Photograph
Abdominal Pain
Mayflower Club
1985

“wow- well done for taking a picture! it's just one of those things no-one ever thought of doing and then, years later you kick yourself! a lot of history in this venue...”

“This is my favourite artefact for some time! Great stuff.”

“nice!”

“Don't remember seeing this place at all, though I lived nearby! Thanks for posting.”

“Nice pic! Needs linking to the Stoneground (and any other temporary names.)”

“That looks like a great place - it looks like a cross between a Bavarian castle and the Withington Ale House”

“Jesus , never really realised was an impressive building it was because we only ever saw it in the dark and always filed in pretty quick , just wearin drainpipes on the bus over was enough to get you a kickin ! Noteable gigs there include the Antz, Popgroup, Buzzcocks,Slaughter, Crass, god I can't remember, nearly thirty years ago. You could hear the sound system before you got off the bus ! Didn't Morissey talk about it in print somewhere in pretty derogatory fashion , yeah course it was a shithole but where wasn't ?”

“I used to go to the Mayflower with abdom and we did see some great gigs there. It is really weird to see the Mayflower in the daylight. Really impressed mate well done. It was nearly always in darkness inside as well. I recall going to some of the gigs and we had to wait to the electricity was illegally put back on before the bands could go on!”

“was googling and came across this site.
this must be the only pic left of the mayflower.
first gig i saw there was crass,poison girls,zounds and annie anxiety.
annie anxiety lasted only a few minutes onstage before someone made a grab for some part of her and she left the stage in tears.
as soon as the next band started up thats when al;l hell broke loose,lots of extreme violence mainly from right wing skins,was a scarey introduction to the place.
remember finding my mates from mossley hiding under a table when they saw the cops coming in,more worried about getting done for underaged drinking than battered by thugs.a golden era
:)”

“and when the place got busy the blokes toilets would be flooded in piss about a foot deep!you had to stand on the top of the step and piss into the flooded darkness!”

“It doesn't bear thinking about how bad the place was its a wonder it didn't fall down around our ears when the bands were playing.”

“...that's the strangest building i've ever seen - did anyone live upstairs in the turrets?”

“Googling Corona/Gorton gives us a bit of info at
www.manchesteronline.co.uk/mancunian/...
_and_now_the_corona_west_gorton.html

(Think this still needs linking to the Stoneground and any other temporary names.)”

“Blimey! I never thought to see a photo of the place.
I have alot of memories of this venue from the early eighties.
We used to come into town from Rochdale get our tickets and go down to the Mayflower Club for what I assume were afternoon shows by bands like Discharge, Vice squad, Anti-Pasti and the like. I remember the extremely horrible Garry Bushell being present at one of these gigs. The bloke on the door, who had a glass eye used to tell us to "line up properly or you're not getting in !" I remember being asked for 50p by some skinhead who was a member of Blitz. Local band The Varicous Veins seemed to be a regular support act. the singer wore an old Salvation Army Uniform. There were always one or two idots sniffing glue, I wonder if they still partake?
A good fanzine I always bought ( at the gigs? ) was Grinding Halt.”

“Varicose Veins! What a funny name. Interesting memories...”

“remember the varicose veins lyrics?
"i shot ernest bishop,i shot him in the head,i never liked the fucker,he's better off dead,dead,dead!"
true musical innovators in the manc punk rock scene.
anyone remember the guy who usually wore a leopard skin jacket and nearley always ended up at some point dancing around with pants down cock swinging in the air-george?cant remember second name.”

“There's an article in the MEN tonight about the auction (at Christie's in New York) of a signed Beatles postcard related to this place.

I knew that the venue was known as the Southern Sporting Club before it was the Mayflower and The Stoneground, but apparently the Beatles played there on 13.6.63. Interesting!

I'll add it asap. Cheers.”

“Funny to think of The Beatles playing there... was it a regular venue for 'combos' in the early sixties?
"Its a mighty long way down Rock'n'roll from the Southern Sports Club to the Hollywood Bowl" as someone nearly sang ..”

