History of Preston Singers nights

Possibly the longest running event of its kind, now nearly 20 years old.

It started as an idea in the 80’s when folk clubs ruled the roost for live unplugged events in pubs. Many young musicians would turn up to folk clubs hoping to get a chance to play 2 or 3 songs & find that unless they fit into the session that was playing, they went away disappointed. So a venue was sought to run an alternative “singers night”.
The New Brit in Heatley St was the 1st pub to try it. No PA just enthusiastic singers with big lungs & bashing the guitar as loud as possible to drown out the catting of confused bikers who had made the Brit their local.

A short stay there then it moved to The Kendal Castle off Bow Lane for several years, run by myself (km) & Mike Stone, with Anne Lawson as ESP. We introduced the use of PA which some people liked others thought it was getting to heavy.
Eventually the land lady retired, the pub closed & we moved to Maguire’s Tavern in Avenham St. This ran for 18months as singers night 1 week, ESP gig the alternative week.

A couple of years here then a long term move to The Unicorn on Garstang Rd. initially shared weeks with Ken Nicol running one week myself & Mike running the other. Over time people came & went and I ended up running SingersNights @ The Unicorn for several successful years. This night also had an element of a blues jam at the end of the night, with a horn section drums, bass & several guitars belting out 12bar blues standards.

After 9 years of running the pub, landlord Dave Neal decided to quit so the pub passed to a landlord not that interested in live music, so another new home was searched for and we relocated to The Lamb on Church St, at that time home of live music in Preston. The blues players stayed on @ the Unicorn under the banner of “Doc Hunts Blues Perscription.”

The Lamb sessions were particularly fruitful as what became a resident band became a permanent entity, “China Street”. Many of our current regulars, Dave & John Roberts, Andy Bristow, Andy Smith & of course the legendary Simon Davis, made their debuts at this venue.

A 2nd, briefly run night also happened @ The Adelphi for about 3 months again with “China Street” as a resident band if you wanted to work with them or as a solo spot.

During this period I was working as a duo with John Kenny & after a strange gig at a temperance bar on Friargate (yep a gig with no alchohol) me & John nipped around the corner to the New Brit, to order drinks for after the gig. We got talking to Terry & Viv about a gig there (which we got) & then I discussed the possibility of doing a singers night there. After much persuasion they agreed and in Nov 96 Singers night started @ The New Britannia and continued for 9 years until March 06.
I originally hosted it, then after 4 years passed it on to Simon Davis & Tony Robinson then Simon Davis & Paul Dodd, then finally Dave & John Roberts intersperted with myself till I finally ran it on my own again after a break of about 2 years.

During this time Terry & Viv passed the pub onto their daughter, Paula, who eventually sold the pub end of '05, The new management carried on the singers night tradition, but it wasnt the same so when Paula opened up Bitter Suite in march 06 I moved the singers night there.

So here we are 20 years on, some of the musicians who were around in the beginning are still turning up to play, Mike Stone, Hugh Dent, plus lots of newer musicians. There have been many amazing nights in the past & I’m sure many more to come.

Keep Music live.

Keith