Tag: Happy Mondays

Manchester Venues 199 to 200

In the year 2000 (could be a song lyric there!) a bar opened on New Wakefield Street adjacent to Manchester Oxford Road train station. It was called the Font Bar, and the split-level site was a no frills establishment and became eternally popular with the University students due its cheap drinks. 

Font Bar. Image Credit manchesterbynight.com

For around a decade from 2004 the area was the location for an annual festival called Eurocultured where three local streets were closed and there were over two hundred artists playing over three stages, one being positioned under the arches near to the Gorilla venue, and the residual artwork from that festival remains on the walls today. The festival was initially founded because of that year’s enlargement of the European Union, though those events sound like they from another era considering what has happened since!  

They utilised other nearby bars and venues including Revolution, the Blackdog Ballroom and the much missed Sound Control and it was an event I had never heard of until researching it for this very article. The ethos of the gathering was to embrace and celebrate the European cultural heritage and created eclectic rosters and a sample of this from 2013 included three French electronic music composers who collaborated to form a gypsy jazz trio called Caravan Palace.  

There was also Swordfishtrombones from the Czech Republic, dub step from The Correspondents, Irish dance from the Japanese Popstars and some Ukranian folk dancing with the Orlyk Dance Ensemble to jig along to whilst becoming suitably merry if you imbibed the Swedish cider Rekordelig. Additionally, there was Datarock, labelled as the Norwegian version of ‘Happy Mondays’, who were known for wearing red jumpsuits, though for an unknown reason in 2018 their sartorial choice shifted to all-black versions!  The performers on the acoustic stage were covered live on the then local TV Channel M.

Datarock during their ‘Red’ phase. Image Credit lifeinnorway.net

The Font Bar survived the covid period and even added outdoor seating for the first time prior to the bar closing unexpectedly in January 2023. Their Fallowfield outlet had previously shut in 2018, but their Chorlton branch remains. It was not a bar I visited regularly but had sporadic forays with my last being in September 2022 when Paul, Marcus and I imbibed far too much after a Ducks Ltd show at the nearby Yes venue.  

After a fallow eighteen months, Mother Marys took over the reins and opened in June 2024 with the new venture headed up by nightlife gurus Joseph Finegan, Greg Dwyer and Chris Sharp. The first named had hosted many events at the nearby Gorilla and the Deaf Institute venues and the latter named brought with him the pedigree of also owning the renowned music venue The Fleece in Bristol. They devised a weekly event schedule of an open stage on a Monday, stand-up comedians and regular live bands and DJs across the two gig spaces on other nights.  

They invested in a bespoke KV2 sound system and a state of the art lighting system.  Food was also served with all-day breakfasts and in a homage to the previous history of the building a £2 cocktail called ‘The Font’ was also available. It then suddenly closed in November 2025 due to financial pressures, which was hugely unfortunate as they had at that stage been listed as a shortlisted nominee in the This Is Manchester Awards.

As you enter the bar, Manchester Mother Marys Upstairs Stage was directly facing you in an alcove above the stairwell. I first visited in August 2024 and saw a local singer called Damon playing there.  My next attendance was on 07/12/24 as part of the Year End Festival, where this was being utilised as the base and the ticket collection point.

Mother Marys. Image Credit secretmanchester.com

When I was collecting my wristband there was a local chap called Elijah Jenkins playing. Elijah is a soul singer who initially had a solo support slot with Reverend and the Makers before evolving into a four-piece band. I then headed out in the monsoon conditions to meet Paul in another venue before later returning to base camp. On the second pass we saw Patrick Saint James, a Derry born now Manchester based performer who has been on the support roster for Kate Nash.

When I first moved over to Manchester nine years ago, I was at that stage positioned on a total of 76 venues in the city, and I very quickly achieved my century. The new sites then kept being ticked off enabling me to record Manchester Mother Marys Downstairs Stage as my 200th different Manchester venue. The band to commemorate this milestone was a Rochdale female led combo called Foxglove who provided some soothing dream pop.     

