Tag: Eamonn

Preston Venues 63 to 65

I am returning this week to the town of Chorley, which was one of the key lynchpin locations during the Second World War as its sister village Euxton was the home to the Royal Ordnance Factory which provided vast numbers of munitions which greatly assisted the war effort. When I used to sporadically play golf very poorly, we made a few visits to nearby Duxbury Park.  I recall on the 10th hole they had a lake in situ on a very steeply inclining fairway that I could never clear and lost a plethora of golf balls in that pesky water hazard.   

This is now the continuing tale of the evening of my debut attendance at the ‘Deadwood Dog’ Foxtails bar. Prior to attending there we made a visit to the nearby Chorley Last Orders at the Lamplighter on Market Street, which adopted that name in 2015.

Lamplighters. Image Credit proper-pubs.com

The town is intrinsically linked to the market, and this goes all the way back to them initially receiving an official market charter from King Henry VII in 1498. This authorised for a weekly market to be instigated which has continued for over six centuries and takes place every Tuesday. The street like many other provinces contained a Woolworths, this time in an art deco building prior to its untimely demise in the 1990’s.     

The Lamplighter is one of the oldest remaining hostelries in the town and dates back to around 1793. The current name pertains to the role of lighting streetlamps in the evenings which was phased out in the 1930’s when they began to be automatically controlled, before electricity was introduced in the 1950’s.  

Its original moniker was the Joiner’s Arms, and this was exemplified by the initial landlord Thomas Green who was listed as a joiner and cabinet maker alongside his innkeeper status. As in keeping with the many pubs of that era, they were listed as one of the lodges of the Freemasons and many such ‘dubious handshake’ meetings took place there. It was in later years called Dicey Riley’s and then The Entertainer.  

It was a renowned local music pub in the 1960’s with singers Julie Jones, The Golden Girl and Ozzy Williams performing there. Ozzy was reportedly very well respected to the stage that at his funeral in 1970 he apparently stopped the traffic on Market Street. It is a traditional large room establishment, and they stage music at the weekends and on our foray, we saw a singer called Desmond playing.

Market Street back in the day. Image Credit wwwpinterest.com

Post-gig we also had a quick visit into Chorley White Bull’s Head which is a large double-fronted terrace pub.This is another one from bygones times and records indicate that it is the oldest public house in the town residing in its original building and still bearing its primary name. It was in its early days a meeting point for traders after their day at the nearby market.

Apparently, members of Boyzone and Westlife were spotted in there after their surprising purchase of the local football team in 2023. Thankfully, there are no reports of them performing any tunes whilst there! When I attended, there was a local performer called Tommy playing on a stage in the corner.   

A couple of years earlier on a previous skelp over we darkened the door of Chorley Nelipott Bar on Chapel Street nearer to the railway station. It has an affiliation back to the ‘dark satanic mills’ by being housed in what was previously a weaver’s cottage.

White Bull. Image Credit beerintheevening.com

It opened originally in 2016 as Speakeasy Bar, one of the first small micro bars to appear but since then many have followed suit, and I think Chorley is up to double figures now in this regard. It briefly changed to Warp & Welt, another reference to earlier times, then in June 2019 to its current name. It is independently run and has two lounge rooms downstairs and stairs that take you up to a function room. It also has a small outdoor space at the rear for the ‘days of summer’ and on my particular visit I saw a singer called Eamonn.

Gigs from Abroad Part 23 – Belfast Part 2

My second trip to the fair city of Belfast was on the lads first post-covid trip in 2023 as we thought we would reboot the annual shindig that year by going for a nearby location instead of mainland Europe.   

We headed over on an early flight from Manchester to the International airport with five of us in total but additionally with Moggy and Gareth ploughing an alternate furrow into the City airport. Late morning found us tucking into a huge fry up in one of the numerous cafes dotted around the city streets.

A proportion of the travelling crew were fans of the Slow Readers Club who happened to be playing in town that very evening. In fact, Moggie and Gareth had earlier had a star spot when they encountered members of the band at the airport, and it transpired after a brief chat and photo shoot they were also on the same flight.

