You may not think that Stockport Museum has too many exhibitions or artefacts that capture the attention of the world, but that is certainly the case at the moment. While Stockport Museum offers a great insight into local life and the development of the area, there is a new exhibition which is shining a light on one of the most celebrated locations in the local area.
This is because it is 50 years since Strawberry Studios was set up and the exhibition is displaying memorabilia from the studio, which has housed some of the biggest names in the music industry. The studio was co-owned by 10cc, which would make it a top attraction for many pop fans but over the years acts like Paul McCartney, The Smiths, Happy Mondays, The Stone Roses, New Order, The Buzzcocks and perhaps most famously of all, Joy Division entered the studio and made musical history. People from all over the world adore the Manchester sound (we’ll leave McCartney aside here) but not many know that much of the great Manchester sound actually hails from Stockport. The local area has benefitted from the publicity generated by local act Blossoms in recent times but for many, Stockport holds a strong place in British music history.
Musical history has been made in Stockport
This is something that the exhibition aims to rectify, and it also shows how the property market has changed in the local area. The studio was set up in 1967 in a 20ft square room in the heart of Stockport town centre. It was located above a record store and the studio changed hands for £500! You can’t even rent a cupboard for a week in London for that price but that was the cost of a strong piece of musical history. The studio moved to Waterloo Road and it was soon recognised as offering technical services and facilities that couldn’t be found anywhere else in the north of England.
A major boon for the studios came when Martin Hannett made the studio his first choice, which enabled the studio to play host to Factory Records, which led to the tie in with Joy Division. Considering there was significant interest in the family home of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, when it was put on sale in 2015, eventually being bought for £190,000 with the buyer signalling plans to set up a museum, there is interest in properties which have a sense of local history or which have greater importance.
At Spencer Harvey, we can’t claim to have musical properties nor do we say that we are rock stars of the estate agency world, but we do know how important Stockport was, and is, to many people. This is why if you are looking for an estate agent that puts you first and helps you achieve your property aims, we are help to help. To see how we can help you strike the right chord in the property market, get in touch.