Tag: Manchester Ritz

Manchester Venue 93 – Rose and Monkey

Nearby to Shudehill Bus Station, you will find two fine old-fashioned boozers, The Angel and the Marble Arch, the naming of the latter indicating its linkage to the Marble brewery and the pub also has the added bonus of a sloping floor, evident even before you have imbibed a drop of ale! If you then headed from there over towards Ancoats you would locate the Wing Yip Chinese supermarket where Gill and I used to visit in the 90’s to obtain ingredients for us to be wannabe chefs during the time Gill was undertaking her nurse training further across the city.

Marble Arch pub. Image Credit timeout.com

Back on Swan Street is the food hall Mackie Mayor where you can take your pick from a choice of cuisines and a plethora of craft beers, and I have sampled a couple of wares there, including some tasty pizzas. Mackie seems to have set a trend by inciting other similar establishments to spring up in other suburbs of the city and also at Stockport Market.

Just around the corner is Manchester Rose and Monkey. The building that now houses the pub was built in 1783, the reason for the creation was a reaction to the boom in population resulting from Richard Arkwright building the world’s first ever steam powered mill right outside the front door. Sixty years later it was first recognised as a pub, in fact two, as there was an additional one in the basement! There were many names across the years, The Glasgow Tavern, The Grapes, John O’Groats, Tam O Shanter and then latterly the Burton Arms.  

In the late 19th century, the two local gangs of ‘Angel Meadows’ and ‘Bengal Tigers’ regularly clashed. Around that time the Smithfield Market was built directly behind the pub and the olde world charm of the nearby Smithfield Arms still remains. Music also abounded on the streets with the production via the residents in ‘Little Italy’ of barrel organs and hurdy gurdies and the proximity of the market turned the Burton into a renowned yet somewhat dubious musical establishment.

Manchester Rose and Monkey beer garden. Image Credit mancunianmatters.co.uk

It was a brash Man United football supporters haven in the 90’s before rebadging itself into a real ale pub and a subsequent name change to the Rose and Monkey. It is now a homely establishment, and the small stage is just inside the front door and has hosted events by The Blinders, Goa Express and John Bramwell of I Am Kloot fame who performed in the large beer garden at the rear which contains a fully functioning vegan bar in the summer. There is also a bonny resident pub dog called Django who has somewhat bizarrely been credited on a recent Mysterines album.  

My one musical visit there was during the 2019 Dot to Dot festival. It was the most geographical stretching version of that event I had attended, and we had walked up from somewhere in the Ritz area so were craving a quick sit down. They had closed the front door due to the proximity to the stage, so we gained access via the beer garden.

Upon entering we were met by the sound of a lass who was performing on a piano on the little stage, she had a beautiful voice and was a compelling soothing watch. The artist in question was Megan Dixon Hood from Macclesfield and she has been referenced in the ‘forest pop’ genre and perhaps could be likened to Florence and the Machine and she has recently released her debut album ‘East of the Sun’.   

Megan Dixon Hood. Image Credit bandsintown.com

Manchester Venues 89 to 91

One of the constants of Manchester gig going over the years has been the continuing existence of Manchester Thirsty Scholar, which is a hostelry that lies under the train arches at Oxford Road Station. Once you have navigated down the 56 steps outside the station you walk past the Salisbury pub and Zombie Shack and the Scholar is just to the right further up the cobbled steps. It was adjacent to one of my favourite ever Manchester venues, Sound Control which sadly closed a few years ago.

The Thirsty Scholar. Image Credit frenchysrant.com

I could not find any history reference to the pub, but I have been frequenting at least since the mid 1990’s and it may have been previously called Archie Bar. It was for a spell the only vegetarian pub in Manchester, and they had club nights in the Attic upstairs. It was for a sustained period our first meeting pub point on arrival before very often heading down Oxford Road to one of the Academy venues. It also doubled as the final port of call for a flying beer before scampering up the aforementioned steps to catch the last train.

It is a small cosy pub and has always had some decent ales on tap and regularly has Northern Soul nights with vinyl DJ Martin the Mod spinning some rarely heard 45’s. In more recent times it appears to have more of a jazz slant.

They regularly have live bands on who play on the raised area to the right of the bar, and I have inadvertently caught a few performances there, many after attending other gigs in the city. I have never paid to watch a band apart from attending one year when the venue was part of that year’s Dot to Dot festival roster.

The first band I saw there in 2013 was a rather woeful U2 tribute band. At the Dot-to-Dot event later that year I witnessed Ellie Rose who was a singer songwriter who napped a prestigious spot a couple of years later at the BBC introducing stage at Glastonbury and she released a suite of singles in 2019.

In 2017, Uncle George and I landed there after a Car Seat Headrest gig at nearby Ritz and there was a band on stage, who when approached for their name stated ‘We Don’t Have One’ so naturally that became their new moniker in the Jimmy annals. The remaining four gigs there involved house jazz bands.    

There is a decent sized sheltered beer garden outside the pub and in 2020 prior to seeing Ladytron at the Ritz there was a temporary Manchester Thirsty Scholar Outside Stage set up where I witnessed a chap called Acoustic Dave play. 

The Revolution bar chain has been trading since 1996 but the story began in 1991 when two friends opened a small bar in Ashton-Under-Lyne. This has now expanded to 69 nationwide outlets and also the spin off Revolution De Cuba bars. There used to be a Revolution in Preston on Main Sprit Weind which occupied the site of Lou’s Longbar, one of the first pubs I ever visited in my youth.   

Manchester Revolution Bar. Image Credit keytothecity.co.uk

There are currently three branches in Manchester, namely on Parsonage Gardens and Deansgate Locks and the remaining one is Manchester Oxford Road Revolution. I have naturally in my time visited all three sites! On the 29/04/16, Gill and I happened to visit prior to catching the train and an act called Ste and Cassey were performing in the corner of the pub.