Tag: Mary Anne Hobbs

Manchester Venue 114 – Albert Square Festivals

One of the most famous buildings in Manchester is the neo-gothic Town Hall which obtained Grade 1 listing status in 1952 and currently houses Manchester City Council and other local government staff. The town hall was completed in 1877 after a nine-year build and the small matter of the usage of 14 million bricks! It contains within the Great Hall, which is adorned with Ford Madox Brown’s Manchester Murals, there is also the impressive Clock Tower which is 85 metres high which even has a singular name for the clock bell, Great Abel. 

Manchester Town Hall. Image Credit citybaseapartments.com

The Town Hall’s resemblance to the Palace of Westminster resulted in it being used as a location for the original 1990 version of House of Cards and the BBC drama State of Play. The venue was in fact used to announce the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum.

However, a report in 2014 highlighted the urgent need for modernisation and essential repairs to be undertaken on the building. Subsequently it was closed to visitors in 2018 to undergo a £330m renovation. I have read in the last month that due to ongoing pandemic impacts and the rise in pricing of materials the original completion date has pushed back from July 2024 to provisionally summer 2026.

The building faces St Peters Square to the South and Albert Square to the North. Due to its size and location, the latter named has been used for events and public gatherings including memorials commemorating the Manchester Arena bombing.

It is also a perfect site to host music events so in July 2018 I attended Manchester Albert Square Festival Hall when the 9-day Manchester Jazz Festival was taking place. I grabbed a couple of opportunities to dive into the site for some bonus gigs when heading from work to Manchester Oxford Road station for my commute home. On the first occasion, I saw Minor Swing and on the second I witnessed Squid Ink.

Manchester International Festival. Image Credit ilovemanchester.com

In March 2019 they also had a St Patricks day festival gathering around Cheltenham races time, and I saw the Ceilidh Boys at that soiree. A couple of months later when attending the Dot-to-Dot festival I managed to catch a bonus act called Gobe Band there at a separate event taking place on the square as they were not part of the festival roster of my event.

In 2019 the bi-annual Manchester International Festival took place with the hub location being Albert Square. It was a relaxed set up with lots of food outlets and a couple of real ale tents and with music starting at noon I also had a sally over at lunchtime on the days I was in the office. They set up the music stage under a covered marquee with comfy seats and I always had room when I visited, but I heard it was extremely busy when The Orielles and Working Mens Club played a late evening set there.    

The Orielles. Image Credit soundofbrit.fr

Thus, my first attendance was on 05/07/19 when a group of us were in town and we headed to the site and happened to see House of Ghetto. On my next visit I witnessed Chloe Foy, a singer-songwriter from Gloucestershire who subsequently released her debut album ‘Where Shall We Begin’ in 2021.

The following day there was a Welsh oriented bill hosted by 6 Music DJ Huw Stephens. He introduced a Welsh-language pop band called Gwilym (translates as William), who sounded like they have been influenced by their forebearers Super Furry Animals. Mary Anne Hobbs also hosted a 6-music show on the festival site in a temporary DJ booth and there was the obligatory appearance from the omnipresent John Robb.

The following week I saw a seven-piece local band called Kara. On the lunchtime the next day I witnessed a solo singer Matthew Whitaker and after work the artist was Hannah Ashcroft, a local indie lass who has collaborated with Beth Orton and had support slots with BC Camplight and the Lathums.

My final appearance was when I met up with Gill and we grabbed some tea on the site. Playing that day were acts called Aim Sky High and One Little Atlas who are a local two-piece dream pop combo. They had an ethereal sound and have composed a couple of film scores and have had the opportunity to play at unusual venues such as John Rylands Library and the Whitworth Art Gallery in the city.

Preston Venues 57 to 59 – Garstang

Throughout the blog lifecycle I have had to create lines of definition in relation to regional areas and I have undertaken this via the utilisation of postcodes. Therefore, applying that principle, the town of Garstang falls under the jurisdiction of Preston postcode venues!

Garstang is a small market town that lies equidistant between Preston and Lancaster and was recorded in the Domesday book under the name Cherestanc. Situated on the Great Northwest Highway it was an integral staging post for coaches between London and Edinburgh in the 18th century and was also famous for its cattle and cheese fairs. In 2001 it had the distinction of becoming the World’s first Fairtrade Town.  Famous residents include Rugby World Cup winner Jason Robinson and 6 music DJ Mary Anne Hobbs.

Garstang town centre. Image Credit lancashirecaravanparks.co.uk

My first memories of Garstang were making a visit every May bank holiday to an Aunty who lived there, and this always coincided for when the fair was in town, and I recall we were well fed as there was always a reet good spread!

My first job after leaving college was at a car components shop on North Road in Preston called Partco. I was employed on the old YTS scheme and the weekly ‘pay’ in 1985 was from memory £27.20 for a 40-hour shift. This was 13 years before the national minimum wage was introduced so I was paid a princely £0.68 per hour!

In December of that year, I attended the Christmas works do on a Friday which was at the Vineyard restaurant and then onto Snootys nightclub. In the club I ran into Uncle George who was also on his works shindig, and we got to chatting about having a night out in Garstang the following evening.

Thus, after attending the PNE match on the Saturday afternoon, I headed out to the bus stop at Withytrees to catch the No 41 bus and we had a fine sally around the numerous hostelries in Garstang.

At the end of the evening the last bus coming through from Lancaster simply did not turn up. A discussion ensued and despite George having enough funds to pay for a cab we somewhat inexplicably decided to walk the 11 miles back in the pouring rain! Most of the route is via the busy A6 with a portion of road at that stage with no clear pavement, which in our merry state made it a tad perilous.

Picture of a No 41 bus in Garstang, one of which decided not to keep to the schedule! Image Credit dreamstime.com

We eventually arrived at Broughton traffic lights on the outskirts of Preston where a cab pulled up alongside and offered us a free journey home but being stubborn buffoons, we wanted to finish what we had started, so politely declined. I landed home about 3am and slept like Marty McFly in Back to the Future! I was awoken by my brother to attend the gym on the Sunday morning but understandably had an ineffective session, before going to the Exchange pub for a lunchtime ‘hair of the dog’, and then back to work on the Monday for a rest!      

Garstang town centre has a large Booths supermarket which embraces local produce and has plentiful stocks of the Preston staple of Butter Pies and also has bottles of the high-quality Lancaster brewery beer. They also until recently had a large branch of M and Co where I had obtained many bargains.

Located adjacent to the River Wyre you will find the Garstang Th’Owd Tithebarn. It dates to 1710 and its original purpose was a post-medieval grain storage tithebarn, hence the name. In April 2018 we visited some friends in the town and had a meander into the centre and grabbed a seat overlooking the marina. It so happened this coincided (honestly unplanned) with an outdoor performance by The Lune Valley Jazz band.   

Th’Owd Tithebarn pub. Image Credit tithebarn.pub

We then progressed onto the High Street and another old boozer called Garstang Kings Arms and there was a blues band called Whistle Test playing in the corner. Finally on the music front we visited Garstang Wheatsheaf. The pub first opened its doors in 1717 originally named the Wheat Cake before morphing into the Dog Inn in 1820. On the night we visited a band called The Section were playing who were a rhythm and blues combo hailing from down the road in Lancaster.