New Continental

Following on from the success of last month's open mic nights, we're starting a regular slot - the first Continental Open Mic Night of the year is this Thursday (15th January) from 9pm. We want anyone with an act they'd like to try out to come down and give us your best shot: whether it's singing or music, poetry or pe...rformance art, magic or stand-up - we want to hear from you! Put your name down behind the bar if you'd like to perform, or call the pub on 01772 499425 and speak to Warren or Paul. And of course, if you don't want to perform, we'd still love you to come down on the night and enjoy what everyone else has to offer...
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The Continental gets its first taste of studio theatre from the award-winning Second Nature Theatre Company on Saturday 1st November 2008 at 8pm.

Ross Andrew's Manchester Evening News Award Winning dark comedy is touring again, and taking in The Continental along the way. If you missed this last time around in Mancheste...r’s 24:7 Theatre Festival, here's another chance to see it, and if you've already seen it - come and see the new extended version.

Developed with the support of OLDHAM COLISEUM
''Mr Jenkins wakes from a disturbed sleep in the early hours of the morning to find a smartly dressed stranger in his living room. The stranger is as reluctant to give answers as he is to leave... Can our everyday choices and seemingly irrelevant actions have serious consequences? Has anyone told Mr Jenkins?

''sharply written by Ross Andrews and compellingly presented...'' Kevin Bourke MEN * * * * *

''the drive and pace were fantastic and the packed audience were howling with laughter. Make sure you don't miss this show - even if you have to bring your own seat!'' Caroline May, UK Theatre Network

''CAUGHT LIVE - 3 OF THE BEST OF THE 24:7 THEATRE FESTIVAL BOLTON...
First and my favourite was 'The Judgement of Mr Jenkins', a darkly humourous morality tale...there were plenty of laughs, what with the afterlife having been privatised and the criteria for entering heaven changed. New modern day sins included not rewinding the cassette before taking it back to the video shop, and it certainly struck a chord with me...''
Caroline Dutton, Lancashire Evening Telegraph, Sept '06

Prices: £8, £5.50 concessions (OAPs & Students, ID required)

Tickets available from the Continental (telephone & over the bar)
Also available in person or by telephone from Preston Tourist Information, Lancaster Road, PR1 1HT. Opening Hours 10am - 5.30pm Monday – Saturday. Tel 01772 253731 (telephone booking fee £1).

Pre-Theatre menu available with tickets - £11 for 2 courses, £13 for 3. Bookings required, available 5pm - 6.30pm

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Beer Festival this weekend!!

The inaugural Continental Beer Festival kicks off on Thursday 23rd October at 6pm for the whole weekend in the Continental’s events space.

The festival will be a paradise for ale drinkers with 100+ beers available, including 60 cask ales, a cider & perry bar, plus foreign beers including thos...e brewed specially for the Oktoberfest in Munich. Speciality food will be available throughout the weekend including a hogroast. In addition, the kitchen will be open lunchtime and in the evening as usual, serving up the usual excellent fare to soak up the ale.

There will be live music every evening. Thursday sees smooth jazz trumpeter Nick Holme rolling out the standards to help the beer slip down. On Friday, Preston 6-piece Saraban have promised a mix of songs and genres, from jazz to pop, folk to rock - songs that you'll know, some that you won't (but you'll love anyway) and some that you'll think you don't know then realise that you do. Saturday sees the magnificent Dr Butler's Hatstand Medicine Band, who will do two sets of insanely entertaining blues & jazz http://www.myspace.com/drbutlershatstandmedicineband. Music for Sunday evening comes from contemporary jazz guitar duo Bailey & Mockler, whose sweet jazzy grooves are sure to make the approaching week a little sweeter.

The Continental’s famous authentic Boddington’s Beer large outdoor pub lit sign, which spent generations lighting the outside of the pub, will be auctioned off to raise funds for the Neonatal Unit at Royal Preston Hospital during the first beer festival run by the pub this weekend.

The auction will take place on a rolling basis over the 4 days. The sign will be on show during this time. It will be a pound to place a bid and the daily highest bid will be announced at the end of each day to start of the following day’s bidding. Bidding will finish at 5pm on Sunday afternoon 26th October, and the winner and total announced at 6pm.

But here is no doubt there will be lots of beer drunk!

see you there

Team Continental
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The Continental opens its doors on Sunday October 12th 2008 to the first in a series of children’s theatre events. Chicken Licken is a one-man show for early years from internationally touring Preston Company, Dynamic New Animation (DNA).

Chicken Licken
An early years show & workshop by Dynamic New Animation

"DNA’s wonde...rful blend of classic tales is one of the best children’s shows touring the UK" - Barney Jeavons, The West End Centre, Aldershot

“A one-man and several-puppet show from the innovative storytelling outfit Dynamic New Animation, it's cuddly farmyard friends are brought to life in an avuncular narrative and a attractively rustic set: all good wholesome fun for new theatregoers” - Ronnie Haydon in Time Out, May 17th 2000

A baby chick is born and thinks the sky is falling down. On the way to tell the King, she meets Henny Penny, Ducky Lucky & Turkey Lurkey, but there's a shocking surprise! Chicken Licken grows up to be the Little Red Hen and asks her friends to help her make bread, but no one wants to play! Mixed into this recipe of food, puppets and music is the story of Little Red Hen and the sly Foxy Loxy. Will she outwit him and save her stuffing?

