Around eighteen months ago Gill had to undergo an unexpected major operation, but mercifully it went as well as could be expected and after a lengthy convalescent period she is now back fighting fit. One by product of this fraught period is that I gained unwanted but extensive knowledge of Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI).
A few years ago, they closed a suite of the outlying suburb establishments such as Pendlebury and Booth Hall hospitals and created a giant central hub. This behemoth of a site contains the aforementioned MRI, Manchester Royal Eye hospital, St Marys hospital and the Royal Manchester Children’s hospital and other education and research facilities.
It is situated within the Chorlton and Medlock suburb between Oxford Road and Upper Brook Street (A34), just beyond the Academy venues and lies opposite Whitworth Park. It is a mile long, and I know that as I have measured it when driving in! It contains two large car parks with commendable staff parking spaces available from the third floor upwards, though it can be a conundrum to obtain a public spot during visiting hours.
Manchester hospital grounds. Image Credit curtismoore.co.uk
There is also a McDonalds, Starbucks and even an M&S Simply Food there. Several buses weave their way through, and it could be a mini country itself, in the mould of Vatican City! On a musical front the local Lime Art Studio undertake a lunchtime concert series which takes place in the Eye Hospital Atrium. They stage around 100 gigs annually with performances from jazz, classical and world artists.
As you depart the more northerly car park your eyes land on the MRI social club which is for staff members only with a £3 annual subscription. They have live sports and in a rather quaint throwback style they have a DJ (quite often DJ Billko based on their websites) on Payday Friday. Though as I wandered past I did wonder if they have ever had bash em up bands performing live there.
The club is now based in the hospital grounds but has had previous different locations and they also had a football team affiliated to them back in the 1970’s who staged their matches at the allegedly haunted and long closed Barnes Hospital in Cheadle. This was previously a mental asylum which always invokes memories for me of Arkham Asylum in Batman’s Gotham city, an establishment I would not have even sent my worst enemies to!
It was also once the setting for a co-produced Italian/Spanish 1974 zombie B movie called ‘Let Sleeping Corpses Lie’ known locally as ‘Don’t Open The Window’. As ever art then later imitated life with a portion of the film dialogue featuring in the 1997 ‘Wizard in Black’ track by Electric Wizard and Carcass had a song in 2020 called ‘‘The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue’ which matched another alternative English title of the movie.
Barnes Hospital. Image Credit mark-davis-photography.com
Many hospitals now have a Discharge lounge to provide a waiting area to receive final medication and to await transport home. We were ensconced there for three hours, and it was a remarkable place resembling nothing less than a soap opera.
There was an Asian elder woman shouting out for bespoke service in a foreign language but in the main being roundly ignored, numerous malady discussions and a regular trip advisor chap who was providing extensive reviews of the soup and sandwich options on the wards, sounding not unlike a Half Man Half Biscuit track! There were also exceedingly weatherworn but patient staff, a piano in the corner and then to put the cherry on top the priest wandered in….
Just outside the hospital grounds is the Manchester Grafton Arms public house, which has had the same name since the 1950’s and in those days, it had a reputation as a rough house street corner boozer. It has been a long standing Holts Brewery hostelry, who in 1984, demolished the original and turned it into a much larger establishment.
It has various music icon murals on the walls within, and they have ‘Jammin’ Thursdays and open mic nights and have also staged ‘Grafton-bury’ live events. I am not a regular frequenter and have never really seen it particularly busy despite its student based location, but for obvious reasons the mention of live music has always intrigued me.
Grafton Arms. Image Credit whatpub.com
I quite often pass on the way home to the bus stop after gigs at the Academy complex and on such occasion after a Slowdive show, I could hear tuneage so wandered in. Alongside a silent TV showing Blackburn playing in the extra time of an FA Cup tie there was a chap called Davie B performing.
My other visit thus far was in May 2025, again after another gig. Now this was an interesting one as I caught the last three tracks of Pist. I wasn’t previously aware of them but researching on the bus home informed me that they derived from Connecticut and were quite legendary in the punk pantheon. They were on the circuit initially between 1993 and 1996 and reformed in 2023. It seemed a slightly incongruous venue for them, but they were excellent.
Their driving force was Bill Chamberlain who was the guitarist and chief songwriter. I have just rather sadly read that Bill passed away last year and their final ever gig was at the Cowley Club in Brighton, so it appears I witnessed them on their concluding tour. They reminded me of Black Flag, and their last single was ‘Right to Choose’ which exemplified their hardcore sound.