Alan Leach
Alan Leach, from York, is the drummer with indie band Shed Seven, who are playing at Halifax’s Piece Hall in August. He is also the co-founder of SpeedQuizzing, whose technology is used to host real and virtual pub quizzes.
What’s your first Yorkshire memory? I wasn’t a bad little gymnast at primary school age, to the point where I represented the Yorkshire under-11s at the Lilleshall Hall National Sports Centre. I wasn’t the top gymnast in the team by any stretch, but I enjoyed it and I remember wearing a black and white tracksuit with Yorkshire written on the back.
What’s your favourite part of Yorkshire – and why? York. It’s where I’ve lived for 50 years and I’ve never seriously thought about moving away. When we (Shed Seven) were signed to Polydor Records, they would have preferred it if we’d moved to London, but it was never going to happen. People travel from all over the world to visit York and I’ve lived within a 10 minute walk of the Minster all my life – so I’m pretty lucky really.
What’s your idea of a perfect day, or perfect weekend, out in Yorkshire? I’m looking forward to getting back into some of my favourite pubs and bars in York, both socially and for hosting pub quizzes (which is my other passion outside of music).
Do you have a favourite walk, or view? One of the best things to happen to York was when they created the York
Orbital cycle route in 2012. It’s not what you’d call picturesque; it’s only maintained to a certain level and quite overgrown in places, and there’s graffiti on most of the man-made fixtures and fittings, but it always feels clean, safe and friendly.
If you had to name your Yorkshire ‘hidden gem’, what would it be? I haven’t been for a while but we used to love Lightwater Valley theme park, near Ripon. It always seemed a bit less Disneyland than some of the other theme parks. I keep meaning to go back and see how much it’s changed. Now I’ve said it, I’m not sure it counts as “hidden” since it’s signposted from the A1!
If you could choose somewhere, or some object, from or in Yorkshire to own for a day, what would it be? Well, if owning the whole of Whitby is being too greedy, I’ll take Robin Hood’s Bay, please. It’s a lovely coastal area.
Which Yorkshire sportsperson, past or present, would you like to take for lunch? Henry Wharton, hands down. He was giving Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn a run for their money at the peak of their careers, at the same time as my band Shed Seven were breaking through. I had his poster on my wall and got more behind those fights than probably any other sporting event before or since.
Which Yorkshire stage or screen star (past or present) would you like to take for lunch, and why? If this includes musicians, I’ll go with Jarvis Cocker. I was in a studio with him once not long after he’d famously bared his “South Yorkshire soul” at Michael Jackson at the Brit Awards, but sadly I bottled out of talking to him, which was unlike me as I was usually quite sociable. I think someone else in our band had been asked in an interview what they thought of the “Jarvis v Jacko” incident and they’d sided with
MJ, so I was conscious that this had been printed and that he might have seen it. In hindsight, he probably hadn’t and wouldn’t have been bothered anyway, so I should have said “hi”. In my opinion, his half-dozen best songs are as good as anyone’s from any era.
Do you have a favourite restaurant or pub? One of my favourite places is 1331 in York. It isn’t a traditional pub in terms of the building, but it’s independent, and being on first name terms with the owner is what makes it more of a pub to me.
How do you think that Yorkshire has changed, for better or worse, in the time that you’ve known it? You only have to watch old TV news footage from 50 years ago to see how much