“Was a regular here from 1980 onwards,saw many great gigs from Damned,Exploited Angelic Upstarts,Dead Kennedys,4 skins and any one else who could be bothered playing there.Loved the place and luckily got in free cos of knowing Cyrel,Fat Pat en Ozzie from hanging round the Underground Market en later The Grenadier.”

“werent fat pat and ossie unofficila bouncers or doormen as they call em now,seem to remember cyril being a bit of an old perv?
underground market sometimes resembled a battleground on a saturday afternoon especially around rare records stall.......................................................”

“Yeah,they were en Cyril was definitely a perv.Never hassled anyone though.At one point me and a bunch of mates painted the inside of the club,that ensured us getting in which was handy cos we were only 16 at the time.A mate of mine claims to have seen an Exploited video from round 82 at Skinhead Dennis's place.Anybody know about that.A film of the inside would be great.”

“do a google for exploited film,might be online as are a few old punk films from that era...............................”

“Tried but nothing turned up.I'me pretty sure I saw all the Exploited gigs there and can never remember anyone filming anything.With the size of video cameras back then i'me sure I would have noticed.”

“I remember Big John from the Exploited being there at another gig, and joining the band on stage, who, I can't remember...sorry. ( Vice Squad, Discharge ? )
I think I remember The Damned played the Mayflower after their gig at the Carnival against the Missiles, 1981, Alexandra Park- and there being some 'trouble'. My mate Chris said he saw the singer from the Varicose Veins visibly bleeding, being asked if he needed an ambulance and replying " no you're alright mate, I'll get the bus home! " Unfortunately unverifiable at this distance in time.
We seemed to have problems with what we termed 'Perry Boys' when we were in town.
Another vague memory is the bus back to town after on of the ' matinée' gigs passing the queue outside The Apollo for a Japan concert, eliciting mass jeering and cat calling. Ah! the tribes, where are they now?
The fact was, like most people, I was into a mass of different stuff musically,even if it was predominantly punk, but we seemed to divide when it came to clothing and hairstyles.”

“Come to think of it, isn't that us at the start of the first Vice Squad album ( 'No cause for concern ' 1981, the track 'Young Blood ' ) chanting?
The credits for backing vocals do say " and the crowd at the Mayflower club , Manchester ".”

“Went down to the Moss Side that day with a few mates from The Grenadier,Spike,Ormy??Mabul,Hesky and a few others then on to the Mayflower in the evening.Anyone remember the Anti Royalist gig on the day of the royal wedding?Can't remember who played but it was a laugh.Saw the 4 skins there a couple of days after Brixton and stood there with about 15 others,Nobody turned up cos they thaught it was cancelled,they still played though.I think the Kennedys was probably the busiest I ever saw i there.#0th September 1981,it was my 17th birthday and a brilliant night.”

“the what of september?”

“I missed that one , and then ever other time Dead Kennedys were meant to be playing in Manchester it seemed to be cancelled. I remember the woman downstairs at Piccadilly Box office telling me that one venue had cancelled because " They didn't realise what sort of group they were " - for crying out loud!”

“I think I've already said this elsewhere, but there is some extant footage of the Carnival Against the Missiles. If you look on You Tube there's The Freshies playing 'Wrap up the Rockets' - unfortunately the sound is from the single, but there are a lot of shots of the crowd.”

“Checked out the video,nice one.Are there any more interesting videos of punk in Manchester out there?I've got the test tube babies dvd live at Jillies in 83.Can't remember if I was there or not but see a few faces out there,Fat Pat,Ozzie en Caz with the green hair are very prominent.Definitely saw the Test Tube Babies at Drifters in Dukinfield as well.”

“Sorry,it was the 30th of September the Dead Kennedys gig.”

“I keep seeing names I recognize in the posts above, I used to go to the Grenadier and the Mayflower. Does anyone know what happened to Ozzie or any of the other regulars. I am still in touch with Selwyn and Franny if anyone remembers them?
Abdom”

“Ozzie is in Australia as far as I know.Mabul lives in Leiden in Holland as I do.Neil Donaldson is in Australia,Khany moved down South last year.Hormy?is dead.Spike was still working in Afflecks last I heard.Tony Cairns is still living in Denton.At various times Jake,Wilf Beefy Bovril en Roman were over here in Holland but never bumped into them.They were actually people I knew from The Ancoats,Not sure if they Frequented The Grenadier.”

