Tag: Oasis

Liverpool Venues 8 to 10

The city of Liverpool, much like Manchester excels itself in retaining the grand architecture of vintage buildings. Meeting this particular criteria, Liverpool Old Bank public house on James Street down near the waterfront was originally the National Bank built in 1920. When it reopened as a hostelry it retained the American style ornate grandeur including the original tiled floors and high ceilings. It initially opened under the First National Bar name before morphing into the Old Bank in 2018.

Liverpool Old Bank. Image Credit theoldbankliverpool.co.uk

It contains a large bespoke bar on the ground floor with a smaller mezzanine bar in the upstairs area and it was on this upper deck that a group of us gathered for my pal Joe Glenny’s leaving do in November 2023 as he was jetting off for a career break in Australia. Whilst we were in residence there was a posse of acoustic musicians playing on a small stage downstairs.

I managed to glean one of the performer’s names so can record I saw a singer called Aidan play there. I did subsequently notify Joe a few months later that Mogwai were playing in Sydney when he was in residence there, but he shamefully missed attending the gig, there’s just no helping some people!

On a separate occasion, I was pottering around near Central station, as you do, and on Ranelagh Street chanced upon Liverpool Ranelagh’s Tavern. It is a ten a penny Irish theme bar and there was a singer called Seamus yodelling away in the corner.

Ranelagh’s Tavern. Image Credit ranelaghs.co.uk

Liverpool naturally exploits their hometown history with the Beatles and there are a plethora of bars paying homage to the band down Mathew Street and the most famous of them all is the Cavern Club where they played many of their early gigs.

In fact, between the 9th of February 1961 and the 3rd of August 1963 they performed there 292 times, and they were initially billed as deriving from Hamburg. They were surpassed only by the Hideaways who followed them as the resident house band who played over 400 gigs and were thus rewarded with their name being included on the wall of fame.

The Cavern opened its doors in 1957 as a jazz club with its driving force being a local chap called Alan Synter who found a cellar space which was being used at that stage as a tropical fruit warehouse and prior to that a World War II air raid shelter. It is said that when the club was at full capacity, the heat resulted in a sweet fruity smell emanating from the walls, which then became locally known as the ‘Cavern Perfume’. 

The club then moved on to embrace the mood of the day and rebadged itself as a Merseybeat venue. Bands who played there in that period include Rolling Stones, The Kinks, Black Sabbath, Queen and the Who and the local lass Cilla Black was employed there as a hat-check girl.

The Beatles on stage at the Cavern Club. Image Credit beatlesbible.com

Its history then became a little complicated when it closed in 1973 to make way for a ventilation shaft for the new Merseyrail underground railway. That however was never completed, and the site then turned into a car park. There were plans to reopen it in 1982, but it was identified that it was structurally impossible to do so. Many of the bricks from the original cellar were then sold to raise funds for the Strawberry Fields Children’s home.

At a 90-degree angle across the road, they decided to build a new Cavern which was recreated as much as they could in its original image. The initial owner was the former Liverpool football player Tommy Smith, but it closed again in December 1989 when it lost its licence following a vicious assault on a customer resulting in imprisonment for those involved.  

In July 1991 three friends reopened it and still run the club today. A chap called Paul McCartney returned to play a couple of gigs and secret warm up events were staged there by Arctic Monkeys, Jake Bugg, Travis and Oasis over the years. My one visit to Liverpool Cavern Club took place there in 2013 where I witnessed a singer called Freddie. I walked past recently and noted that they now charge simply for the privilege of entering the establishment, so I may not be visiting again!

Manchester Venues 130 to 132

Levenshulme is a suburb south of Manchester, residing on the A6 equidistant between there and Stockport. If you drive out of the city centre past Manchester Apollo, you will then pass through this area. It is historically badged under Lancashire before falling under the Manchester borders in 1909. Levenshulme is situated next to the suburb of Longsight where the fabulous venues of Manchester Internationals 1 and 2 were located in the mid to late 1980’s and early 1990’s.

