Tag: Manchester Deaf Institute

Manchester Venue 135 – Bread Shed

On the opposite side of Grosvenor Street from the Deaf Institute venue you will find the Sand Bar. This is one of the many hostelries within the Oxford Road corridor, but it is a singular Manchester institution and one of my fave places to visit. It came into existence in the mid-90’s and I have been attending there for pre-gig drinks for many years. It is housed in an old industrial mill with an olde world feel and has an unprepossessing and almost hidden entrance. They have always served fine beers and was the first place that I was aware of that stocked continental lagers and was the location of my first sampling of the Bavarian Schneider Weisse wheat beer!  

Manchester Sand Bar. Image Credit flickr.com

On the next corner is another watering hole with the previously very simplistic name of ‘The Pub’. It is housed in a Grade II listed building, and they regularly have quiz nights and open mic nights, this one being more of a sporadically visited hostelry. A recent artistic addition to their side wall in May this year was a large mural of Kurt Cobain. At the back of this pub for many years there was a nightclub called the Zoo, now a singular music venue called Manchester Bread Shed.

I first visited the venue in its Zoo nightclub phase as part of the Dot to Dot festival event in 2013 and the act on stage was Beans on Toast which is the stage name of folk singer Jay McAllister who derives from Braintree in Essex. He is a prolific musician and has recorded fifteen albums since 2005 and has a liking for releasing them on his birthday of 1st December.

The Bread Shed. Image Credit designmynight.com

To be honest, he was not my cup of Yorkshire Tea though there were many punters in there who were lapping up his performance. On a personal front, my day improved dramatically immediately after as I caught a startlingly good Wolf Alice set across the road in the Deaf Institute.

In August 2017 the site rebooted as the Bread Shed and the owners Stonegate Pub Company spent £450k on upgrades. The unusual name derived from the history of the building as in the 1900’s it was the Duncan & Foster bakery site. This was also reflected in the attached pub revising its name to the Flour & Flagon. It was set up as an events space with a 480 capacity and beyond the live music they also reinstated the XS Malarkey comedy night that had for a short period been rehomed at the Comedy Store.   

Prior to attending a Fontaines DC gig at Gorilla in 2019 I cheekily blagged my way into the venue and caught a portion of a pretty woeful Iron Maiden tribute who were at the same low calibre level of the ‘legendary’ Damascus gig (my third ever gig) at Preston Clouds in 1984!   

My next visit was in October 23 where Marcus and Anita attended with Gill and I. Marcus had some ticket issues on the door but managed to negotiate his way in. The band we had come to see was the Boo Radleys who I was witnessing after a 29-year sabbatical as I had not seen them since two gigs in 1994. They were on a rotating joint headline tour and were the support on the night and were in excellent form with the fabulous ‘Lazarus’ being performed towards the end of their set.  

The headliners were Cud who are an electro indie band from Leeds who I had surprisingly never seen before. They formed in 1987, broke up in 1995, but reformed again in 2006. In their first incarnation they undertook a cover of Hot Chocolate’s ‘You Sexy Thing’ which garnered a number 20 position in John Peel’s festive fifty in 1988. Their lead singer is Carl Puttnam who can be marmite to some people, and I honestly didn’t approach them with high expectations. However, these chaps could play and were seriously good fun, reminding me of the vibrancy of Electric Six’s live performances.   

Cud band. Image Credit 3loopmusic.com

My latest visit was in April this year to see the ska/punk sounds of Snuff for the eighth time. Just when I was thinking the audience were very quiet on the first three tracks and not resembling an archetypal Snuff crowd they then played ‘Soul Limbo’ cricket theme, and the place went ballistic! So much so the instantly created moshpit had a kick back and Uncle George was knocked back onto the floor and temporarily flattened, but he is literally made of Teflon so bounced straight back up again! I had a rare foray into the pit myself for a few tracks and as ever thoroughly enjoyed their show!    

Preston Venue 26 – 53 Degrees Club Part 2

I recall one particular gig at Preston 53 Degrees Club where I was endeavouring to read the set times which were located behind a white line at the side of the stage. This generated an increasingly fraught exchange with an over-officious bouncer who insisted I ask him to have a look as I could not possibly cross the white line. I felt like that mischievous character in Monsters Inc!

In early 2008 I saw another band with a big reputation namely the Courteeners. They were formed in the Manchester area with the lead singer and songwriter Liam Fray being a previous Salford University alumnus. They were three months shy of releasing their gold selling debut again ‘St Jude’. They regretfully didn’t cut it for me as despite some good moments they fell into the ‘lad rock’ category.

October 2008 saw my next visit to see Dirty Pretty Things. They had formed after the breakup of the London band the Libertines and featured Carl Barat and the drummer Gary Powell from said band and had also recruited Didz Hammond from Cooper Temple Clause. They had announced they were going to split 2 days before the gig so we as a result we caught them on their final tour.   

In February 2009 the infamous John Cooper Clarke was in town which coincidentally was mine and my good pal John Dewhurst’s 100th gig together. He was good fun and was cognisant of the location as he humorously embellished his act with anti-Blackpool gags!

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John Cooper Clarke. Image Credit The Daily Telegraph.

Eighteen months later I saw Ash, who I have seen numerous times, but this was the first time in Preston. They had built up a commendable back catalogue by that point and they were very enjoyable.        

Later that year I saw the old timers Wedding Present, a mere 22 years since I had first seen them. They as ever ploughed their C86 sounds to good effect.

There followed a three-year gap before I saw the punk stalwarts Ruts DC who unlike many of their counterparts still hold their relevance. They formed initially in London Town in 1977 and produce a reggae-influenced punk sound. They were originally titled as the Ruts before adding DC to their moniker.

They were in good form and their two mainstay hits ‘Babylon’s Burning’ and ‘In a Rut’ went down a storm. They were supported by Burnley’s Not Sensibles.

 

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Ruts DC on stage. Image Credit Sunderland Echo.

A big local gig occurred on 19/10/13 when my mate Jez Catlow’s band Deadwood Dog performed their first headline gig there. I know it was a big moment for Preston’s finest bouzouki infused punk rock band and they were in tip top form. They were supported by their erstwhile supporter, the singer Dan Donnelly from Belfast who has performed as a live musician for Joy Zipper, the Levellers and Wonderstuff.  I saw them there again the following year supported by Matt Gallagher.  

In mid-2014 I saw Wolf Alice for the second time having witnessed a gobsmackingly good performance from them at the Deaf Institute the year before. They were still good value with their star quality evident but overall not quite as sharp that night, but it is somewhat tricky firing yourself up in front of a half full inactive audience on a cold Tuesday night in Preston!

Completing a full circle from their inaugural performance in 2005 The Subways made a return to the club venue in 2015. They produced their usual energetic performance. 

When the main venue downstairs closed in 2015, they continued to have sporadic performances upstairs which included my final visit on 21/04/17 to see Electric Six. They were as ever good clean fun but not in the same league as their astonishingly good performance when I saw them for the first time at the old University venue in 2003.