What have Ardal O’Hanlon, Peter Kay, The FA Cup and Take That in Common?

What have Ardal O’Hanlon, Peter Kay, The FA Cup and Take That in Common?

The answer lies in a special exhibition which is being staged by the Irish owned Levenshulme Pub Company for this years’ 2011 Manchester Irish Festival. The show is part of the companies 21st anniversary celebrations and will be staged from Friday 4 March to Sunday 11 March at two of the company’s venues, which are The Union Irish Music Lounge and the M19 Bar & Venue in Levenshulme village.

The show will feature memorabilia and photographs from special events and moments from the opening of its first club to the present day. The show reads like a who’s who of the Irish entertainment world with the likes of: Ardal O’Hanlon, Peter Kay, Jason Manford, Caroline Aherne(Mrs Merton , The Royle Family), Jason Orange from Take That, Eleanor McEvoy, Johnny Logan, Goats Don’t Shave, Frances Black, Sharon Shannon, Toss the Feathers, Mike McGoldrick, Davey Spillane from Riverdance, Lord of the Dance star - James Keegan and the award winning Young, Gifted & Green all forming part of the show. The exhibition also features a number of sporting stars which include the likes of Ryan Giggs, Niall Quinn, Jack Charlton, the entire Manchester City Football Squad and The FA Cup, together with its fair share of Coronation Street and other Soap star actors.

Managing director – Lawrence Hennigan whose Irish roots stem from Mayo was asked to comment about the exhibition and replied “We wanted to do something to document some of the highlights of the last twenty one years. It is great to see how the Irish acts that we have been involved in have developed into international stars performing across the globe. A lot of people talk about us staging Peter Kay’s first major gig and how we got him his first press and TV exposure. But the acts that really stand out for me is the three times world Irish dancing champion- James Keegan and Celtic Rock band Toss the Feathers. Both of these acts have never forgotten what we have done for them and despite James touring the world with Lord of the Dance he still pops in to see us when he can. Despite their touring commitments with other bands ‘Toss the Feathers’ have still found time to put together a special acoustic gig with Dezi Donnelly and Eddie Sheehan for the festival.”

The company has been supporting the Irish Arts in Manchester since 1989. It’s first venture was the 860 capacity Palace nightclub in Levenshulme, the club featured a huge number of high profile Comedians, major music arts and its fair share of Theatre and Dance shows. It was the first venue in Manchester to screen live Gaelic Sports and all of the Irish international football matches. The venue attracted its fair share of Republic of Ireland international footballers and even the Croatian Football Squad during Euro 96. It sponsored Manchester City Football clubs Junior Blues and the club would hold its annual Panto featuring first team members and Coronation Street stars. The FA Cup even made the occasional appearance usually when United won it again.

The company now owns four venues in South Manchester which are the M19 Bar & Venue, The Union Irish Music Lounge, Hennigans Sports Bar which are all based in Levenshulme and The Farmers Arms and Oasis Music Lounge in Burnage.
More details about the exhibition and a pre view of some of its highlights are on www.manchesteririshfestival.co.uk