Salford Lads Club, Barracks Estate, Ordsall

A BUILDING which is a Mecca for pop fans worldwide should be raised to the ground, according to National Lottery chiefs. Salford Lads Club - a 97 year old institution on the Ordsall Estate - earned legendary status when 1980s cult band The Smiths used it for a photo shoot. The red brick Edwardian gem, which stands on the real Coronation Street was opened in 1904 by Lord Baden Powell. But the building is in urgent need of repairs and the club made an unsuccessful bid to the National Lottery for £400,000. The club still has many of its original fittings, including a boxing ring, snooker rooms and a brick walled gym with a viewing balcony. Many original features remain along the glazed brick corridors, including photographs from early camping trips by members. From its heyday in the early 1900s, when it had 2,000 members, the club now has about 200 - including girls.  Former club members include Manchester United and England star and original Busby Babe Eddie Colman; artist and friend of LS Lowry, Harold Riley; actor Albert Finney; and singer Graham Nash, star of pop heroes The Hollies and Crosby, Stills and Nash. The Smiths posed on the steps of the entrance for the original promo on the cover of the 1987 single Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before. It is currently featured on the Smiths new album, Best Of, and also appeared on the cover of Russell Watson’s top selling CD, The Voice, last year. [Manchester Evening News,  8 Sept 2001]