Thursday 28 October 2010

Kardomah Albert Square, Manchester















Jazz goes home in new club

Can anybody confirm if this was a Kardomah in the 1950's....... if so this could be the third in Manchester!



A good thing about the Bla Bla restaurant mentioned above is that the ground floor will be an Italian restaurant but downstairs will be the Bla Bla Jazz Club. Given there's bugger all in the way of live music in the area this is definitely a good thing. Sleuth also knows how desperate visitors to the city get for a venue providing music that isn't aimed at 21 year olds - and Band on the Wall can be a long walk. It's got a great location close to the convention areas and close to lots of hotels too.
There's a happy echo of the past as well, in that the venue used to be the Kardomah in the fifties and had live music then, and is round the corner from the site of the Oasis Club, orginally a jazz club, which then became the main beat music venue featuring young bands such as the Hollies. The latter used to have all-night sessions, Bla Bla has applied for a 6am licence. What goes around....

14 Albert Square, Manchester
Manchester. M2 5PF

3 comments:

  1. Hey, it was - you can now see the sign through some paint. I wrote about the cages on my blog tonight and have directed any traffic back to you in case anyone can help with more information :) http://hayleyflynn.tumblr.com/post/8441989490/lost-touch-6

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  2. There's an article in the second issue of Now Then Magazine about the Kardomah cafes in Manchester :)

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  3. There were 7 Kardomahs in Manchester –
    Deansgate
    Albert Square
    Moseley St
    Market St
    Piccadilly
    Shambles.
    I worked as a manager at the Deansgate one. I was there from 1956-60 – firstly as a trainee. Whilst there met many interesting people, one of whom was Tony Warren of Coronation St fame. Sometimes he would chat. My surname was Monk and one of my Christian names was Monk, and when he wrote his book he mentioned someone called June Monk. I asked him at Waterstones was he writing about me – he said NO – to be honest I was glad – whoever June Monk in the book was a bit of a dragon – couldn’t possibly be me …

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