retiredmartin

Public Decency Warning : Contains Morrissey

September 2023. Stretford. NOT Manchester.

I let Manc legend Quosh know I was venturing into Trafford and would need some advice. Not only did he say he’s bike across town to say hello, he sent me some tourist info. What a guy.

Stretford is only really on the tourist trail if you’re a fan of Steven Patrick Morrissey, which I guess some of us would have admitted to until, ooh, 30 years ago.

His childhood home is a place of pilgrimage for Japanese Smiths fans, his lyrics immortalised in the record shop inside Stretford Mall.

The mall is “under development”, with this corridor leading to the bargain shop more reminiscent of a Joy Division album cover shoot.

I had an hour to kill before my “recommended pub” opened at noon, time to admire some gorgeous art outside the mall,

and then head out to a famous bridge just north of the tram stop.

Yes, this is the iron bridge under which we kissed.

It’s not the Ponte Vecchio, to be fair.

But does the Ponte Vecchio contain (misquoted, no doubt) lyrics as good as this.

No, no it doesn’t.

Reading that, I immediately fancied a burger.