“I am in Australia too as is Selwyn (Melbourne) Tony has been out here a couple of times and we have had drinkies! seem to remember Ozzie was born in Sydney maybe he is there I remember Mabul I think but the other names don't mean much I dropped off the scene when most of the Oi band scame through in the early 80's.”

“Hey davec, do you remember Higsy at these gigs/time favorite for " got 10p mate" good lad tho”

“was khany the asian punk from denton?
remember the kennedys playing the mayflower and the trouble,i think it was something to do with the followers of support band 'crash' but,i could be mistaken as the memorey aint too good these days,also the kennedys played the old polytechnic with uk decay,that was on my 16th birthday,dont know how i got in cos didnt look 18.i got my ticket from someone who had been refused entry for being too young and was amazed to get in.
a skinhead spent sometime right behind me trying to pickpocket my back pocket until i gave him a hard stab with my elbow,seemed to do the trick.”

“Khany was my mate,we are both from Hyde.His dad was an afghan.Higsy I certainly remember with his got 10p mate?Also big Dave from Eccles and Dave en Kaz who were inseperable.They were called The marrieds I remember.Sven aws still hanging around the City unchanged as the godfather of punk,I heard he'd gone to America although seems doubtful they'd let him in these days.”

“Any one remember when Blitz played and the blackout when the bouncers got filled in...........81”

“Saw Blitz a few times but memorys quite blurred,we were usually too pissed or just fucking around having a laugh.Bloody good band they were.Some of the clockworks who used to hang around with them came down to Yates wine lodge on Oldham street and trashed the place.I remember sitting there with Khany and a few others when it just exploded.A chair flew over our heads and shattered the mirror and we just sat there amazed.”

“must be the same khany i am thinking of,remember he got into a local newspaper ,something about worshipping a lump of coal.?
i think sven is in europe although he was over in manchester recentley
remember getting chased by perry boys a lot after gigs at the mayflower,infact before as well,saturday afternoons in town were dangerous as well.”

“Did Ozzie have yellow or green hair? Think I have some pix of him at the rock against racisim gig in 1978 will dig them out are we allowed to put pix up of people without their permission? Data protection crap!”

“if they have yellow or green hair you're allowed to post their photos...”

“I've still got the article about worshipping the piece of tarmac.that was me,khany,hesky and a couple of other mates and instigated by my cousin Revvsie who unfortunately killed himself about 10 years ago.”

“I noticed the comment from John G mentioning your mossley mates.Was that the group including little Tommy,the funny guy with Anti Pasti on the back of his jacket?He was a right character,don't know how he managed to get in as he looked about 12.Bumped into him years later in Avignon in Southern France.We spent a few weeks hanging round there,I then left for Denmark and then met him again just before christmas in The Birch in Ashton.A great place I used to frequent back in 83/84.that was in 1987 and the last I saw or heard of him.”

“haha,yeah thats the same tom or tommy or dale as he has reverted back to now,we all used to go to the birch as well most saturday nights.
he's down south these days travelling still,have just got back in touch with him recentley,he's a kids entertainer these days,think his act is called 'ali banana' involving him putting his arm up a monkey puppets backside,doing tricks and jokes etc,he's got a website for it somewhere if you try and google it.
i think he would have been about 14 or 15 in the days of the mayflower.”

“Brilliant,i'll check it out.I got a nice photo with little Tommy and a few mates and some photos of The Ancoats.”

“cheers dave but dont really want to leave my email on here as i get spammed enuff.
can admin pass it on instead plz?
will tell him about this site so he can get intouch tho.....”

“Hi John,
If you mail me direct then you won't appear on the site.Otherwise i'll send them to admin,can you be more specific?”

