Cemetery Gates. Salford Lads Club. Holy Name Church on Oxford Road. Morrissey’s old house on Kings Street. Manchester Ritz. Strangeways Prison.
Familiar? They are all places mentioned in songs by The Smiths. Now, these are all stops that you can visit on a Smiths-themed bicycle ride through Manchester. The ride was partly inspired by the old video to the song Stop me if you think that you’ve heard this one before, where Morrissey leads a gang of lookalikes around town on ride that ends at the Salford Lads Club. The ride was started as a way to save the crumbling Salford Lads Club, featured in the video and alluded elsewhere in the world of Morrissey and The Smiths. The roof of the famed building has been looted for its lead – an odd coincidence because this exact same act of theft is depicted in the video to the song Vicar in a Tutu (the Holy Name church, also one of the stops on the bicycle ride.)
The ride is about 16 miles and ends back at the Salford Lads Club where Smiths tribute bands will perform. For more information, visit the Bigmouth Bikes Again website.
Donations to the Salford Lads Club are greatly appreciated.