Manchester hand in glove with new museum

The city of Manchester has become home to a new tourist attraction – a museum dedicated to those musical purveyors of all things miserable, the Smiths. The Salford Lads Club, which was featured on the group’s near-legendary album The Queen is Dead and has since become a mecca for fans of the band, celebrated its 100th birthday last week – and will mark the anniversary by opening the “Smiths Room”, full of memorabilia and photos relating to the band. Community artist Leslie Holmes, who is behind the project, told The Independent: “They have contributed to making us a national treasure”. However, the newspaper reports that the club, which was opened by the Boy Scouts’ founder Lord Baden-Powell in 1904, has not always enjoyed such a warm relationship with the Smiths. When the photo first appeared on the album, the club did not want to be associated with the band, and tried to sue them for using the building without prior permission. Band member Andy Rourke reportedly said: “It’s about time the club got paid its dues. It has had years of fans coming from all over the world to write on its walls and nick pieces of brick.”