“Vague memory of Hazy and the girl with the enormous spikes was a mate of Rosas for a while.She 's Khany's sister and still looks the same,except for the hair of course.Also did a lot of running back then,the city was full of arseholes who'd attack you for no reason.Hasn't changed much then has it?”

“sorry dave will email tom and send him your adress and mine,would like to see them.
there were 2 girls with huge hair,anita and savs sister liz.
there were quite a few of us,aint seen hazy since the early 80's or aky either.
there was iky as well and me,andy and chris ,we did make good runners in our youth thanks to the perry boys.
there is a pic of some of the mossley punks and all that hair here
www.flickr.com/photos/2566/2610707686/”

“flannel,didnt you come from glossop and also drink in the birch with all your sisters who were all big ants fans?
and played drums on the blind panic ep with the hoax?
still listen to that record after a few pints and pogo around my flat(on my own late at night with the curtains drawn!).
found the compilation lp with the militia track on it via an mp3 blog recentley,think hazy was maybe 15 or 16 when he did that,his vocals sound nothing like a guy from lancs!”

“Yup that's me, lived in the Birch virtually. I played drums on the Militia track, I started that band at school.Pod played bass, he's one of the biggest music promotors in Manchester now.That Hoax EP's worth a few bob, probably more than it cost to record the fecker ! Anyone who ended up in a band in East Manchester went through the Birch inc Hoax, Protest,Emergency, Inspiral Carpets, Paris Angels, Mock Turtles,Chameleons, Black Grape. There was nowhere else to go !”

“As an aside to all this the front cover of The Anti Pasti LP was taken at the Mayflower, you can just about make out "The Funhouse" painted on the back wall!”

“thought it was , pod or ian raven(or was it michael?) went to the same school as me,remember him being a massive stranglers fan and hanging about with him and others on stalybridge bus station.i once watched him spend about an hour spitting into a plastic cup until it was nearly full then chasing hazy around the bus station until he caught him and threw the whole contents over his head.he was a bit of a rum fecker at times young pod ;)

never noticed the anti pasti lp pic.”

“Just read above , lot of names familiar , last time I saw Mabul was in Leiden (south of Amsterdam) '85 , purely by accident when me & Steve Isles were dancing to some records before Husker Du's gig and he tapped us on the shoulder
and said "thought i recognised the 100mph running dance of you 2!".
Dead Kennedys at Mayflower think was £3-50 when all gigs were £2'ish so all the Swinton punks wouldn't go , then the year after they were barred from M/cr after "Too Drunk.." came out , shud have played Fagins , so we planned to go to Leeds , my car broke down so couldn't go , Carole Roper & big DK's fan Diane Hudson went , but Carole got head cut open by a bouncer , bouncers got away with murder in those days. Ian Davenport (Davi) , Paul Wainwright , Fray still into it , most of the Swinton lot sold out years ago , Stalybridge were more fun to hang around with. Cyril i'm sure got sent down early 80's for his p£rv ways , when he came out we sung "Cyril is a p£rv£rt" at the ANWL,Defects,Chelsea,Chron Gen gig at club opposite Rotters , he took it in good heart , good guy. I found the Mayflower a scary place as a 17 year old skinny g1t travelling all the way from Swinton. At least with Dukkie Drifters i cud drive by then. Ozzie had green hair , lived for awhile in Flixton with Clive , Chris , i found him a bit of a bully with people 1/2 his size. What ever happened to Audu from Crumpsall , red leather with Slaughter & Dogs on back , good bloke , wish more coloured people would get involve in those days but things were very tribal them days. People say nostalgia is for losers , always look forward , totally disagree , your memories are everything. I for 1 has never stopped doing gigs , though i can't keep up with Isles these days , he does 7 a week!! MC5 next in 2 weeks.”