Manchester Venue 181 – Canvas

Dominating a 5.4 acre portion of Oxford Road for many years was the New Broadcasting House (NBH). It was the BBC regional headquarters and contained various departments including BBC Manchester, BBC Northwest, the Philharmonic orchestra and was also furnished with a 180-seat restaurant. Many TV programmes were recorded there including Question of Sport, Dragon’s Den and Red Dwarf.

The old BBC building. Image Credit g7uk.com

It was originally built in 1975 before being subsequently demolished in 2012, when lock stock and barrel everything relocated to Media City at Salford Quays. During this period one of the Kro branches (Kro 2) was located next door and served as a sister venue to the one further down the strip opposite Manchester University. I visited there many times pre and post gigs and imbibed a few cold ones in their large outdoor area. Its closure coincided with the shutting down of NBH and it is now a Tesco Express.  

The land remained sparse and derelict for many years before a new development suddenly sprung up, seemingly overnight. This has become known as the Circle Square development and encompassed within this area are student accommodations, office spaces and communal seating within the open plan Symphony Park in the central portion.

Also catered for are the highly important food and drink options, the former including Hello Oriental where I have sampled their wares a few times. The latter incorporates a Federal coffee outlet and a branch of the North Taproom brewery.  

Circle Square. Image Credit circlesquaremanchester.com

On the musical front, there is a 1000 capacity venue which has recently opened called Ambers. They are mainly a DJ based venue and have regular late events across the two function rooms.

The other venue that appeared there was Manchester Canvas which had a day and night concept. It was created by the BeSixth team who owned two established music locales in East London, namely Oval Space and Pickle Factory which are sister venues, located opposite each other in Bethnal Green. They commendably became the first two multi-use venues in the UK to eliminate single use bottles and cups, and the concept of all three establishments was to create a blank canvas experimental ethos.  

There was a ground floor cocktail bar and South American influenced restaurant and function rooms for hire and weekly yoga classes. They also launched a fairly unique membership for under 30’s costing £15 with perks such as free gigs.

The venue appeared ‘as if by magic’ on the gig listings in June 22 in much the same way that the Soup Kitchen did many years earlier, causing me to initially scratch my head regarding its actual location, but the ‘venue bloodhound’ in me soon tracked it down!

My initial interaction was visiting the bar whilst on the way to another gig. I engaged in discussion with the friendly barman regarding the new complex and he generously offered a private tour, which we readily accepted. Downstairs from the bar were two separate but interlinked rooms, the second complete with comfy sofas and a balcony and it was an impressive space even when empty.

This latter space was classified as Manchester Canvas 2, which had a capacity of 200 and where I had booked some tickets for the South London punks Snuff in April 24. However, rather unexpectedly the entire venue closed, and that show was relocated to the Breadshed. Thus, this venue was then added to the ‘Jimmy missing venue’ list where either the venue had closed prior to the gig, or I could not actually attend the event despite having tickets. Previous entries on this list include the Hacienda, Fairfield Club and Jilly’s Rockworld.   

The larger room containing Manchester Canvas 1 had space for 550 punters and had hosted events featuring Liam Fray, Happy Mondays, Dutch Uncles and the Warehouse Project. I attended just the once in September 2023 on a filthy rainy night.

Coach Party on stage at Canvas. Image Credit Aesthete.

The room downstairs on entry had a bar to the left and the stage to the right and the already traditional sticky floor in between. The band that evening was Coach Party, a four-piece indie rock band from Isle of Wight and they had an innate quirkiness to them which I found very enjoyable.

One of the band members Steph Norris used to be a manager of Black Sheep, one of the few music venues on the island. They have since been followed by fellow ‘Caulkheads’ Wet Leg who are making their own large strides in the music industry.

The postscript this week is that this is my 100th Manchester article, a long way away from the very first one that I posted about Manchester Apollo nearly six years ago!