The Star and Garter
VOTED MANCHESTER'S BEST INDIE CLUB 2011 BY CITY LIFE
The Star and Garter is a big building in Manchester which celebrates its 210th birthday in 2013. It was originally constructed in 1803 approximately 100 yards from it's current position and moved, brick by brick, in 1849 to allow London Road (before it became Piccadilly) Railway Station to expand, reopening in 1877.
It is home to two of the longest running club nights in Manchester- Smile and the Morrissey Smiths Disco - and is renowned for continually producing the city's most talked about "new breed" of nights, by encouraging promoters to promote in the old fashioned way and not lazily rely on their friends and the Internet.
Club nights and, in some cases actual Nightclubs, in Manchester which were born out of Smile include Now Wave, Barbed Wire Kisses, Clique, Bam Bam, Up The Racket, Revovler, Tiger Lounge and any "Smiths Disco" anywhere.
It's also a venue for live appearances from bands and artistes covering all genres of music and performance, be it musically, on film or television or just somewhere someone has ended up by mistake or on purpose.
Low, Status Quo, UK Subs, Vice Squad, At The Drive In, Kevin Montgomery, Al Perkins, Andy Rourke, Mike Joyce, Nine Black Alps, Hovis Presley, Frank Sidebottom, Tony Wilson, Peter Slater, Liam Frost, Clint Boon, Autokat, The Longcut, The Mavericks, Tommy Allsup, Half Man Half Biscuit, Belle and Sebastian, Richard Hawley, Bobby Conn, Marc Riley, Electric Six, Ray Winstone, Kevin Eldon, Samantha Morton, Susan Tully, Suranne Jones, Dean Lennox Kelly, Ben Miller, Carl Chase, Robbie Coltrane, Ricky Tomlinson, Helen Mirren, Matthew Horne, Pete Shelley, Keith Allen, Tara Fitzgerald, and professional US whinger Chloe Sevigny are among the select many who have appeared as a performer or punter.
The building has appeared as a location (interior and exterior) on There's Only One Jimmy Grimble, Funland, Mine All Mine, Cracker, Band Of Gold, Dead Clever, Prime Suspect, Worried About The Boy and Body Farm as well as various adverts, documentaries and university, youth and community projects.
Ask anyone about the Star&Garter and the response will be as follows:
Never heard of it
The Morrissey Smiths Disco
Punk Gigs
Smile
Dive
Haunted
It's closing
It's being knocked down
It's being turned into flats
It's in the Red Light district
It's Anti-Facist, Anti-Racist and Anti-Knobhead
It's Legendary Wristbands
So, in short, the Star&Garter is as far away from City Centre glitz as you can get, despite being in the City Centre. And it's the greatest place in Manchester.
For directions, click here - http://tinyurl.com/S-G-Directions
Or just go to the website from a PC or Phone - http://www.starandgarter.co.uk/
http://wap.starandgarter.co.uk/