“yeah,true about ossie,liked to push 15 year old kids about,he was a big guy so not a lot we could do about it back then.i remember audu as well but dont know what happened to him,he might have lived in hulme for a while mid to late 80's but after that ?
did you hang around with us lot in stalybridge then sometimes?cant put a name to your face,you know what the memory gets like as we get older............:)”

“Most of mid/late 80's hung around with Isles , Hickle , Sean Williams , 2 Gary's , Keith & Shaun (3CR) and often drank in Station (Ashton) and some night club/pub towards Droylsden on left that played the odd alternative track. Remember Higgsy who you to scrounge but be very persistantly polite & pleading about it. Remember Steve referring to Flannel a few times but can't say i remember him. Plus a few from Hyde like a lad called Neil , bit of a skinhead hair cut but wasn't one. Last time i was in Ashton was The Threats gig late last year.”

“cant say i know any of those names as i moved away from tameside mid 80's.although keith out of 3cr i think went to same school as me(west hill) although he wasnt/didnt look like a punk then as far as i remember”

“Some great memories stirred by all this. I occassionally worked the door at the Mayflower for Cyril when putting on Chron Gen, Anti Pasti, Exploited, Angelic Upstarts (a mistake) and Discharge. Cyril's gigs were fundraisers for the Play Resource Centre; providing for underpriviledged kids. Others may know him as the big ginger haired guy who took your bags off you when you went into the Virgin Megastore. I was also lucky enough to play the venue twice supporting Discharge and Not Sensibles (still had 'Funhouse' at the back of the stage then). Upstairs was a mess; I recall finding a stash of the Varicose Veins covers up there; weren't the covers withdrawn because of a case against them for it's obsenity? Good to hear about Oz; had wondered what happened to him; spent a good few hazy gigs in his company.”

“Re Varicose Veins, they were so crap they were brilliant.
We used to knock about with the singer Ian Pearson, think hes in Sweden now.
Played there myself in a band called 'The Shits' on New years eve 1981 or 2?
We were all from Ramsbottom which had a great punk crowd at the time and some decent bands too, Bezurk was another one.
Great site!! Loads of good memories thank you”

“I remember all of these. Varicose Veins were awesomely bad, but that's how they made their name! I remember Ian (went to school with his brother) and 'toothpaste' the bassplayer. I saw many bands here, the best being Dead Kennedys, The Exploited, Vice Squad, and UK Subs.

I was only about 15 at the time (early 80's) so I often got in through the side door as the doormen wouldn't let us in (officially). I was in a band called 'The Filth', but I never played at the mayflower, the last gig I remember playing in Manc was Stockport 'Smugglers Club', I remember it well because my mate had his car pinched by some p*ssed up passer by and it was the car we ALL got our gear into to get there in the first place!

Have nothing but great memories of the Mayflower, 'dem were de days'!”

“IM FAMOUS.Great to hear that so many people remember my band Varicose veins.I will try and keep it short but ive lots of stories about the mayflower,varicse veins etc.Yes i got beat up at the Damned CND gig and got a free beer from the captain.We played our last concert with the Damned and ANL at Manchester uni.The mayfloer was great for us young punks ith not a lot of cash.Cyril did well i remember all saturday afternoon gigs for the kids.So we could see GBH,Exploited,The Wall etc twice in one day.I now live in Sweden but came over for the 30 years of Punk gig at Blackpool.Hi Paul and Karl i was back in Rammy last month. Punk is and always be in heart.I have never bought a record after my punk days.I listen to my punk stuff everyday ,in the car or on the computor. Ian (jesus) Varicose veins”

“Gone but not forgotten as they say.Once got thrown out of the Crown and Cushion pub in Newton because the old farts were offended by one of us having varicose Veins painted on our jackets.Loved the group,wasn't the infamous single cover some photo of a couple at it doggy style with Charles and Dianas heads superimposed on it?”