It has its own small train station, which is on the London Euston route. A quirky fact is that the 77-yard stretch of road the station is located on has never been christened. Thus, via lottery funding in 2007 an unofficial road sign was erected with the informal locally used moniker of ‘The Street With No Name’. Sadly, though I don’t think Clint Eastwood’s character ‘The Man With No Name’ from Sergio Leone’s ‘Dollars Trilogy’ westerns has ever visited the road!

The Street With No Name. Image Credit flickriver.com

Close to the station is where the weekly local markets were held from 2013, but due to rising costs were closed in 2023. The old ‘dandy’ highwayman Dick Turpin used to frequent the old Blue Bell Inn, a pub which still stands to this day, now owned by Samuel Smiths brewery and an Italian restaurant named Cibus on the A6 has just been awarded the Good Food Guide of best local restaurant in the North West.

Nearby to there your nostrils are assailed by the fine aromas emanating from the McVities biscuit factory. Liam and Noel Gallagher’s mum Peggy used to be employed by them and bring home the rejects and broken biscuits to the two lads which Noel then used to increase his popularity to taking them into school earning him the nickname of ‘Gallagher the Biscuit’.  I became very animated when I discovered they had a shop on site, but then instantly distressed when I subsequently uncovered that it is only open to employees! I think I may need to raise this ultra important anomaly with my local MP!

McVities Factory. Image Credit themanc.com

Levenshulme alumni include actors Arthur Lowe who played Captain Mainwaring in Dad’s Army, and Gwyneth Powell who was headmistress Bridget ‘The Midget’ McClusky in Grange Hill. From the musical spectrum you have Oasis drummer Tony McCarroll and Wayne Fontana who fronted the Mindbenders.  

When it became apparent this year that my accumulation of gigs could feasibly result in attending 200 singular venues in Manchester, I have begun to make a concerted effort to achieve this aspiration by invoking Project 200. In this regard I took advantage of the fact that Levenshulme is the key Irish enclave in the city, therefore they had events on and around St Patricks Day that I could advantage of.

In July 2023 Aunty Ji’s restaurant closed and was taken over by an Irish and Scottish establishment called Manchester Bia Café Bar. They apparently excel with their fried breakfasts and also commendably provide ‘free porridge breakfasts’ every morning for school children where the need arises. They are also licensed and have periodic live music acts.  On the Sunday afternoon of my visit there was an Irish duo called Grace Kelly & Debbie Garvey playing in front of a packed venue.

The Manchester Union Inn is a traditional sports and music pub where on the same Sunday I saw a Manchester University student violinist Coleen Langan perform. As of today’s date, I am now sat on 192 Manchester venues, so a remaining 8 required for my double century!  

The East Levenshulme district was original known as the Talleyrand, allegedly named after the French statesman of that name who was in exile there during the French Revolution. Respecting that tradition there is now an establishment on the A6 called Manchester Talleyrand.

It is a very homely establishment as you initially enter into a dimly lit continental style beer café, and then encounter the in-house STOCK art gallery. They also utilise the small back room as a multi-functional arts space which includes live gigs in its schedule. The establishment is owned by pals Tom Hughes and Dean Brocklehurst, who met when they were working together at HOME.  

The Talleyrand. Image Credit creativetourist.com

I became aware that they were hosting some interesting eclectic sounding bands, and previous acts who have performed are John Otway, TV Smith and Laetitia Sadier from Stereolab. In April 22 we decided to make our debut visit with my pals Paul Catterall and Mark Barry in tow. The latter named is a fine fellow, highly knowledgeable muso and a serial gig goer back in the day but alas now only a very sporadic attendee, so I had to coax him out of semi-retirement!     

The band playing was the Flatmates who were formed in 1985 and part of the C86 scene. The guitarist and songwriter Martin Whitehead formed his own record label The Subway Organisation and were based in Bristol. They are best remembered for their No 2 indie chart single ‘Shimmer’. They disbanded in 1989 but subsequently reformed in 2013 and provided an enjoyable set on the night. They were supported by a fuzzy guitar band from Leeds called Nervous Twitch.