memory of that pub is watching Steve Davis beating Joe Johnson in the World Snooker final in 1987. Behind the Ship was located the West Orange recording studio where reputedly Cornershop recorded some material.  

Further down, you pass the longstanding Curry House King Karai which I frequented regularly in the 1990’s before you then reach Umberto’s chippy which never seemed to be closed. Also, in close proximity was Jing Jing, in my view the best Chinese takeaway in the city.   

Up Tulketh Road lies a little homely pub called the Wellington, a couple of mates have an advantage on me there as they saw local band Deadwood Dog play there.

At the bottom of Tulketh Road are two adjacent pubs. On one side is the Grand Junction, not a regular haunt but I recall a group of us scrambling out from work at lunchtime in 1992 to watch the last few overs of England losing the Cricket World Cup final to Pakistan.

Much preferred is the other boozer The Wheatsheaf. It has also been under the moniker of Last Orders and for a spell a Mighty Muldoons. I have always been fond of this pub as it has a variable clientele of ages ranging from 18 to 80.

It was a regular venue for watching football including England in World Cup matches beating Columbia in 1998 and Argentina in 2002 and several PNE matches. I recall also watching an England v Scotland where it was so heavily populated, I had to go out the front door and return in via the back door to reach the loos.

The pub periodically had bands on there and my one occurrence was to see a rather noisy local covers band called Contraband.