Friday, 26 February 2010

John Bull, Brown Street


John Bull, Brown Street, 1983. (c) Manchester District Music Archive [1].

The John Bull has been mentioned in passing by fellow football fans.  It was one of the pubs in town that had strippers performing on Friday dinner times during the 1970s and '80s.  Apparently the ladies performed every half hour, so that gents on their dinner hour (or half hour) would dutifully turn up just in time.  That meant, for example, that at ten to one the pub was empty but at a few minutes before 1 o'clock the place was rammed full of eager punters out for a glimpse and a quick scoop.  The John Bull would then empty as rapidly as it filled so that by 1.20pm it was deserted again.  In John Robb's new book, Shaun Ryder of the Happy Mondays also reveals that he and his mates used to frequent the John Bull (as an underage boozer in the late '70s and early '80s as the band took form) for the dinner time strippers [2].

1. www.mdmarchive.co.uk.
2. The North Will Rise Again: Manchester Music City 1976-1996, John Robb (2009).

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