Live music and good bars in Cheshire

Live music and good bars in Cheshire

We have to do it, it would be wrong not too, John’s friend has opened a bar in my hometown of Macclesfield, and we are staying in that same town, how can we not go and visit?

Well actually I can give you many reasons why not, Macclesfield is a small town, and it has been a small town for many years, so it is with dread and trepidation that we embark on our night out!

Have I got lost? Have I been transported to elsewhere? What has happened? Have the good nightlife fairies got lost and decided to stop at Macclesfield?????

This is not the place I remember, I remember aspiring to move to Chorlton or Disdsbury or Manchester itself for the good nightlife, but now I have finally moved away, Macclesfield is the place to be.

I do not remember a Friday night out ever being like this, we are spoilt for choice for live music and good bars.

We start at Mash Guru, which is on Back Wallgate, the exterior belies the size of the interior, the place is like the tardis from Dr Who with a warren of passages and spaces.

Mash Guru was once a Mexican restaurant (actually a very nice Mexican restaurant) but now it is a bar owned by Peter Mason and Jane Birch. The place is fantastic, the old stone walls blend with the decor (though a few very questionable 70’s picture) leather sofa’s perfect for sitting back and relaxing with friends and a stage that was so well positioned that you could hear the live music and talk or sit by the stage and listen to the fantastic Calypso band that was playing.

I have mention the bar staff, I have never met such a friendly, happy bunch of people, obviously it is as much fun to work here as it is to socialise here.

Picture courtesy of Mash Guru website

Picture courtesy of Mash Guru website

Picture courtesy of Mash Guru website

The description on the website describes Mash Guru as 

A fine blend of New York Speakeasy, Berlin underground and 70s Porn Lounge, shaken not stirred. Mash is a bar with attitude, eclectic, electric and unexpected on every front.

It really does live up to its description and will now be our favourite place to visit when we are back in Macclesfield.

Next stop is Cabin 5150. As we enter we go up the stairs, I really do not know what to expect now, what I didn’t expect was the quality of the band that was playing. Well Hung Heart, a Californian 3 piece band. The music was louder, but with this standard we were happy not to sit and talk.

Cabin 5150 is a music studio by day and bar by night. The space is big enough to dance, stand and sit and one of the best bits is that the bar does not charge ridiculous prices, they are just normal bar prices, there was also no entrance fee, I cannot remember the last time I saw a band of this quality in such first-rate surroundings without paying a fortune.

picture courtesy of Cabin 5150

We move on again and this time head to The Snow Goose, I have no idea what this bar was when I lived in Macclesfield, it is on Sunderland Street and as far as I remember the road was full of closed shops, not any more. The Snow Goose did not have music but it did have instruments dotted around the patrons make their own music, the place has old wooden tables with benches covered in cushions, I could quite happily have settled in here for the night with a glass of beer.

At the back of the bar there is a large beer garden (with a larger canopy cover, after all the weather was still original Macclesfield weather, it was cold and raining!)

photo courtesy of Snow Goose

photo courtesy of Snow Goose

photo courtesy of Snow Goose

It is time to go back to say goodbye to Pete at Mash Guru,

Well what an eye opener, Macclesfield is the place to be, there is only one way to top off a night like this and that’s with a Fiesta kebab and chips and a walk home, some things will never change!