Whilst Manchester has many musical claims to fame, when we think about the city’s fabled songwriting history we rarely reflect on how its gangsters served as an inspiration.
But according to local lore, a group of particularly well-heeled crime bosses kicking about from the 60s to the 80s had quite the impact on rock band Thin Lizzy, most particularly on its singer, songwriter and bassist Philip Parris Lynott.
As a kid Lynott lived in Ireland with his grandparents, but spent his summers visiting his mum Philomena in Manchester. It was here that he would end up writing a songs about the people he came across at her after-hours club Showbiz, aka the Clifton Grange Hotel in Whalley Range.
Said to have rarely opened before 2am, Showbiz, or ‘The Biz’, was a popular haunt of famous faces including Man United player George Best, singer Helen Shapiro and TV presenters Michael Parkinson and Bob Greaves.
Still, faced with all this material, it was the members of Manchester’s notorious Quality Street Gang that inspired Lynott to write the Thin Lizzy anthem The Boys Are Back In Town.
At the time, Thin Lizzy were in debt and at risk of being dropped by their label, Phonogram, if they didn’t pull through with a big hit on Jailbreak. Before long, they would end up breaking America with a song inspired by a group of spruce Mancunian mobsters
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Friday night they’ll be dressed to kill Down at Dino’s Bar’n’Grill The drink will flow and blood will spill And if the boys wanna fight, you better let ’em
– The boys are back in town, Thin Lizzy
One summer at his mother’s club, watching the well-dressed mob reappear following a trip to Italy, Lynott reportedly uttered the famous words as they made their entrance, and an anthem was born.
But who were the Quality Street Gang?
A close-knit group of ex-fighters and safe blowers, fraudsters and car dealers, scrap merchants, conmen and armed robbers, they were, by all accounts, part of the furniture of Manchester’s clubland.
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Most of the men came from Ancoats and whilst it’s not clear that all of them were involved in crime, many were known for having brutal fights.
They also had money to burn and lived the high life, buying suits from the finest tailors and frequenting trendy venues like The Cabaret Club and Deno’s.
Deno’s, referenced in the lyric ‘down at Dino’s Bar and Grill’, was notorious for its strict dress code, with its namesake Mr Denos Kitromilides famously banning Mick Jagger from the club for being too scruffy.
Evidently a penchant for the dapper side of life in clubland was key, and in time it earned the Quality Street group their brilliant nickname.
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So the story goes, it was inspired by a popular TV advert that showed a group of suited and booted bank robbers pulling off a heist in fedoras, a box of chocolates in hand.
Jimmy the Weed for greed was taken aback Johnny the Fox you old sly cat Cleverly the Fox concealed his stash Crisp dollar bills leave no tracks
– Johnny the fox meets immy the weed, Thin Lizzy
There are numerous reports of people calling out “It’s the Quality Street Gang” as they walked into various bars and nightclubs. The name simply stuck.
One member, Jimmy ‘The Weed’ Donnelly, was a fierce fighter and had a reputation for ruthlessly beating up doormen, hard men and boxers, in spite of his diminutive 5 foot 4 stature.
Jimmy ‘The Weed’ Donnelly holding the gold disc he was presented in 1977 for the Thin Lizzy album Johnny The Fox / Image: Quality Street Gang Manchester Facebook
Jimmy ‘The Weed’ Donnelly at Eric Mason. / Image: Quality Street Gang Manchester Facebook
So named because he had a habit of growing on you, his name also features on Thin Lizzy’s next album Johnny The Fox, appearing on its ninth track Johnny The Fox meets Jimmy The Weed.
We’ve found some of the best Chinese food in town – being served out of a snooker hall
Danny Jones
Yes, you heard us right: we’ve stumbled across one of our favourite new places for Chinese food just on the outskirts of Manchester city centre – it just so happens to be served out of a best-in-class snooker hall.
And that really is just the tip of the iceberg here.
Some of you may have heard about and/or seen it already, but we’ll admit we were a little late to the party when it comes to Club 200, a.k.a. the pool, snooker, darts, mahjong club and more, which has so many different things rolled into that it’s really more a Russian doll than a Chinese restaurant or sports venue.
