Skip to main content

A Day in a Humdrum Town

"The rain falls hard on a humdrum town" The Smiths, 'William, it was really nothing".

I thought of these lyrics the other Monday when I decided to take a tour round Manchester's Northern Quarter and the city's more gritty next door neighbour, Salford. I'd stayed in the Premier Inn on Dale Street and wandered through the Northern Quarter, stopping off at Trof. Now this is a venue with gigs and a bourbon bar, but it was the fact it does breakfast - very nice ones too - that drew me there.

It was there that I decided I would try to find the Salford Lads club, which was pictured on the inner sleeve of The Smiths classic album 'The Queen is Dead' and featured in the video for 'Stop me if you think you've heard this one before'. I was inspired by Phill Gatenby's excellent little book 'Morrissey's Manchester' which is like a Rough Guide to places in the city and around frequented by the quiffed one and fellow members of The Smiths in both their formative and band years.

I'd first come across The Smiths back in the '80's when John Peel introduced them to the world beyond Manchester. Tracks like 'Reel Around the Fountain','Hand in Glove' and the remarkable 'Suffer Little Children', Morrissey's take on the Moors Murders, were unlike anything we'd heard before, representing a view of Northern life that to this day still rings true.

With Google Maps as my guide, I headed across the Irwell and into Salford. As the rain started to come down, just like the song, I headed off up Chapel Street, past Salford Crescent and away from Manchester. After about 25 minutes, I turned left on Oldfield Lane and headed towards Regent Road, passing scruffy waste land and bleak-looking flats with doubt and concern increasing. I eventually came out by Sainsburys and turned right, just like Google said, and then a couple of hundred yards later, it was left down West Crown Avenue and there it was, complete with a couple of suitably quiffed and attired Morrissey acolytes posing for pictures by the famous entrance.

Salford Lads Club

Today, the club is still providing activities for the lads (and lassies) of Salford in what is a pretty deprived part of the city and provides a warm welcome to fans of The Smiths, although it was shut when I was there. I re-traced my steps, back along Oldfield Lane, then Chapel Street. The New Oxford in Bexley Square was open, and provided a welcome respite from the rain.

New Oxford

This is a fantastic pub, like a local in the middle of the city, with around 10 ales and a decent representation of ciders(for which they have won a number of awards) on the bar. After a pint of Bartrams, I moved on, by now, thankfully, the rain had stopped.

A quick pint in the Salford Arms, new to me and new to the Good Beer Guide, followed, accompanied rather unusually for a pub by a hip-hop soundtrack.

My next port of call was shut. I walked to the Eagle on Collier Street, once a classic Holt's pub with gas lights, no spirits and no modern trappings(that was by 70's standards). I found it but unfortunately all I could do was take a picture, as the girl coming out of the pub and slamming the door firmly shut told me they were closed Monday lunchtimes.

The Eagle, Collier Street, Salford....

Ah, well, not to worry, an excuse for a re-visit sometime....

I headed back to Chapel Street and back over the border to Manchester. With time to kill before my train back there was only one place to go, 73 Rochdale Road, more commonly known as The Marble Arch.

After a couple of pints there I headed off back to Victoria to catch my train, passing through the new Co-op campus, affording a view of Manchester which could be a backdrop from 'Blade Runner'...

An interesting trip, with some good beer and a visit to a iconic location in a city that actually has more about it than to be dubbed as simply a 'humdrum town'. And so, here are The Smiths with a classic track, including some of the area I visited....


'Morrissey's Manchester' by Phill Gatenby, is published by Empire Publications.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Calder Valley Ale Trail - UPDATED December 2023

The essential guide to the pubs and bars that line the railways in the towns and villages of the beautiful Calder Valley in West Yorkshire, an area which has a lot to offer and captivate the visitor. Here's the latest, updated version.... The original Rail Ale Trail heads through the Pennines from Dewsbury through Huddersfield to Stalybridge, or vice versa, depending on your starting point. Made famous by Oz Clarke and James May on a TV drinking trip around Britain several years ago, it reached saturation point on weekends to such an extent that lager and shorts were banned by some pubs and plastic glasses introduced to the hordes of stag dos, hen parties, and fancy-dressed revellers that invaded the trans-Pennine towns and villages. There are some great pubs en route and whilst things have calmed down from a few years ago, they can still get very busy on a summer Saturday in particular. However, only a few miles away to the north, there is another trail possible which takes in s

1872 And All That....

News has broken over the past few days that Elland Brewery, famous for their 1872 Porter which was voted the Champion Beer Of Britain in 2023 have ceased trading. And with other breweries also struggling, the upheavals I wrote about last month are showing no signs of letting up.... I was out with some friends last Saturday afternoon, celebrating one of our number's birthday. With the drinks and conversation flowing as we enjoyed a most enjoyable catch up, we were joined by another friend who mentioned that he'd been out a little earlier and had heard a story from a good source in one of the local pubs that Elland Brewery who, a mere 6 months ago had won Champion Beer of Britain at the Great British Beer Festival for their flagship 1872 Porter, had gone bust. During a break in the conversation, I scoured Google for news about Elland Brewery. Nothing, apart from that win at the GBBF last year. I mentioned it to a couple of people when I was working at the Meandering Bear in Halif

A Few York Classics....

In which I venture on a whistle-stop tour around some of the finest pubs that are to be found in this beautiful and historic North Yorkshire city.... I have visited York twice in the past month. First time was on a day out from Halifax with the team from the Grayston Unity/Meandering Bear on a beautiful winter's day with bright sunshine, blue skies, and bitterly cold temperatures; the second was an overnight stop to see one of the country's top up and coming indie bands, with grey skies on the first day and heavy rain on the second. Whilst due to the number in our party we were only able to visit two or three pubs on that visit, the second did give me the opportunity to do a trawl of several of the city's finest pubs, although it has to be said that because of the number of pubs there are in the city it can only be a snapshot view of  some of them. And as I was reminded, whilst there are several great pubs in the city centre, it is important to bear in mind that it is in th