Bosses at a new bar moving into the spot vacated by glam rock venue Doctor Feelgood in Stockport hopes to find the next big thing by championing local bands. Called Amp, the bar has been taken over by the former manager of Doctor Feelgood, which closed abruptly last month.
Aaron Davies opens the bar properly this weekend following a soft launch over the past week. Inspiral Carpets legend Clint Boon has already taken to the turntables, with Stone Roses legend Mani also DJing for a charity event.
With in-house promoter Charlie Cole, who runs the Vault studio on Stockport’s Underbanks, they’ll be programming the music and leaning heavily towards the town’s musical heritage and future.
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“We want to showcase the talents of Stockport,” he told the Manchester Evening News. “The town has given us so much fantastic musical history, from Blossoms right back to 10cc, all the stuff at Strawberry Studios, Elton John has played in Stockport, David Bowie has played in Stockport.
“It’s a great musical town, and we want to give back to local artists and give them somewhere to perform, because there’s just not that many places at the minute.”
The diary is slowly filling up, with shows from new local band The Rays, noughties act The Twang, theatrical rock act StOp, sToP and a rock-a-billy festival next month, featuring King Kurt and the Slim Jim Phantom Trio.
They’ll even have their own ‘house band’, called Creme Brulee, a nod to the League of Gentleman.
Aaron also wants to make sure that the bar will be looking out for its customers too. They’ll be working with the local charity OmniMusic to make the bar as inclusive as it can be to all performers whatever their ability, and will be revamping the stage area to make it fully accessible.
They’ll also be offering anti-spiking drinks covers and training all their staff in the ‘Ask for Angela’ procedures - the code that can be used if a customer needs discreet help out of a potentially difficult or dangerous situation.
In addition, the bar will be giving free sanitary products and condoms to all guests who might need them. “For every pack we buy here, we’ll be donating the same to a mother and baby group in Altrincham,” he said. “There’s a lot that we want to do to give something back.”
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