The hook speaks for itself: a place where people spend just as much time practising with chopsticks as they do their cues, as it really isn’t a gimmick, as some pessimistic folk would have you think – the food is banging and so are the vibes in general.
Not only is this quite literally the best snooker club in Manchester – complete with everything from classic American billiards and Chinese 8-ball to king-size snooker tables that the Ronnie O’Sullivan has played and won on, to a special AI system you won’t find anywhere else – it is SO much more than that.
Whilst the backroom was packed with everyone from casuals to those looking to get their pro certification via the official Q Tour, and lads in the front were practising their arrows, as co-owner Simon admitted they get almost just as many darts regulars these days, a storm was cooking up in the kitchen.
It would be unfair to say this place doubles as a bar and restaurant, because we really couldn’t get over how well put together this menu was.
‘Café 200’s food offerings involve classics like fried rice and chow mein dishes, to the kind of sides you could expect from your local Chinese chippy, but it’s even more authentic exports that really impress.
For instance, the beef ho fun seemed to be a big hit with everyone; we loved the salty seafood udon as well (a great chew on those noodles), and we know plenty of people still searching for proper Hong Kong-style French toast – they might just find it here.
Speaking of the special administrative region, which has a twisting and turning but nevertheless rich culinary culture all of its own, that last dish had us hopping with joy.
You’re looking at baked Portuguese rice: a Macau speciality rooted in the region’s colonial history.
We’ve never quite had anything like it before, even in all of our years eating this kind of cuisine around the 10 boroughs, but we haven’t stopped thinking about it since.
And then there’s everything else they do, from karaoke and bingo nights to catering for birthdays and other functions, or even just serving as a cool, somewhat tucked-away spot to watch the footy and other live sport come the weekend.
You can tell this place has built up a real community over the last 18 months or so, and while the food speaks for itself, it’s the sheer abundance and variety going on that makes it especially charming to so many.
Speaking of jack-of-all-trade venues, we stumbled across a similar multi-talented one over in Salford not so long ago, too…
‘Manc the Biff’: the Co-op Live crowd made the Clyro boys welcome on debut
Danny Jones
It feels like we’ve been waiting a long time to welcome Biffy Clyro back to Manchester, and they really didn’t disappoint on their Co-op Live debut.
Here’s our review of what was a proper rock show.
After a strong lineup of support acts with The Armed and Soft Play (formerly Slaves) injecting plenty of early energy into the crowds, already knew two things: the Scots wouldn’t disappoint, and a Manc crowd NEVER lets you down.
We knew everyone was on top form from the moment the Kilmarnock icons stepped out on stage under a swathe of blankets to the opener from their latest album, Futique.
Once the curtain was eventually lifted during ‘A Little Love’, which has quickly become one of the most popular singles for some time, you could see the sea of fans below start bouncing.
Rolling into the likes of ‘Hunting Season’ and Only Revolutions classic, ‘The Captain’, those bounces quite quickly turned into a healthy-sized pit, and those up in the stands with us finally got on their feet.
That was maybe our only complaint: we love seeing a seated section pretending they’re in standing from their start, but we get it and each to their own, of course.
In fact, the same goes for the rest of the session players joining them on the road this year.
One thing we weren’t expecting was quite how cool the production levels were going to be. We’ve never been Biffy fans for their creativity when it comes to toying with stage design or lighting rigs, but they threw in some fun effects regardless.
Highlights from the night included ‘Tiny Indoor Fireworks’, ‘Bubbles’, and ‘Black Chandelier’, though we were sad not to hear ‘Victory Over The Sun’, and it was especially gutting that one of our favourite tracks from the new record, ‘True Believer’, didn’t end up on the setlist.
Again, you can’t have anything – we’re just glad we got to be there and see a truly great British rock band proving that they are well and truly an arena-level band.
Lastly, even after all the years and an X-Factor cover trying its hardest to take the credit away from them, ‘Many of Horror’ is still an unbelievable rock ballad, and d’ya know who is an unbelievable rock band? “Biffy. F***ing. Clyroooooo.”
Georgina Pellant -
17th August 2022 
