The much-loved manager of the Star and Garter venue and pub in the city centre of Manchester has died at the age of 52. We have lost yet another key cog in the city’s musical culture and the passionate music fan who has created the space for so much to happen over the years.

Andy was a dry and funny man who loved Half Man Half Biscuit and would quote that great band’s lyrics in his conversation. It was always a pleasure to meet on the door of the venue and talk music into the night with his deadpan humour and his music passion to the fore.

Taking over the pub on Fairfield Street at the side of Piccadilly station in 2003, he turned it into one of the key music spaces in the city centre in a time when there were a handful of venues in the city centre and battled to make sure the much loved venue remained to become part the now booming live venue scene in Manchester where it remains a key component of a live music circuit that it helped inspire.

Perhaps one of the last of the old school boozers in town with a perfectly old school feel the downstairs pub was as a garrulous blast from the past whilst the upstairs room was a perfect 200 capacity venue that hosted all kinds of cult bands from the punk rock circuit to Morrissey and Smiths nights and was perfectly scuzzy jewel in the Manchester nightlife crown.

There is a crowd fun campaign for Andy’s funeral here

‘Andy was extremely well loved and his influence was wide-reaching. There are many bands he helped to catapult, many artists, DJs and club nights where he was pivotal to their success. He was a wonderful husband, doting dad, beloved uncle, cherished son and loyal friend. He fought tooth and nail to keep the Star and Garter open, endlessly debating and ultimately winning the battle with the Goliath that is Network Rail. Having kept the pub open, he kept the prices low so that everyone could enjoy their night there, no matter their budget. Andy always felt a person feeling they’d had a good night at the pub was worth much more than money: his passion, his business, was the business of making people happy.

Andy was also a great storyteller with a fireside warmth and brutally funny cheek that could catch you unawares. His sharp one liners and outlook on situations meant a conversation with him would undoubtedly end in tears of laughter. He was a fundamentally good person with depth, quietly keeping an eye on many and reaching out to check they were okay. He had a Half Man Half Biscuit lyric for every situation, and no doubt he’d claim this one as ‘National Shite Day’.’