Noel Gallagher’s former flat, Manchester

Here I am in Manchester outside an apartment block called India House where Noel Gallagher wrote some of their record-setting debut album Definitely Maybe (released in 1994.) He moved here in his early twenties against his mum’s Peg’s wishes and later said traditional Irish mothers don’t like their sons moving out when they’re so young. Noel had worked as a roadie for Inspiral Carpets for two year and joined his brother’s group. Oasis were originally called The Rain and none of the Gallagher brothers were in it. Liam was auditioned and joined as the singer and changed the name (he’d seen the Oasis Leisure Centre in Swindon as a venue on an Inspiral Carpets tour poster.) Noel saw them play live but didn’t think they were anything special. He’d been writing songs for years though and when he joined the band it acted as an outlet for his songs.

Noel confessed to only having a couple of jobs before working as a roadie - working for his alcoholic dad’s concrete firm and at a screen printer’s company. He moved into this flat on the fourth floor in his early twenties after he’d joined the band and they were performing live gigs. He told the group he’d write the songs “and I'll take you to superstardom” or they’d only remain successfully locally. How right he was. His control over the band in its early years earned him the nickname "The Chief". Here he wrote the first album and was aged 26 when a record contract was obtained.

I’m not sure he would have been able to afford to rent the flat alone. These huge handsome Grade 2 listed Edwardian apartment blocks you see around Manchester were expensive to rent after immediate conversion. They’re expensive to rent now (about £800 - £1000/month) and would have been expensive in the 1900s for a lad in his early twenties. Noel had probably had some decent savings having been a roadie where you can’t spend money as you’re constantly on the move. In an interview he claimed drugs bleached memories about the years 1993 to 1998 from his mind.

I stood and looked at India House and took the usual photos with me saluting outside it (it gives people on buses something to think about - I’m used to it.) This Edwardian baroque-style beauty was built in 1906 and was owned by Lloyds Packing Warehouses Ltd, a packing and shipping warehouse. It’s probably always looked the same except now cars run passed it rather than horses and carriages. With its red brick and buff terracotta dressings it gave its visiting customers a feeling of long-term certainty. The communal areas and lower floors were richly decorated to impress visitors placing orders. Goods stored and despatch here were safe due to it fire-proof high specifications.

The almost-vertical rise of Oasis meant Noel didn’t stay in the flat for long. Definitely Maybe became the fastest-selling debut album in British history at the time. Oasis went from being on the dole to playing to 125,000 people per night at Knebworth House in about four years (over 2.5 million people applied for tickets for that venue making it the largest ever demand for concert tickets in British history.) It all started with that first album Definitely Maybe. Across the road from India House I stood and looked up at the windows on the fourth floor and thought, “blimey, a few chords and lyrics hastily scribbled on a scrap of paper that became big hits were done in there.”

Oasis leveraged more millions of pounds worth of publicity in the Britpop era when the squabble between working-class Oasis and middle-class Blur made it to News At Ten. At the time of writing he lives in Little Venice in London with his wife and two sons (though it’s up for sale.)

I stroll round the back of India House and then appeared at the front again. There was a lady in the foyer taking photograph with a hefty camera on a tripod. I was hoping she may be another nosey geek but she was taking photos of the ornate carvings on the walls. She was Polish, had lived in Manchester for five years and didn’t know a seminal Oasis album had been written here. I would have given her my geek card but I got the feeling she was more Chopin than Oasis.

Looking down Whitworth Street…

Noel lived on the forth floor…

The Polish lady taking photos of the carvings…

Sackville Gardens nearby. Whether Noel sat among the flowers writing songs is doubtful but you never know…

Noel often went to the Hacienda nightclub which was a short walk away…