Tag: John Lennon

Gigs from Abroad Part 12 – Majorca

My first ever holiday abroad was in 1986 at the age of 18 to the Palma Nova resort in Majorca. My old pal Rick Clegg had managed to craftily purloin us the holiday through some chicanery from his employers at the time, a short-lived travel agent company called Jet Wing. The firm was based in Winckley Square, just round the corner from the Winckleys public house in Preston.  

Site of the old Winckleys Public House. Image Credit mawconsulting.co.uk

We were booked on night flights, and I recall us watching the latest episode of Minder before the parental lift to the Aeroporto. On arrival at the apartment complex, we discovered there was no room allocated to us, but they finally found us some digs right next to reception, though it looked like we had taken the room off other previous residents, as there were several feral cats residing outside the patio doors giving us the evil eye!

Whilst there we had many games of pool and Galaxians via 25 peseta coins and lashings of dirty beer. On the Saturday we had to utilise the services of World Service in a bar to retrieve the PNE result. Somewhat predictably, we nearly ran out of money on the last day as the final traveller’s cheque drained away!   

Galaxians. Image Credit blogspot.com

The returning flight was unfortunately redirected to Luton resulting in a 3-hour coach ride back to Manchester. I crawled into bed about 8am before being rudely awakened by a phone call from Rick about 3pm, who had reawakened his Boddingtons Bitter dependency that very lunchtime!  

Majorca is the largest island of the Balearic Islands and is a huge tourist destination with around 28 million passengers passing through Palma De Mallorca airport every year. It has the odd fleshpot locations, but there are many beautiful spots on the island. One of my sporting heroes, the tennis player Rafa Nadal was born and raised and still lives there in Manacor. Other previous and current musical residents include Eakthay Ahn, composer of the Korean national anthem, John Lennon’s ex-wife Cynthia, dance producer DJ Sammy and Sheila Ferguson from the Three Degrees.    

Sheila Ferguson. Image Credit Broadway World.

In subsequent years we have stayed in the resorts of Santa Ponsa and Cala D’or. In 2013 we headed to the most northerly resort of Alcudia. This sits close to Puerto Pollensa and the very picturesque old town of Pollensa old town.

In the resort there was a comfy friendly bar with sofas called Alcudia Bar Du 1. The first time I ever visited the owner who I had never met gave me a bear hug, which was slightly disconcerting, but he was full of joie de vivre!  They had a large open-air stage and we saw a decent set there from a band called Soulsearchers.  Further down the promenade there was another stage at Alcudia Harbour where we saw an act called Tres Quatro.

Throughout the fortnight I was tracking Andy Murray’s progress at Wimbledon before we headed home a couple of days before he secured his maiden title. We had glorious weather whilst we were away, and I recall we brought it home with us as Britain had a sustained heatwave for the next few weeks. 

We were able to fly in and out of our small local airport at Blackpool which had the added benefit of instantly accessing the car park outside the building and a very short 30-minute commute home. Unfortunately, it was a last trip out of Blackpool as the airport shut permanently a couple of years later.

Stockport Venue 1 – The Heatons

With the Manchester HS2 leg now officially aborted and as a result potential funds being freed up for other transport projects, there have been increasing rumours about extending the current metro terminus of East Didsbury all the way into Stockport. I believe this proposed route would cross over the River Mersey and traverse in via Cheadle.

The East Didsbury metro stop with its large car park is my nearest station and lies about 20 minutes’ walk away. From there you can begin to navigate up Didsbury Road past the Dog and Partridge pub and at that point you cross over into Stockport.  

The next touchpoint is the petrol station with an M&S attached where during the dark days of Covid, one of our treats was to visit there and purchase the frites and the fresh strawberries with meringues!  

You then reach the Griffin pub which is an archetypal old-fashioned boozer run by the local Holts brewery, which remains as one of the cheapest beers in Britain. It was built in 1831 and still contains two ornate shuttered bars and other original features.

As you continue up the hill you reach Heaton Mersey Bowl on the right which is a large green area containing a couple of football pitches. I recently discovered that a Moor Fest event was held there in 2005 were Mr Scruff, Tom Hingley, Mighty Wah! Clint Boon, A Certain Ratio and Howard Marks were on the bill. Viewing it now, it would be a natural amphitheatre for such a shindig, not dissimilar in layout to Avenham Park in Preston, but the records show that was a one-off singular event.

Moorfest Flyer. Image Credit mdmarchive.co.uk

If you continue down to the right, you arrive at Burnage Rugby Club where alongside the club they have a combined football/golf pitch and putt course. A couple of years ago they held an open-air movie night on the pitch with a screening of A Star is Born featuring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. When we visited Australia, we witnessed people queuing for a Rocky showing in an open-air cinema in glorious sunshine in Sydney Harbour. Our event was not in the same league, it was admittedly reasonably well organised, but the issue was the apocalyptic rain, and it was absolutely bloody freezing!

Back on Didsbury Road you then reach the Conservative Club where my political persuasion has ensured I have never crossed the threshold of any such establishment anywhere in the country. Back in Preston, there was once a family christening at the Con Club off Moor Park, and I was genuinely ill and could not attend but at least my ailment took a tricky decision off the table! The local club does have musical acts on, and my gig venue ‘addiction’ was briefly piqued, but the horrific calibre of acts, for example a Michael Buble tribute act at £20 per pop quickly quashed that thought!

Further up on the right is the Crown pub which has a raised beer garden which is a sun trap in the summer months, and it is a pleasure to sit there and while away a few hours with a Dizzy Blonde (the beer!). It is a proper old-fashioned establishment with wood beams, and I believe they used to do a fine Sunday lunch, but they have not had food on since pre-covid.

The Crown pub. Image Credit blogspot.com

There is an extremely steep cobbled incline by the side of the pub leading down to the river that bears an uncanny resemblance to the ‘Hovis Hill’ from the old 1970’s adverts, though the filming was actually undertaken on Gold Hill in Shaftesbury in Dorset. The hostelry was also used for a pub quiz scene in a recent episode of Cold Feet with the characters played by James Nesbitt and Robert Bathurst having a scrap on the aforementioned street.

A little further is St Winifred’s School where their choir had a moment of fame in 1980 with their number one Christmas single ‘There’s No Quite Like Grandma’, beating tracks by John Lennon and Jona Lewie to the top of the chart. The choir included the future Coronation Street actress Sally Lindsay.     

Back up opposite the Heaton Mersey Bowl is the Stockport Heatons. When I first visited at the back end of 2017 hunting a pub to watch a PNE match it was an interesting establishment called the Frog and Railway. Shortly after it closed and reopened under its current name and was more in the gastropub mould. When sampling some food there in August 2021 there was a local act called Heatons Jazz Band providing a soundtrack.

Before I go this week I must add my homage to the genius songwriting talent of Shane MacGowan. I initially missed the Pogues playing at the Paradise Club in Preston in front of about thirty people in February 1985 despite being in town that night and my brother trying to persuade me to attend. Oh, young foolish 16-year-old Jimmy!

Shane MacGowan. Image Credit withradio.org

I saw them three times after that with the second at the long-gone Manchester International 2 in December 1986 remaining one of my Top 20 ever gigs. They were extraordinary and I never since seen an occasion where about 90% of the audience were dancing, creating a huge communal euphoric experience. If only there was a way to bottle or freeze those moments in time!

I am sitting here misty-eyed listening to the marauding intent of ‘Boys from the Country Hell’ and the warped beauty of ‘A Pair of Brown Eyes’ to name but two of his astounding canon of material. RIP Shane – ‘I Will Have a Pint With You Sir’!