Tag: Preston Wheatsheaf

2025 Gigs – Part 1

After an initially sluggish start to the year the concert attendances began to exponentially increase as the months progressed and by the time Hogmanay arrived, I had created a personal best of 200 gigs and alongside that a total of 95 new venues visited. At the time I thought that would transpire to be an unbeatable gig number; however, the numbers are rattling along in 2026, and I have given myself a chance to surpass it, but time will tell in that regard! As in the previous annual review articles I shall only incorporate venues covered in previous blogs. 

So, let us begin initially in chronological order with a visit back to the God’s country on Preston on the 25th of January. After watching Preston earn a slightly fortuitous 2-1 victory over Middlesbrough, I met up with John Dewhurst and Uncle George for a few scoops. We started in the Eldon pub and then travelled over to my old stamping ground of Ashton Lane Ends.

I lived in that area for nine years and the sole pub during that period was the Lane Ends, but there is now a veritable pub crawl as four new pop-up bars have appeared in that district. We had a skelp around those establishments before grabbing some tea at the Silk Route Indian restaurant. Post-food we walked up to the Preston Wheatsheaf which as ever was well populated, and a band called Groove Thing were performing.  

The Lane Ends pub back in the day. Image Credit www.bing.com

There was another Preston trip in August with Gill added to the crew this time and we were celebrating a more consequential and deserved 2-1 win over Leicester. We encountered local legend Big Steve near the Wallace and Gromit monument whilst we were heading towards Preston Market.  On the stage they have located outside the Orchard Bar that night was a local singer called Phil Ireland.  

The original Wheatsheaf gig inspired me to kick start my year in earnest so four days later I headed into the city on a solo trip to hunt down some gigs in order to boost my numbers. I visited Lost Cat and Affleck and Brown for the first time which have been covered in past articles. I also attended Manchester Matt and Phreds and on stage was a Liverpool band called Sweet Beans whose music has been classed as either riot jazz or daft funk! I returned a month later and at another free show the Jazz Quarter were playing.

The Whiskey Jar. Image Credit www.skiddle.com

Also visited was what I now call Manchester Old Freemount on Oldham Street (renamed since to the Mother of Invention) where a chap called Jeff was playing. I also attended three other times that year with different singers each time. There was the obligatory foray to Manchester Whiskey Jar on the way back to Piccadilly train station where I saw a double act called Steph and Alan. Before the year was out, I saw a couple of further shows at that venue.

The final one to tick off that evening was to the Manchester Copper Bar, which has been another welcome addition to the roster and where they regularly have free gigs. On that particular visit the band on stage was a local act called Windbourne. The Copper Bar is the parallel room to the Manchester Band on the Wall and sometimes they have bands playing as an addendum to gigs in the main room.

Band on the Wall. Image bandonthewallseetickets.com

On one such visit I witnessed a combo named Love Like Me after we were leaving a show next door. The primary reason for our attendance was to see the reformed Pains of Being Pure At Heart for the sixth time in total who were in excellent fettle. They were touring their superb eponymously titled debut album and as soon as the distinctive chords of the opening track ‘Contender’ assailed my ears I knew we were in for a treat. Our small but perfectly formed group also included Gill, Marcus and Anita and we had undertaken pre-gig aperitifs in the nearby Smithfield Market Tavern.   

I have also made a visit to Manchester Nancy Spains (previously known as the Corner Bar) on Hilton Street adjacent to Stevenson Square where I saw a singer called Paddy. Over on Oxford Street I caught my tenth gig at Manchester Albert Schloss where Jasper was performing on the small stage.

There was an isolated trip into Levenshulme to the Manchester Bia Café Bar where I saw the regular chilled house band sounds of Grace Kelley and Debbie Garvey. 

Preston Venue 27 – The Wheatsheaf

Preston Docks was a thriving metropolis back in the 1960’s and at that point boded well for the future of the town but its luminous period gradually faded and the whole area was regenerated in the 1980’s.

One of the famous spots that appeared in the area around that time was the Manxman, which was original a ferry between Isle of Man and Liverpool before became a floating nightclub which I frequented only the once on a Tuesday night in 1988 at Dave Keane’s 21st. It was also the venue where my pal Tony Dewhurst met his future wife Pam.

See the source image
The Manxman making its grand entrance into Preston Dock. Image Credit Flickr and Mrs J Fielding.

It was then towed to Liverpool where it remained as a nightclub in the Trafalgar Dock area before subsequently landing in Sunderland where it was dismantled in 2012. Two lesser-known facts I discovered are that it was used a location for the Barbara Streisand film Yentl and a pre-married Richard and Judy recorded a Granada series called Scramble there.  

I also spent 7 happy years working at Albert Edward House in that area in the 90’s. The building used to have a canteen where for the first time since school I re-encountered the culinary delights of Manchester Tart. They also used to have a pool room where I arranged a couple of large tournaments between work colleagues, I also now and then did a little bit of work!

When we used to venture out at lunch, we walked through a suite of industrial units prior to accessing Strand Road. The end unit was Oyston Mill which for a period in the 80’s/90’s was a band rehearsal space.

My good friend Paul Catterall was in a band at the time and used to frequent the there and a local metal band called Xentrix often occupied the adjacent rehearsal space. The band achieved some short-lived airplay with a Ghostbusters cover.  

The landmark breakthrough Dinosaur Jr track ‘Freak Scene’ was recorded in 1988 and within the wonky video there is a yellow Fisherman statue. I recall this video being played mercilessly at the time by Snub TV, a BBC2 teatime programme devised by Janet Street Porter. The video was recorded in a garden in a West Didsbury house which was rented by John Robb.

However, I have seen incontrovertible video evidence provided by Paul that this statue used to reside in Oyston Mill, though it remains unclear whether this was before or after the recording of the video. 

In those days there was a thriving work social scene, and many Friday lunchtimes were spent in local hostelries, one of the regular boozers was the Ribble Pilot sitting right on the dock side. As you progressed round onto Watery Lane you passed the Ship Inn which I believe used to occasionally have bands playing in their large function room. My one memory of that pub is watching Steve Davis beating Joe Johnson in the World Snooker final in 1987. Behind the Ship was located the West Orange recording studio where reputedly Cornershop recorded some material.  

Further down, you pass the longstanding Curry House King Karai which I frequented regularly in the 1990’s before you then reach Umberto’s chippy which never seemed to be closed. Also, in close proximity was Jing Jing, in my view the best Chinese takeaway in the city.   

Up Tulketh Road lies a little homely pub called the Wellington, a couple of mates have an advantage on me there as they saw local band Deadwood Dog play there.

At the bottom of Tulketh Road are two adjacent pubs. On one side is the Grand Junction, not a regular haunt but I recall a group of us scrambling out from work at lunchtime in 1992 to watch the last few overs of England losing the Cricket World Cup final to Pakistan.

Much preferred is the other boozer The Wheatsheaf. It has also been under the moniker of Last Orders and for a spell a Mighty Muldoons. I have always been fond of this pub as it has a variable clientele of ages ranging from 18 to 80.

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Preston Wheatsheaf public house. Image Credit unspecified.

It was a regular venue for watching football including England in World Cup matches beating Columbia in 1998 and Argentina in 2002 and several PNE matches. I recall also watching an England v Scotland where it was so heavily populated, I had to go out the front door and return in via the back door to reach the loos.

The pub periodically had bands on there and my one occurrence was to see a rather noisy local covers band called Contraband.