Tag: John Lennon

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’!

Preston Venue 34 – Leyland George IV

The first stop on the Preston to Manchester train line is at Leyland, known by some locals as Leylandi which is about 6 miles in a southerly direction. It is not a place I have visited regularly on a social level, but I do remember undertaking an exploratory trip in the late 80’s, as at the stage I was visiting the hostelries and checking out the merits of many local towns. There was at that time the Tiger pub which was the place to go for coach parties and stag dos, so we ensured we included it on our roster that night. The pub is now long gone and was demolished in 2002.

Also, in that era I used to play pool for the Joplin’s pub in Preston and I recall vividly an away match at a central Leyland pub and for some inexplicable reason they took a dislike to us, and the atmosphere was poisonous. I managed to win the match deciding frame and we literally scampered out of the establishment to avoid a physical altercation post-match!

I have attended a couple of functions at the large Leyland Motors club and there used to be a small excellent Chinese restaurant near the train station that Gill and I used to frequent. I am told that in a similar vein to Chorley there are now numerous ale bars which have sprung up to embellish the town centre.

Around the turn of the century, Gill’s sister Justine was seeing a chap called Phil Bailey (not the Easy Lover one!). Phil was a big music fan and was also an accomplished drummer, and he was always tapping away rhythmically on tables. He was in a suite of different bands, including one with the dainty name of Heavy Fluid Addicts who I once saw at Preston Adelphi.

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The other Phil Bailey! Image Credit Something Else!

His favourite band of mine that he was involved in was Mellowdrive where he teamed up with his brother Ian and three other musicians. Ian was a talented singer and songwriter, and the band’s sound was heavily indebted to early Oasis and John Lennon, so much so they covered his track ‘Mother’ on their fine album …’and everything after’ which had an evocative sleeve cover displaying a picture of distributing their father’s ashes on a mountain in the Lake District.

So, when Phil notified me that they had an appearance booked at Leyland George IV on Thursday 09/08/01 the gang of three, Uncle George, John Dewhurst and I were rounded up for an attendance. We undertook the short train journey and visited a couple of watering holes near the venue, including the original Joplins Wild West pool pub!

The venue was an old establishment situated in Towngate near the big Tesco and was originally known as the Grapes, before changing its name to George IV after his coronation in 1820. It retained the name before changing to Barristers in the early 21st century and is still in existence to this day.

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Leyland George IV Pub. Image Credit chorleyinnsand taverns.blogspot.com

It was a traditional place with a small stage at the back of the pub and the crowd was literally a friends and family affair. They played for about an hour with the album material comprising much of their set, and they were enjoyable. Like many talented local bands of that ilk, they never progressed beyond their debut promise and split into other bands soon after.

We had a parlay with them afterwards and then caught a cab outside the pub and then grabbed a post-gig curry in nearby Lostock Hall before wending our way home.