Tag: 1975

Stockport Venues 3 to 4

Continuing my journey through the Stockport suburbs brings you to the area of Heaton Moor and the thriving street of Shaw Road with its plethora of restaurants and bars. At the Heaton Moor Road end, you find Leoni’s Italian restaurant who also owned a short-lived pizzeria on the other side of the street. In the building where the restaurant now resides there used to be a Kro Bar branch, their first outside the city centre which ran from 2008 to 2016 before a short stint then as cocktail bar Tusk.

A smidge further down you reach a Stockport institution Kushoom Koly, a curry house that first opened in 1971, known locally as the ‘Kush’. We attended there in late 2018 and the owner Faruk Uddin made a beeline for us as ‘newbies’ to the establishment and was a thoroughly lovely chap and we had a very fine meal. I surmise we would have returned many more times, but unimaginable tragedy struck when the owner’s son Jordan was killed in a road traffic accident and the proprietor felt he could not carry on and the restaurant closed for good in 2019.

  

The Kush. Image Credit facebook.com

On the other side of the street there are two separate ale bars called Pale and Bottle respectively. Beyond those you find Pokusevski’s Mediterranean restaurant which has expanded from its original tiny café when it first opened in 2004. It is an inviting place with dangerously delicious cakes and their own home made ginger tea. It was one of the first places to open locally during the pandemic and I recall our palpable excitement in those surreal times for something as abundantly simple as a takeaway coffee!

Next to there is Hula, a tiki late night dive bar which I have never frequented, however within this location the music venue called the Blue Cat used to reside.  A local chap called Danny Donnelly, a former electrician, spotted a large gap in the Stockport live music scene and bravely opened up the venue in 1996. The premise was to provide a platform for upcoming bands as an antidote to the gruel diet of tribute acts at other local sites and they actually instilled this ethos by having a no covers policy in place. With the opening of the venue, he actually kickstarted the subsequent regeneration of Shaw Road.

The Blue Cat. Image Credit Manchester Evening News.com

Luminaries such as The Blossoms, Johnny Marr, Nick Harper, Ian McNabb, Kiki Dee and 1975 have played there and local acts Haven (from Heaton Moor) and Isobel Heyworth were supplied opportunities to make a name for themselves. Comedy nights were also staged, and John Bishop, Alan Carr, Sarah Millican and Jack Whitehall have graced the stage. He also set up his own record label named Out of the Blue.

As a result of Stockport’s inflexible licensing laws with their 11.30 curfew, the venue was sadly forced to close for good in 2015 after a 19-year residency. The final band to play there was the band Man Made featuring Johnny Marr’s son Nile. I never had the chance to frequent as this was in the pre-Manchester Jimmy period.  

A couple of doors away is Stockport Cassidy’s Bar which was opened by a chap called Martin Cassidy in 2004. It has an odd lay out with a split level from the entrance up to the main bar. There is sport constantly booming on the many screens and they also have music on at the weekend. There have also been karaoke performances with one previous event led by Blossoms frontman Tom Ogden. On the night of our visit in 2019 a local singer called Sally Walters was playing.

Cassidy’s Bar. Image Credit The UK

On a monthly basis the Stockport Heaton Moor Market takes over Shaw Road with its numerous market stalls. On one occasion at the tail end of 2021 there was a set from the Heatons & Reddish Ukelele band who practice every Friday at the local United Reform Church.  

Manchester Venues 121 to 122 Deaf Institute – Part 1

One of my favourite Manchester venues is the Deaf Institute situated on Grosvenor Street off Oxford Road, almost equidistant between Manchester Oxford Road train station and the Academy venues.

The Deaf has a long history, initially being built in 1877 by a chap called John Lowe (not the darts player!) and the foundation stone laid by local MP Hugh Birtley was engraved and is still in situ. Also still inscribed over the doorway is its original name of Adult Deaf and Dumb Institute. No expense was spared at the time, and the initial build cost a princely sum of £5800. There were annual soirees arranged including the institute performing Romeo and Juliet in sign language in Hulme Town Hall as early as 1900.

Deaf institute entrance. Image Credit Tokyoindustries.com

It served an integral role in the city by helping individuals with speech and hearing difficulties. However, when the Institute moved to new premises in 1975, it resulted in the original site falling into disrepair and it lay unused, abandoned and reputedly ghostly for many years. The next activity was that planning permission was provided in 1987 to convert the building into a wine bar and bistro.

In 2006, the local promoters TROF took ownership and sensitively upgraded the building by utilising its existing grand features, including the stone gothic exterior. It was subsequently reopened in 2008 and was renamed as simply The Deaf Institute.

It is a three-tiered Grade II listed building with high, lavishly decorated rooms. The ground level is the Manchester Deaf Institute Bar which had a seating area which you could visit as a standalone bar. They had food options available, including a Sunday Vegan hangover menu, in this area they also staged DJ sets and periodically bands played there.  

Deaf Institute Bar. Image Credit headbox.com

I have seen three acts in this space, the first on 14/11/16 prior to attending a gig at Trof’s sister venue Gorilla, the performer being an acoustic singer called Rafiq B. The second gig on 05/12/21 was as part of a Record Vinyl collectors event organised by the Charlatans lead singer Tim Burgess, who is a keen advocate and supporter of the Manchester music scene.  

The band undertaking a decent acoustic set that day were Apollo Junction who are an indie band from Leeds. They formed in 2015 and within a couple of years were appearing live in session for the Janice Long show and their music has been used as the soundtrack for Match of the Day. They released their debut album ‘Mystery’ in 2019 and have since released two further albums and even played at the Tan Hill Inn (Britain’s highest pub).

What impressed me most was their engagement and inclusivity with their fans resulting in an avidness and dedication within their fanbase that you don’t witness very often, the last time I sighted that was with Hold Steady and their followers. The other band I saw there were called the Mottleys.   

Apollo Junction. Image Credit radio30org.fr

In 2022 a reorganisation took place, and the ground level area was closed as a working bar area and is now used more as a rehearsal space. The downstairs room was originally an events space that could be hired out for functions and regular club nights called Girls on Film took place there. This area has now been recalibrated into a smaller gig space called the Lodge, a venue I have not yet visited.  

Within the 2008 reopening the upper floor area was converted into the Deaf Institute Music Hall complete with a huge disco ball, parrot patterned wallpaper, raised stage and a small outdoor smoking balcony. There is an upper viewing balcony and there are wooden blocks to perch on at the rear of the venue that are reminiscent of the layout of the University of Central Lancashire’s original venue back in the 1990’s.

It has an intimate capacity of 260 and the likes of Kate Tempest, 1975 and Florence and the Machine have played there. Additionally, Johnny Marr held a residence there in 2011 when he was relaunching his solo career.

I have attended gigs there on 11 occasions, though I did miss one of my favourite bands Sennen playing an early tour date there. In retrospect, that turned out to be a blessing as speaking to them a couple of years later they outlined that it had been a promo event and they had only been allowed to undertake a very late post-midnight short set in front of an unresponsive corporate audience.