“Hi,Yes i still have one cover.My brother did the record fairs a few years ago and somebody had done a cd of the Diana ep.I miss the laughs in and around the mayflower but getting chased by the perry boys was no fun.I remeber seeing ozzy at the train station when i was off to the afternoon gigs.He still had his bleached blond hair but he would have swapped his slaughter t shirt for a pringle and be joining 2000 other reds off to battle with leeds.Boris who played lead got arrested for having Maggies got piles on his jacket.I remeber threatning a Blue Peter reporter in London saing he had to mention Varicose veins on tv.Strange but he forgot.I have also seen and may have the video of exploited at the mayflower.I remember Drifters and another place after the mayflower shut down.Anybody remember Chris and Keith Oldham punks John and Pete Stockport punks.
Diana and Charles made a great pair i bet shes got great pubic hair.Yu either liked or hated us but nobody ever forgot us
Punks not Dead”

“Dear all who have left comments above - we have been asked to help The Lowry with an exhibition about dancing, and they are interested in talking to anyone who loved to dance at punk gigs. if you feel you'd like to help can you please contact the MDMarchive (orange 'contact us' link, top left of this website) and we'll forward your mail on to the Lowry... ta, Mat.”

“oi! oi! jesus how ya doing mate? i still have a copy of the exploited video that you copied for me its even got a bit of vericose veins footage at the end”

“Hi ,Is it Dave from Bolton?Who ever it is its over 27 years ago.I seem to have forgotten peoples names an gigs tec i must be getting old.Great days i wish we all had kept in contact with each other.After the mayflower we went to dunkenfield and another place i cant remember.My brother met members of Major Accident at a blackpool gig.
ian”

“Hi Varicose, you need to get a facebook account so we can all speak. Most of the old Rammy crew are on there, and still play in bands. Still speak to your Baz now and again on Facebook............KArlos”

“Alright everybody from back then,Kaz [of the green hair]has started a facebook group,punks.Photos are starting to appear so check it out.The famous Higsy is there as well.”

“I remember vaicose veins well,i ran a record shop in bury in the early 80's and jesus ,brian leaming ect used to hang out around there. I was at the vast majorty of the mayflower gigs and still feel quite proud to have seen the dead kennedys there. I also was at the damned ,anwl varicose veins gig at the uni,jesus was dressed like a bay city roller!,I heard that dale, the drummer commited suicide some time back but i am not 100% sure ,anyone confirm this ?”

“Hi,
God i hope you are wrong about Dale the drummer.He was a great friend and a true punk.We called Burt Bladder and he drummed for us when we did the video and recorded Lady Diana ep.The Damned gig was a classic (our last) i think we only did 3 numbers as we did Lady diana and maggie thatchers got piles 4-5 times.Remember when Toothpate (Bass) jumped of the stage and started to get beat up.
Punk will never die.I dont listen to anything else
Ian (jesus)”

“I still see Mabul regulary as we both live in Holland,He told me that Dale had sorted himself out,done a sociology course or something then just died one night.This was a few years ago,i'me seeing Mabul this week and will find out what I can,pretty sure thats the story though.”

“I have a copy of the exploited live at the mayflower I think it was filmed at the under 18s afternoon show, I'm just trying to convert it to DVD then I will upload it....”

“I have just come acroos this website afer typing varicose veins in to google,http://www.boredteenagers.co.uk/VARICOSE%20VEINS2.htm
I remember both the photo of tothpaste at the cnd gig and i think the photo of the guy with the leather painted with varicose veins at the upstarts gig was dale,if i remeber rightly the photo was featured in the music paper sounds.”

“Certainly be interested in the video of the Exploited!!, I was there at the Mayflower (well only once) and it was a night time gig. I remember my brother asking Watty if he could touch his mohican!! ;-)”

“Saw Mabul last night,Seems Dale died of some stomach complication.Was found in bed and couldn't be woken up.Happened a couple of years ago.”

“dale died about 15 years ago, he was best mates with me and pete h we used to terrorise all the punks on market st with shaving foam flattening mohicans an ruining make up.
He died in london from natural causes, i called his number and his flatmate told me the funeral had already taken place, none of us lot attended cos no one new about it.
his ashes are at blakely crem, section d
dale martin rest in peace.”

“Flanel the girl with the amazing spikey hair was probably Khanys sister Rose. Ancoats on a Saturday was excellent & then off to Woolies for a takeout & most people came to our rehersal room if they didn't want chasing round town”

“Oh & abdom are you the Abdom with a sister called Rachel who went out with our guitarist Pav”

“johng the drummer on the Hoax single was Mike Joyce who got a bit famous with a combo called the Smiths”

“i used 2 go ancoats on sat afternoon, then woolies and occasionaly went to the rehearsal room with little tommy, pav, sharman etc, was in town last weekend met up with kazz bently, eski, barney, an jonah, remember any of them???”

