Band on the Wall

Band on the Wall is a live music venue in Manchester, England, located at 25 Swan Street in the Northern Quarter.

The building dates back to around 1862 when a local brewery, the McKenna Brothers, built it as the flagship pub of their operation. It was called the George and Dragon; the first licence on the site was granted to Elizabeth March in 1803. No-one knows when music started to be played at the venue but market pubs were well known for their musical connections, and the nearby Smithfield Markets and textile factories ensured that this was a bustling area with many musicians and buskers. Manchester was then at its height as the first industrial city at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution.

The 'Band on the Wall' was a nickname from the 1930s when the landlord of the time Ernie Tyson placed a stage high on the far wall of the pub on which the musicians played. A regular band of two accordions, piano, drums, a singer and occasionally a saxophone would play.

During World War II the venue was popular with British, American, Canadian and French servicemen as well as the local market traders and mill workers. Italian prisoners of war and deserters were rumoured to frequent the establishment. The band often played on during air raids, particularly as they became more common. Walter Greenwood wrote that a record 24,000 bottles of beer were sold here on one day of a Bank Holiday weekend.

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