Tag: Clint Boon

Manchester Venues 71 to 73

One of the inherent joys of moving to a brand-new area is continuing to discover new establishments. When we first moved to Manchester in September 2017, we missed on our initial scouting trips the existence of a couple of public houses and adjoining restaurant on Wilmslow Road just after Fletcher Moss Park in East Didsbury. The restaurant around the time, previously the Fat Loaf pub, was a fine Mediterranean tapas called Olive and Vine before closing in 2019 and reopening as Jajoo Indian which has had a chequered history with alleged staff welfare issues.

The boozer directly across from there is the Didsbury which is a former coach house and retains many of its original 18th century features with wooden beams and open fireplaces. It sits on the site of a much older inn, the Ring of Bells which originates back to 1644. The story goes that Bonnie Prince Charlie camped nearby with his army in 1785 recovering after his defeat at Derby (not in a football match!)

It has a very large beer garden at the front, which has recently been refurbished and used to be the location of Didsbury Village Green. The pub is now a Brewers Fayre establishment and serves fine gastro pub fare and was one of the ‘Covid hero’ places for me and thus I hold it in high regard.

I recall us sitting outside in the midst of the lockdown with a couple of friends in our pre booked seats, shivering at 9.30pm in the cold night air but refusing to go home until our time window had expired! One time, I just missed a music act there once as we decided to leave whilst they were still setting up their equipment, but maybe next time!

Literally next door is the Didsbury Ye Olde Cock Inn, and the name provides the very obvious clue to its previous cock fighting history. The building has references back to 1235 and it has had a couple of major refurbishments in bygone times. In the 19th century it had a haunted reputation where the servants refused to sleep on the premises. The owner installed iron gates at the time at the entrance to the adjoining gardens which became locally known as ‘the Gates to Hell’.  The pub gained Grade II Listing in 1974 and the current Greene King owned pub has an olde world feel.

Ye Olde Cock Inn to the right and the Didsbury to the left. Image Credit Flickr.

The pub though always seems to have an unnecessarily disorganised vibe to it which tarnishes its allure, hence not a place we visit regularly. However, on one of our sporadic attendances on 11/11/17 we saw a decent young local singer called Jessica Kemp, who has some Radio 2 airplay and counts Clint Boon amongst her fanbase.   

Further down Wilmslow Road towards Didsbury Village takes you past Didsbury Park. The park being one of the first to be built in the city and was redesigned to include two bowling greens. Reputedly there are rumours of an air raid shelter being located below the football field and it is a pleasant spot on a sunny day.

At the Didsbury Festival alongside competitions for the waggiest tail (dogs!) they utilised the small Didsbury Park Stage, which is arguably more of a park keepers storage area. On this very ‘stage’ were Tinfoils, an enjoyable local three-piece garage punk band.  A month later, at another event I saw an act called Peters Sounds play on Didsbury Park Green (the football pitch!).

Didsbury Park. Image Credit Pinterest.

Manchester Venues 52 to 53

Located close by our present abode in South Manchester is the large Burnage Tesco store, where I have frequented numerous times to purchase my frozen peas. Near the entrance, they periodically have had an admittedly ramshackle but ultimately worthy Cancer Research band playing, who I have witnessed four times.  

As you traverse out of the shop to the traffic lights at Burnage, a right turn into Burnage Lane and a further right takes you into Cranwell Drive. This street contains the childhood home of the Oasis Gallagher brothers. This is almost opposite the Royal Tandoori Indian where they serve the best onion bhajis in the city! Other notable Burnage residents are actors David Threlfall, Max Beesley and John Thaw.

Heading across Kingsway (A34) brings you to Burnage train station which sits on the Manchester Piccadilly/Manchester Airport/Crewe line and when Northern trains are reliable it is a 10-minute journey to the city centre.

Kingsway was initially built in 1928 and initially contained a tram line in the centre of the dual carriageway. It is an extremely busy road but one of the enduring pandemic images for me is that from March to June 2020 it was virtually deserted, almost resembling a Walking Dead set, minus the zombies!

On 28/04/1910 the nearby Barcicroft fields were witness to the completion of the first ever powered flight in a biplane from London to Manchester. It won the French pilot Louis Palihan a £10,000 prize from the Daily Mail. Two special trains were chartered to Burnage station for spectators and many others waited through the night to witness history. 

After the station, there is a row of shops and takeaways including Sifters Record shop where the Gallagher boys bought their first vinyl and the owner who is spookily called Mr Sifter is referenced in the lyrics to ‘Shakermaker’, the second track off their debut album. The shop was also referenced in Liam’s Pretty Green fashion label campaign and is a regular stop on the Manchester Music Tour bus.

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Sifters Records. Image Credit atlasobscura.com

A random Gallagher grouse of mine is their perceived lifetime dotage to Manchester City. I don’t doubt their fanaticism however they famously left before the end of the play-off game v Gillingham in 1999, assuming they would lose before their miraculous recovery to win the match. Now, as a PNE fan who arguably have suffered more than any other club in the play offs, all I would say is despite those continual defeats, I have always been there at the end to applaud my team off the pitch!

On the other side of Fog Lane, you will find the rather fabulous Reasons to be Cheerful beer café and real ale bar. The bar opened in January 2017 and is named after the Ian Dury track and is the self-styled best bar in the Kingdom of Burnage and who am I to dispute that worthy claim! I am so relieved it has survived the pandemic, it is a cosy, friendly venue and highly recommended and we visit when we can.  

Reasons to be cheerful bar. Image Credit reasonsbeercafe.co.uk

A left turn then leads you to the Parrs Wood pub and behind there on School Lane resides St Catherine’s Club attached to St Catherine’s Church and School. They previously sporadically had music events such as Clint Boon DJ sets, but they now have an excellent comedy night once a month.

It is also the site for the annual Didsbury Beer Festival which is a superb event and utilises most of the school area. Like many events they have been pandemic affected and they had to undertake a takeaway event in 2020 and a reduced capacity event in 2021. I am now a proud owner of one of their Beer Festival glasses. I attended the full event in 2018 and within there I saw the James O’Hara Blues band from Leeds.