“johhny g,its gettting a bit confused all this,flannel,i think,meant the girls from mossley with the huge hair,liz n anita.
yes,mike joyce did play drums for the hoax in the first line up,flannel then played drums in the second line up with aky from mossley on guitar and chris on bass who had been in random gender,another local little band.
aky once told me of singers andy farleys wife having quite a collection of vibrators that she would show to there visitors.
which jonah is that,from Sale then/now Hulme?
sorry to hear about dale martin,r.i.p.”

“is this artefact now the most commented on MD Music Archive?”

“Tony c I remember all of them & johng I remember Andys missus but can't remember her name. Also Aky played with me & Keith in Brain Damage”

“I have just been told that Rob Crane the manager of Armed Force and Organizer of the famous "stuff the superstar" Gigs at the Mayflower has passed away. (I hear the funeral is on Friday). A sad loss he was a good bloke”

“Simi phoned me a day before his funeral to see if I could make it. Apparently, it was a right good piss up. I think Rob would have liked that.”

“Im still flying the punk flag chaps as the Ukulele Punk

youtube/ukepunk”

“Hi Abdom, Phil lee here great pics of Mayflower & the marvelous YUKIO TANI, you got a great little collection there mate ! Hows your sister Hazel ? I also dont remember it being such a good looking place ! Mind you we were always pissed !”

“Ah Phil me old Mucka I had your mobile number but lost it, glad to be back in touch with you and Simmy. I am always trying my best to get people to drag out photo's of the old days. This site is brilliant I have talked to people and seen photo's of places i had forgotten existed. Hazel is fine she lives over here in Oz but is coming back to the uk for xmas. She has 3 kids a 14 boy and 11 year old twins. The Mayflower !! when you tell people what it was like they don't believe you, 18 inches of p in the toilets one official burger week in week out (had to serve food for a 2 am licence) Lonsight Skins trashing the joint every 3rd Friday. Ah happy days!
my email is keelaghers@optusnet.com.au send me yours and I will send some photo's”

“Martin,it was really nice to see the pictures of the mayflower club...i went several times...i saw exploited,angelic upstarts,discharge and the damned in 81...the damned gig was fantastic..rat scabies cried off on the journey there after the captain was taking the piss out of him..the drummer of the uk subs came to the rescue...great gig...the upstarts gig was electric..i could even be reconised on the front of sounds the following week...it was a dump but it was home...great times...just wish i had been to the electric circus...punk rock forever....”

“I've just seen the great colour daytime photo of the Mayflower club and all the comments. I went to most of the matinee gigs there throughout 1981, the first one I got to was Discharge (May?) just after the Why?12" had come out and was amazing (wall of sound) and gob. Saw them again at the Gallery a couple of years later by which time they'd gone very metal. Other highlights included being frisked by Beki Bondage on the way in to a Vice Squad gig; she was trying to speed the line up but was probably just bored (my mate just got the bouncer).Talking to Beki at Rebellion in Blackpool last year and she said the thing she remembered about the Mayflower was not being able to get a drink enough of the time. I also got to play drums for Anti Pasti once as we were taking the piss out of the drummer at the the side of the stage when he cocked up an intro; he then said 'think you can do any better' I said 'course' and suddenly found myself being handed the drumsticks and on stage in front of 300 punks and skins. I was rubbish and got thrown into the crowd after one song. The band actually mention this in their interview in Ian Glasper's book 'Burning Britain' but incorrectly refer to it as the 'Mayfair' club. I went to the Pasti gig with Brian Cannon, a mate from school who ended up designing the covers for most of the Oasis singles and is on the cover of the second album; not an Oasis fan myself but at least I knew Brian when he had better taste. Also saw Chron Gen, Blitz and the Upstarts at the Mayflower, amongst others.The Mayflower was really significant for me, as was the underground market eg. buying my first pair of Clash jeans at Roxy for my fourteenth birthday (I made all my other punk clothes by the way). Met my first girlfriend in the Underground market; could go on; Discount Records etc etc. I did stalls at record fairs quite recently with Andy from Huncoat who I think was in the Varicose Veins later on ? I did go to that anti royal wedding gig also. My favourite band was Xtract from Bolton; used to send demo tapes off for them to all the punk labels in '81/'82. Crass put them on BD3, by which time they'd got stuff out on Pax; good gigs supporting Mau Maus, Xpozez and the SubHumans. That'll do for now.......”