After we located and booked in at our hotel in the Cathedral Quarter and Jez Catlow found his room which was down an ‘infinity and beyond’ corridor. He was also not assisted later on by the fact that his door card needed resetting a couple of times which involved each time a long trog to reception and back! 

John Hewitt pub. Image Credit niplanner.com

Our first port of call was just around the corner to the John Hewitt, the namesake being a poet and socialist who opened the Unemployed Resource Centre in 1983 which evolved into the public house and restaurant in 1999. It is the first social enterprise bar in Belfast. They had some fine ales available and regular live music, and we did return the following night to endeavour to catch some tunes but were denied entry as they had closed the doors due to the rest rooms being unavailable. 

Our next venue was the Belfast Kitchen Bar which prior to its opening in 1859 was a women’s boarding house. It was located next to the Empire Theatre so hence regularly full of actors and thespians. In July 2004, it was controversially and shamefully demolished to make room for the Victoria Square shopping centre. The bar then moved to a new location nearby in 2005 and they host regular live music including a chap called Gerry on our sojourn there.

The next hostelry of choice was the Belfast Garrick on Chichester Street, it was a homely traditional pub with three bars. It has been in situ at that site since 1870 and evolved into its current name in 1892 with a purported nod to the fashionable Garrick Club that was in vogue in London at that time. They have regular bands performing and on the night it took me a little time due to the hubbub in the establishment before noticing there was a ceilidh band playing quietly away in a corner by the door.

We then grabbed some tucker before heading down to the main event at Belfast Limelight 2. The venue has been in operation since 1984 and consists of three separate spaces, the first being the rooftop terrace the Rock Garden which stages live shows, the second is Limelight 1 which is the newest kid on the block and Slayer and Steve Earle have played there. We were in Limelight 2 which is the slightly smaller venue, which was in place when the club first opened, and luminaries such as the Strokes and Joe Strummer have performed in that space.    

Slow Readers Club on stage at Limelight. Image Credit limelightbelfast.com

Slow Reader’s Club evolved in 2009 from the ashes of 2000’s rock band Omerta and the four piece contains Wythenshawe siblings Aaron and Kurtis Starkie. In the spirit of the 1980’s ethos, they have been patently DIY in their approach via relentless gigging, social media endorsements and the self-release and design of their first two albums. These components all resulted in developing a loyal fanbase which reminds me of the Hold Steady level of fervency. Their third and fourth albums bore the fruit of these endeavours as they both hit the Top 20. They are not totally my bag, but they put on a decent show live and are firmly in the Interpol/Editors mould.

Also in the audience was my pal and superfans Ian Watson and his wife Elise who were travelling around watching the band and attended the Dublin show the following night. Post gig, we decamped to the nearby Belfast Pug Ugly’s Draft House which was a tidy little bar with an orange exterior. On an elevated stage there we saw a chap called Eamonn playing.  

The following day we jumped on the train to the bonny town of Bangor with its funfair and its seaside walks. The second pub we visited was the famous Trident pub immortalised in the opening lines to Stiff Little Fingers ‘Alternative Ulster’, namely ‘There’s nothing for us in Belfast, The Pound’s old and that’s a pity, Okay, there’s the Trident in Bangor, and then you walk back to the city’. We stayed there a while and watched a chaotic Grand National.  

Bangor seafront. Image Credit sunnybangor.com

When we landed back in Belfast, Uncle George, Jez and I had an excellent curry in one of the local restaurants before heading back to Belfast McConnell’s near our digs.  It was a cavernous pub with several rooms, and we negotiated our way past the bouncers into the large music room. There was a bash em out band called Aidan’s Boys, and the venue was absolutely bouncing with a terrific atmosphere. We leaned on the corner of the bar and sampled a couple of fine Guinness’s.

On the Sunday we worked our route via a couple of hostelries prior to arriving back at the airport. We had a less troubled route than Moggy and Gareth whose flight was cancelled, and they were subsequently put up for a night in a hotel before departing the next day. They were also fortunately provided with a small stipend with which they chose to spend on more ale!