Junktion 7 was a venue located on Canning Circus. Its initial incarnation was a flagship Home Ales pub The Royal George, then an Irish bar the Shillelagh prior to opening as a music venue for the period from 2002 to 2008. It then reopened as Seven prior to closing for good in 2011 and was demolished to build student property in 2016.
For a music venue, it was reasonably plush with polished floors, solid oak tables and a throwback table top Space invaders machine.
I attended two gigs there in that period, the first on 23/04/05 to see Sound Explosion supported by Swarm. The headline band were a garage rock band from the North East who were whirling dervishes and created a thunderous racket. I recall the guitarist somehow managing to perch himself on the bar whilst continuing to play on regardless, they were great fun.
I thought they had potential to progress but disappointingly disappeared without a trace shortly after.
My other visit was on my brothers 40th birthday with Gill in tow. He had a party in the early evening with far too much jazz playing for my liking and so we headed out for something hopefully more raucous.
We saw two local bands, Lo Ego and the Drapes. The main band had been touted beforehand but they left little impression on me. They broke up in 2008 and the lead singer Martin Collins subsequently converted his career to a different direction as a stand-up comedian.
The Old Angel on Stoney Street in the Lace Market is a Grade 2 listed building dating back to the 1600’s. It has an interesting history as it was the site of two murders, a policeman and a prostitute in the 1700’s and it is said to be still haunted by the young prostitute. It was previously both a brothel and a chapel and deep below the pub, beyond the beer cellars lie caves in the shape of a crucifix.
The old chapel upstairs with its double height ceiling with dark walls was the gig venue and it could get rather tropical up there. The musical palate of the venue modelled itself down the ear bashing metal and punk rock lines. It was a friendly though slightly weather-beaten pub with three separate rooms downstairs.
My first gig there on 17/06/07 was to see Ordo Ab Chao but they were outshone by the support band, the delightfully named the Smears. They are a female trio punk band from Nottingham, and they were terrific fun.
I saw Itchy Arris there in 2009 and I also saw a band called Meinhof on 31/08/13. At the second named gig there was only in the main family and friends in attendance. Thus, when they asked who in the crowd did not know the band, I was the only punter to raise my hand, so they dedicated the next song to me!
On a random night out in October 2014 we gravitated to the pub and there was a fabulous local punk band called X Rays playing in The Old Angel downstairs bar. They were about in the mid 90’s and reformed in 2013. It was 100 miles an hour clean sounding punk, reminding me of Black Flag and they were outstanding.
The pub changed direction again in 2017 when it created its own microbrewery and rebadged itself as a gastropub.