Manchester Irish Club completes the treble in National Competition

The Palace hotel in Manchester erupted when St Kent’s Irish Club in Fallowfield, won its third national Club Mirror Award on Thursday 26 November. Last year it sweept the board by winning the ‘King of Clubs’ and ‘Manager of the Year’. This year it created its own unique piece of history by being one of the first clubs in the Country to win another national award by winning the title of ‘Community Pub of the Year’. The event was held in the prestigious Palace Hotel in Manchester and presented by TV horse racing pundit Clare Balding she described the winners as the nation’s best and congratulated them on all their success. Club Mirror has over 15,000 members throughout the UK and this is the sixteenth year that they have staged these National Awards for its members.


The Four hundred capacity venue which is one of Manchester’s top Irish entertainment and family orientated centres, won the coveted 2009 Club Mirror Award for ‘Community Club of the Year’.

Kevin Fitzpatrick the Fermanagh born manager of the club said “This is very special award because it rewards the work of the whole Parish Community. I have a great team here and everyone deserves the credit for winning such a prestigious award.”


St Kentigern’s Parish Priest Father Tom Connolly said “The whole community is delighted by the news, I am really fortunate priest to have such a vibrant club which caters for the needs of its members. This reward recognises everyone’s contribution to the success the club has in meeting the needs of the Irish community.”

Cllr Mike Amesbury, Executive Member for Culture and Leisure stated: “St Kent's is a real asset to both the Fallowfield and the Manchester community. From being a venue for community meetings & sporting hub to charity nights (and even my 40th) St Kent's is second to none”.

The club which was started in 1971 when it was built by the labour of the Irish parishioners and it has remained as a cornerstone of the Irish community in Manchester. It is a family orientated community and entertainment venue. Since its inception it has been one of the main hubs of Manchester’s Irish community while still making it accessible and welcoming to people of all different cultural backgrounds and faiths. The club is open seven days a week, where it hosts events for all different sectors of the community, these include: Special weekly Youth Club events, a Credit Union, Irish Language lessons, Traditional Irish Music tuition, Irish Set dancing. It is also home to the Keegan Kennedy School of Irish dancing and is one of the main sponsors of the the award winning Young, Gifted & Green Irish Music, Song and Dance Troupe.

The club itself has a national reputation for attracting a host of major Irish artists from all over the UK and Ireland. It has played host to the likes of The Wolftones, Big Tom, Bible Code Sundays, Philomena Begley, The Fureys, Mick Falvin, Declan Nerney, Susan McCann and TR Dallas to name just a selection of the acts.

During December the club will host the annual Christmas reunion of Manchester’s legendary Celtic Rock band ‘Toss the Feathers’ as well as a special outside broadcast of the award winning Full Irish Radio show with Joe Cassserley. The venue is also a great supporter of sport and sponsors a number of Gaelic Football and Hurling teams, as well as sponsoring and organising its own annual Charity Golf tournament.