Wednesday, 26 September 2018

City Life

30 years to the day since I first moved to Manchester. (Astonishingly.) Here's the City Life Student Special that I picked up on my first day.

City Life Student Special 1988-89: Your Essential Guide to Manchester
Bicycle Doctor: the friendly bike shop
The Bicycle Doctor — still going strong.
Life Style. Jim Reeve, Piccadilly Radio DJ, City Life columnist, intellectual gad-fly and a cult in his own lifetime, introduces you to the mysteries of the local lingo.
A bit of linguistics. Loving the 80s typesetting in this.
The Jive Hive, retro clothes for now and then. 127 Oxford Road, near poly union.
Le  Jive Hive , qu'est-ce que c'est?
'Have you Salif Keita's new album?' 'Who's she?' Sound familiar?
Decoy Records! Sadly gone. Vinyl Exchange is still there.
On the Eighth Day, The Nutcracker, The Greenhouse, The Sunflower, Coconut Willy's, Greens.
Vegetarian restaurants. That's yer lot in 1988. On the Eighth Day is still going. As is the current incarnation of Greens, but much more upmarket now.
Band on the Wall: Live music 6 nights each week.
Band on the Wall! Open again now.
Manchester can claim to have one of the liveliest folk scenes in the country. Agraman, part-time human being, full-time music freak, shares his Knowledge with you.
Agraman, the Human Anagram! And I remember Buzz magazine too.
Black and white image of a man and woman dancing at a club.
It was... the '80s. A strange and distant time, but perhaps not so different from today.

On my first night I went to the International 2. I decided pretty soon after that I wasn't into clubs. Let's look at the pub reviews.

Entering the Ducie is like entering the 33rd County.
Wander slightly further up Oxford Road and you'll come to the Salisbury. Wander a little further and you're past it.
Strangest pub in Hulme is definitely the Spinners, where little drinking takes place but a deep sense of inner calm and considerable human understanding prevails.
The Lass O' Gowrie [...] Treat LOG 42 with respect!

Ah man. Happy days. The pub is still there, but they don't brew their own beer any more.

No comments: