Preston Mad Ferret – Page 2 – jimmysgigapedia.com

Preston Venues 28 and 29 – Strettles/Bitter Suite

Down an alley on the left-hand side of the entrance to the Mad Ferret pub on Fylde Road lies the Strettles Bar. That was the original name when the bar first came into existence around the turn of the century.

I think it was linked to the Strettles Property Letting company which was located in Lancaster Road in the old Coconut Grove pub building. The Coconut Grove was a short-lived surreal attempt at a beach bar that endeavoured to resemble Club Tropicana, somewhat unsurprisingly it was massively under populated and subsequently closed. Opposite in the early 90’s was the Spindlemakers Arms which I recall had a commendable three pool tables located within.

Strettles changed to a new moniker of Bitter Suite in February 2006 and was run by the former landladies of the New Britannia pub on Heatley Street. It quickly became a haven for real ale drinkers with a plethora of handpumps available. It was formally recognised by CAMRA and was twice a winner of the prestigious George Lee Memorial Trophy award. On 31/01/14 it became the Ale Emporium and was run by the previous landlords of the Sun Hotel on Friargate. It then became Speakeasy but unfortunately, the latest update I can find displays this venue now as permanently closed.

Strettles in its final incarnation as the Speakeasy. Image Credit blogpreston.co.uk

Throughout this twenty-year period the bar remained unchanged and always resembled to me a slightly spruced up social club. You could always obtain some fine ale in the downstairs area which stretched round to a decent pool table at the back of the bar, I also watched a couple of football matches in there. It was a regular venue for a break between bands when attending the adjoining Ferret.

My first musical outing there was in Strettles Upstairs Bar which was more of a function room that could be hired out for private events. In July 2002 I saw two local bands called Head2Wall and Freak Jesus.

In the Strettles Downstairs Bar I attended six gigs in total. The stage was immediately to the right as you entered the venue. It was mainly a blues-based venue and my first foray there was to see a band called Silvertones on 25/09/10.

In Feb 2013 and July 2014, I saw the Band with No Name there. On the second visit, I witnessed our neighbours Jean and Bill Hunt jigging away at the front and discovered that their attendance was for a very justifiable reason as their son was in the band. They were an older couple who lived a couple of houses away at our last Preston house in the Withytrees area of the city and they were very accommodating when we moved by storing boxes for us. Bill was a real character and had a laudable musical heritage as he had been a member of many folk bands over the years.

Around the time was also saw Route 66, a five piece covers band from Barrow in Cumbria and Ramshackle, a four-piece blues band. I additionally saw a combo called Frayed at the Edges there.

My final gig I am covering from 2013 was a special one as it was to celebrate local musician and friend Jez Catlow’s 50^th birthday. It was very well attended and what Jez had decided to undertake was sets by all three bands he had been part of. The first was Last Orders which I don’t think had played together for an age.

The other two were more instantly recognisable as Pike and Deadwood Dog. Jez played for about 2.5 hours that night but took a well-deserved rest as Dan Donnelly topped off the night.

Nottingham Venues 26 to 29

Situated bang in the centre of town is Nottingham Bodega (previously known as the Bodega Social) opposite the Pit and Pendulum pub on Pelham Street. The venue opened in 1999 and comprises of a small welcoming venue upstairs with a capacity of 200 and a bar area downstairs. In their embryonic days they welcomed very early performances by the likes of White Stripes and the Strokes, and the venue is still going strong over 20 years later.

My first visit there was in 2006 to see Quasi, an indie rock band from Portland, Oregon comprising of an ex-spouse couple. Their sound was all too angular and obtuse and didn’t move me at all in anyway. They were supported by a band called Home Science. In 2009 I saw a couple of local bands runWALK! and Shapes there.

In April 2010 the plan was to complete a double header of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club dates as the gig four days before at Manchester Ritz was to be followed by a further date at Nottingham Rock City. However, via a phone call en route I was informed that the second date had been cancelled at short notice which was rather deflating at the time.

Thus, an alternate gig needed to be sourced and the Paddingtons fitted the bill. They were a rock band from Hull and produced a fine set and were supported by the Jet Boys.

See the source image — The Bodega venue. Image Credit Pollstar.

My next gig there a year later was to see the local shoe gaze legends Spotlight Kid who I had first seen a couple of years earlier and they produced another stellar and blissfully noisy performance. Shortly after that they headed over to my patch to play the Mad Ferret in Preston, but I was unfortunately unavailable for that gig. My final gig there was to see a decent New York punk band called the Skaters.

As previously alluded the Nottingham Bodega Ground Floor was primarily the main bar however, they periodically had acoustic gigs there under the Hockley Hustle banner. On the 2007 shindig I saw Chris Macdonald and a Band Called Sarah and on the 2009 edition I witnessed Ali Powers, Sian Alexandria and the quaintly named Ben Playford and the Spooky Boots.

In April 2012 in a decent pub called the Tap and Tumbler on Wollaton Street we saw Mansfield’s finest rock covers band called Three-Legged Cat.

The Arboretum is a large welcoming green area above Forest Fields alongside the tram line into town. There used to be a pub called the Arboretum on the fringes which we frequented on sunny days at the end of last century.

It was known as the ‘pub in the park’ and was highly popular with students from the nearby Trent Polytechnic (now Nottingham Trent University). It suffered two significant fires, one in 1965 and the second in 2006 was the death knell to the pub leading to its demolition. The Arboretum area has been on the national news this week for all the wrong reasons with large gatherings and litter louts gathering there, but this is patently a national problem and not just isolated to Nottingham.

On a balmy Sunday in June 2012 prior to heading back home my brother, Uncle George and I headed up to attend a food and drink festival in the park area. Whilst munching on a tasty snack we witnessed a local Turkmenistan influenced hip hop trio called Balkan Express tinkling away on a small stage in the corner.

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