Macclesfield is a market town in East Cheshire in the North West of England. It is not too far away from Manchester. The town has a real character to it and it is surrounded by gorgeous countryside with the Peak District National Park nearby. The town is also a key film location for the popular Peaky Blinders television series.
The North West has undergone something of a culinary renascence in the past few years. There is an increased emphasis on quality local produce with a talented group of local chefs creating great food from across the world.
Macclesfield is a part of this change and we especially like the bread and pastries at Flour Water Salt and the iconic Lord of the Pies.
A particular local favourite of ours is the monthly Treacle Market which is held in the centre of town. It is a lively mix of food stalls, crafts and antiques.
Nearby is the food hall at the Picturedrome, a beautifully restored former cinema dating back to 1911 which is now an atmospheric food hall
The Picturedrome is a sister to two Manchester food halls, Altrincham Market House in the south of the city and the more central Mackie Mayor.
Altrincham Market House
The Mackie Mayor
The Mackie Mayor is a few doors down from the the iconic music venue, the Band on the Wall. Anyone who is anyone will have played at the Band on the Wall at some time or other including of course, local legends Joy Division, one of the most influential groups to have ever come from England.
We never saw the group play as Joy Division but we did see them perform under their old name ‘Warsaw’ which they changed shortly thereafter so as to avoid confusion with a similarly named band.
Joy Division have a particular link with Macclesfield, the town where their singer, Ian Curtis grew up in (he was born in nearby Manchester). The town is also sadly the place where he passed away. The house where he lived until he died in 1980 is still there. It is a short walk from the town centre.
Joy Division drummer Drummer Steven Morris was born in the town and lives nearby.
After his death, Curtis’ band mates and keyboardist Gillian Gilbert formed New Order and the rest, as they say, is history.
Like ourselves, Curtis was a fan of reggae.
In her memoir ‘Touching from a distance’ Curtis’ widow Deborah notes:-
“Ian always had an interest in reggae music; Bob Marley and Toots and the Maytals already figured in his diverse record collection. Moving into that area of Manchester (i.e. south) gave Ian the opportunity to throw himself into the local culture. He began to spend much of his time in a record shop in Moss Side shopping centre, listening to different reggae bands”.
Curtis was a big fan of recordings by the Jamaican producer Keith Hudson (whose 1974 album ‘Pick a Dub’ is much loved by us) with his favourite being the latter’s 1975 number ‘Turn the heater on’ (England was much colder than Jamaica. Hudson was resident in London at the time after all!).
‘Turn the heater on’ was later recorded by New Order as a tribute to Ian Curtis. It was broadcast on DJ John Peel’s show in 1982. At the time, Peel was one of the very few national DJ’s to play reggae on the airwaves.
The first artist to be recorded by Keith Hudson was the veteran Dennis Alcapone back in 1969. Alcapone recorded a football tribute ‘World Cup Football’ in 1981 to exalt the Brazilian national squad and to call for more black players in the England football side to make a better team as a result. (The rhythm Alcapone toasts over on this track is the classic ‘Rope in’ by Cornell Campbell. See also ‘Fattie Boom Boom’ by the late Ranking Dread).
New Order also recorded their own officially sanctioned football song for the 1990 World Cup, ‘World In Motion’
As well as undoubtably being the best official football song from England, ‘World In Motion’ is notable for the rap by the beloved Liverpool/England player John Barnes.
FOOD, FILMS 'N' TINGS 