Barratts of Manchester
Oxford Street

Adrian Barratt's shop was always a haven for muso's, especially with its (then) close proximity to A1 Repairs, Mameloks and Reno's - not to mention the Wimpy Bar.

Barratts original shop was a small one on the corner of the block, near to where the Railway bridge crosses Oxford Road, the large Barratts Shop (double fronted) was originally their drum shop and was called 'The Percussion Centre'.

As a sax player the shop held little fascination for me but for guitarists it must have been heaven. I can remember Eric Haydock working there after leaving the Hollies and probably after Eric Haydock's Rockhouse. At the time, it was always a good feeling to be served by him - he was a real "pop star".

Cec Mosley (Boomerangs)
Eric Haydock and Terry Smith

Brian Higham and Hank Marvin in Barratts late 60s (above) and on the right Hank & John Farrar recieve some goodies couresty of Barratts & Selmer at Barratts of Manchester

"I was playing in a Kent based band and was making a rare 'tour' into the NW. We were doing a bit of shopping in Manchester, so I took the band into Reno's and Barratts (as you would).

My last memory of Barratts was one of our silly roadies agreeing to have his hands gaffertaped round a lamp post outside the shop. Naturally once his hands were tied and resistance impossible, we continued until both rolls were empty and he became mummified a couple of feet up the lampost. Off to A1 for new rolls of tape and then the Wimpy for a coffee. He had to be rescued by a very understanding policewoman".

Paul Mlynarz, Manchesterbeat webmaster and ex-Phoenix City Smash (Mc/r) and Life 'n' Soul (Kent)

"I used to work in Barratt's many years back and I was in the shop on the day of the roadie gaffered to lampost incident, the WPC came in and said, (pointing out of the door towards the street) to the assembled band members "does this belong to you", we all wandered out for a look and in fact it wasn't just his hands but his head taped up as well! I've often told the story of the taped up roadie, but I knever knew the name of the band.

I recall it was a fairly quiet day when you guys came in, it cheered us up for the rest of the day!"

Paul Braddock, ex-Barratts

"In the late 50s and early 60s it was the premier music shop in the north west.

I ordered my Fender jazz bass from there in early 1960, when I took delivery of it about 2 weeks later, Barrats got a letter from Jennings ( the importers and agents for Fender ) asking them to send it back, because it was the first one in the UK ( later found out it was the first to be exported from the USA ) and was intended to go to Jet Harris of the Shadows, but Adrian Barrat just told them it was already sold and paid for.

We used to have some great sessions there at lunch times, there was always a crowd in trying the guitars and drums, Adrian's dad who was a dance band musician used to play hell about the noise, he used to turn off the power so all the amps went off, its the only way he could get rid of us.

It was also like a job centre for musicians, if you ever wanted a drummer/bass player/guitarist Adrian usually knew someone looking for a group."

Butch Mepham

	On the left, a picture of Barratt's window in early 70s. The first guitar, the strat, I sold to Hank Marvin and a Les Paul custom which is now owned by Keith Hopwood (Herman's Hermits). The second one is one of the very first tele thinline model. I sold this to John Farrar, he's the guy who wrote " You're the one that I want" for the film Grease. The picture on the right is the same one bit with different pick ups, different scratch plate  and three bigsby palm pedals on. To play it you had to be a genius, but then he was... Brian Higham
		Brian Higham (left) and Adrian Barratt (right) meeting the President of the King Brass & Woodwind company at their main factory in Wyckliffe Cleveland Ohio U.S.A in 1974.  "We flew to New York and then on to Houston, Ttexas to the NAMM show. We stayed there for 4 days then drove from Houston thru Dallas on through Amarillo up to Chicago then on to Cleveland then up to Niagara  to Buffalo and Springfield ,into new york state and the into new york itself, stayed there for two days and the home to the uk. When Adrian dropped me off at home I was we knackered. as he got back in his car he said "See you in the morning at the shop 9-30 sharp". He was all heart you know. Brian Higham
My fondest memories of Barratts were me going down there every saturday afternoon for my drum lesson. If Iremember correctly the teacher was a guy called Dave Edwards. T thanks to him I was in regular work drumming for a good 30 years, playing in various groups and then in various clubs as resident drummer, OH HAPPY DAYS. Keith Lock I worked at the Brass and Percussion shop in the summer of 75. I was mad on guitars and would volunteer to run errands up the road to where I would be confronted by Cec and the gang. One day I met this guy called Dave Edwards who used to teach drums,eleven years later he taught me to fly and we both ended up Captains in the Airlines. Dave still gigs and is happy to talk about his muso days especially his starring role with Brian and Michael with whom he played Matchstick cats and dogs. Great Days!! K. O'Donnell John Farrar, who later wrote "You're the one I want" trying out a guitar upstairs in the shop. Brian Higham outside the shop 1960s

The above photo is the guitar repair workshop, on a quiet day by the look of it, this was on the middle floor of 72 Oxford Street, the little amplifier is an Arbiter Powerhouse, I still own one that I use at home from time to time.

We were due to move down the road to 8a Oxford Road, facing the ‘new’ BBC studios, this branch had been the strings, brass and woodwind shop, or “instrument Shop”, All the stock and staff had been moved out to Chester Road Old Trafford, opposite the White City stadium, where the factory was, this was a bold move at the time and pre dated some of the out of town super stores by several years, but to be successful a shop has to have stock and some reason for people to travel out of town, and to be honest this never happened.

The “instrument” thing really used to annoy us, people would come into the Oxford Street shop looking for brass and woodwind and say “where are all your instruments?” like guitars, keys and drums didn’t fit that category, it happened even more once we moved to 8a.

Strangely Music Ground have just opened a branch either in the same shop or the one next door to 8a on Oxford Road

Paul Braddock