“daveg; we were clearly there at the same time; and yes, it was top; doubt it could be recreated”

“didnt the upstarts sunday matinee gig get canceled for some reason,remember sitting around on the grass outside waiting and waiting then nothing.
saw zounds the other night @ the star n garter, couldnt help thinking of that night 29 years ago when they supported crass and all the nazis turned up and proceeded to trash everything and as many folk as they could get hold of, these were grown men compared to most of the folk in the crowd who probably averaged about 17/18, i was 15 at the time.
it made such an impression on zounds they didnt play in manc for another 29 years!”

“Great memories from daveG, i bought quite a bit from Roxy, they did a nifty line in acrylic dayglo striped jumpers and holey knitted mohairs!”

“Hiya Gally. My Band supported The Angelic Upstarts that weekend. it was the 2 million Voices tour. I was at the Crass gig too, with Gaynor's younger sister. Good memories!!”

“hi phil,was there only a evening gig that day then,sure the matinee was a none event.
i can usually remember gigs at the mayflower like it was a week ago,just have trouble these days actually what did i do last week,it was all good,apart from when one of the nf skins went to hit someone and missed and caught me on the neck instead,i moved away quite swiftly.”

“Hi Everybody ,
Check this out

www.boredteenagers.co.uk/VARICOSE%20V...”

“And this.Im a bloody popstar

www.mdmarchive.co.uk/archive/showarte...”

“RE the bored teenagers website. Some great photos and newspaper cuttings on this site including other Manc punk bands. The bloke who nicked your drum at the Mayflower-was he a critic ?
Alltogether now, lady Dianas got a great left nipple, prince Charles is a.............”

“I went to the December '81 Upstarts gig, not the October one. Don't remember what time they were on (it was dark outside, if that helps).”

“Fantastic picture guys”

“RETURN OF THE MAYFLOWER CLUB

Yes! The return of the Mayflower Club on Friday 27th May 2011. Then, every last Friday of the month thereafter.

Venue: Upstairs at New York, New York. Bloom Street, Manchester.

Doors open: 8.30. First band on 9.30

Live music from legendary, Mayflower band - The Hamsters. Plus, great entertainment from young, up and coming, resident band - Baby Strange.

On top of that there will be sounds from original Mayflower DJ - Jah Muppet and (coming out of retirement) radio DJ Steve Toon!!!

And, when you thought it couldn't get any better - Entry is FREE!

Knowing what Simi's like, he's probably organised having Cyril on the door and Neville playing dominoes at the back of the club!!!”

“Just had a really great half hour reading all this. Loved the Mayflower Club - saw just about all the bands everyone's talking about. I too had completely forgotten what the place looked like! I remembered the doorway, the doormen who insisted on checking me very carefully (haha), and the grotty toilets, but that was about it! Was it really so grand? Perhaps I was always drunk. Surely not ;o) Great memories and very tempted by the RETURN OF THE MAYFLOWER CLUB event! Wonder if I can drag Mr Varicose Veins over from Sweden for it! I'll work on that one I think. Great stuff.”

“hi folks elvis here,just to let you know that abdom is over from oz and i am having a mayflower reunion night at my pub the woodcock inn newmarket road ashton-u-lyne on 2nd sept featuring the cheapskates and possibly baby strange-everbody is welcome. p.s.bring your piss-stained docs!”

“Was Khany or Kharny a Asian Mohawk punk from Godley near hyde and didn't he have a sister called Rose and if my memory serves me well didn't he play bass guitar in a band.”