Tag: Happy Mondays

Manchester Venues 206 to 208

Affleck’s Palace (now simply Affleck’s) is indelibly ingrained into Manchester culture. It first opened in 1982 with the utterly commendable ethos of providing low cost rentals and valuable week by week licences to support local entrepreneurs to take their first precarious steps into business ownership. Affleck’s is embedded in the Northern Quarter and has a unique maze like design set over several floors.

It evolved into a haven for alternative culture and survived two fires and had a golden period in the 1990’s ‘Madchester’ period where you could purchase your latest set of baggy flared jeans for Happy Monday gigs! It nearly closed in 2008, but it is now thriving again and remains busy to this day with all 73 units occupied but has perhaps now fallen into the touristy price trap. I once also had the novelty of watching a noisy garage rock band called Bright Young People in a coffee shop on the top floor as part of the 2016 Dot to Dot festival.

Afflecks Palace. Image Credit hotels.com

In the mid-19th century, a drapery business opened on Oldham Street called Affleck & Brown and was so successful it grew into a full department store and was dubbed ‘the Harrods of the North’. It suffered a downturn in the 1950’s and was bought out by Debenhams before finally closing in 1973. Hilary Mantel, the author of the Wolf Hall trilogy drafted a short story ‘The Third Rising’ which was based on a mother and daughter who were employed at the store.

In 2015, a bar naturally called Manchester Affleck & Brown was opened on Hilton Street in the Smithfield building and located on the original site. I am not a regular visitor but when passing at one point last year, I could hear live tuneage so obviously had to go ‘beyond the threshold’ as Husker Du once stated. Upon entry I discovered they had a little acoustic stage right next to the door and a chap called Johnny was performing.   

In 1989, the Dry Bar nightclub opened and was located next to Night and Day on Oldham Street. The owners were Factory Records and Tony Wilson placed it under the auspices of the Project name FAC 201, and it was a smaller sister to their other most renowned establishment, the Hacienda.

Affleck & Brown. Image Credit useyourlocal.com

The surrounding area was a tad disreputable at that stage but the two door to door venues resulted in sparking the regeneration of the suburb. During its lifetime, it famously barred two lesser known musicians called Shaun Ryder and Liam Gallagher. I recall decamping there in a huff after we had got stung by missing the first portion of an astonishingly early set from Mogwai at nearby Planet K in 2001.   

In 2017, it was sold with planning permission for a boutique hotel which never happened. Then in March 2025, after an eight-year fallow period it morphed into Manchester New Freemount. I have inserted the ‘new’ to distinguish it from the other Freemount branches that exist further down Oldham Street. It contains all the traditional hallmarks of the brand with a large inviting space, open brick interiors and a bonny old fashioned wood panelled bar. They have live music 7 nights a week followed by DJs at the weekends.

After having an excellent meal at the Home Chinese restaurant for Gill’s birthday we gravitated over to the new bar for a couple of drinks. We grabbed some seats and whilst we were in attendance we saw sets from two local musicians, Steph and Gordon. It transpired the timing of our visit was apposite as it got very busy as the evening progressed, even though it was a Sunday and there are regularly queues out of the door on other evenings.  

Nearby Manchester Stevenson Square dates originally back to the 18th century and at that stage it was a waste land with numerous daub holes, which are apparently boggy clay pits. In the latter half of the 19th century, it was hugely popular for open air speakers with its high point being in 1877 when 50,000 people gathered to celebrate the opening of the Town Hall.

Stevenson Square. Image Credit manchesterwire.co.uk

The residential properties surrounding the square were converted to busy commercial units, but that period ended when the city’s main shopping area moved to reside around the new Arndale Centre, which was opened in 1975.  

Nowadays the area contains a plethora of bars and food outlets, many with pedestrianised outdoor al fresco spaces. One night last year I was traversing through there and this is the only time I have witnessed it, but a pop up stage had been erected in one corner and a lass called Vancouver Val was performing.  

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.