This one-man show is a trilogy of classic tales from the Ladybird books - Chicken Licken, The Little Red Hen and The Fox and the Hen. Starting as a baking demonstration, the show rapidly becomes the adventures of a growing chick and her encounters with a hungry fox.

This show uses shadow and rod puppetry and has an original musical score by Jon Owen.

Family Workshop

A special workshop for early years, to extend their participation, and aid audience development and family learning.

The Chicken Licken performance is accompanied by a simple shadow puppet workshop. The kids cut their favourite characters from the show out of card.

If it's a chicken they bring it to life with a magic feather. If it's a pig it gets a pipe cleaner curly tale. They make a cellophane window in the creature, tape on a bendy straw and hey presto! It's a shadow puppet!

They get to try out their creations on the actual stage set, two by two, in a 'Parade of Poultry' with music from the show as the others applaud. All materials supplied.

Family theatre & dining deals are available for those wishing to dine before or after the show & workshop. For further information please see www.newcontinental.net.

Information:

Performance date Sunday October 12th 2008
The Continental, South Meadow Lane, Preston, PR1 8JP
Suitable for age 3 – 6
Show running time 45 minutes
Workshop running time 40 minutes
Children must be accompanied by an adult

Shows 11am & 2pm, followed by workshops.
Prices: £5 per performance ticket & £3 per workshop place. Workshop discount: 2 children for the price of one (accompanied by an adult)

Tickets available from the Continental
Also available in person or by telephone from Preston Tourist Information, Lancaster Road, PR1 1HT. Opening Hours 10am - 5.30pm Monday – Saturday. Tel 01772 253731 (telephone booking fee £1).
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We'd like to officially invite you to our opening reception on Friday September 26th, from 6pm - 8pm. Ok, so we've been serving up great food, beer and music for a month now, but we thought we'd like to throw the doors open, show the place off a bit, and thank everyone who has helped us with the journey to get here - p...lus, we've just finished the first phase of the new events space, and are itching to try it out! By then, we should even have finished off the garden electrics, although looking at the rain I think finishing the outside of the conservatory is too much to ask!

We'll put on a spread from the kitchen, and some drinks from the bar - we'll also have some words from our local councillors. This will all be complemented by a great music set from local Latino guitar blues band, Lava. You can see them here on http://www.lavamusic.co.uk. The reception will be followed by an all-welcome disco, with the Continental's resident dj spinning soul, funk, reggae and maybe some disco if you're up for it... All of this will be in the newly refurbished events room, which is through the conservatory at the back of the building.

Saturday night will see Preston's very own slam winning poet, Mark Mace Smith aka Thud Dub. A regular Apples & Snakes Seconds Out slam winner, alongside BBC Radio 4 North West Slam winner 2007, and Commonword Superheroes of Slam finalist 2008, Thud Dub won 2008 Glastonbury Festival's poetry slam. He steps up in the Continental's snug on Saturday 27th September. You can hear him here: http://www.myspace.com/thuddub.

The weekend will close up with the SUNDAY NIGHT JAZZ CLUB, 28th September 2008 from 9PM. This month we're hosting a very special session from MIKE WALKER.

Fresh from the Ditson Festival of Contemporary Music in Boston, the Salford born guitarist plays The Continental Jazz Club for the first time. Expect to hear world-class improvisation from the man the Guardian called "one of the most powerful jazz guitarists in Europe" - this is a rare opportunity to catch him in such an intimate venue. Mike's debut album, "Madhouse and the Whole Thing There" is out now on Hidden Idiom records - if we're lucky, he might bring a few copies with him... Check him out at http://www.mike-walker.co.uk

He'll be playing with Harold Salisbury - we're sure Harold needs little introduction to the Preston jazz aficionado. The sax stalwart has become something of a local legend, having blown all over the northwest for the best part of 50 years. Backing up Mike and Harold are the rock solid rhythm section of ex-Free Parking bassist Gary Culshaw, and Jonathan Hartley on drums. All we can say is you'll need to be there early to grab a seat!

To ensure you're on the guest list for Friday night, email us back at info@newcontinental.net with your full name - also include the full name and email address of any guests you want to bring. See the attached invitation for further details.

See you there!

PS it's not really a sorority / fraternity party, I've just watched too many films not to put that down in 'choice of party'Mehr lesen

We'd like to officially invite you to our opening reception on Friday September 26th, from 6pm - 8pm. Ok, so we've been serving up great food, beer and music for a month now, but we thought we'd like to throw the doors open, show the place off a bit, and thank everyone who has helped us with the journey to get here - p...lus, we've just finished the first phase of the new events space, and are itching to try it out! By then, we should even have finished off the garden electrics, although looking at the rain I think finishing the outside of the conservatory is too much to ask!

We'll put on a spread from the kitchen, and some drinks from the bar - we'll also have some words from our local councillors. This will all be complemented by a great music set from local Latino guitar blues band, Lava. You can see them here on http://www.lavamusic.co.uk. The reception will be followed by an all-welcome disco, with the Continental's resident dj spinning soul, funk, reggae and maybe some disco if you're up for it... All of this will be in the newly refurbished events room, which is through the conservatory at the back of the building.

Saturday night will see Preston's very own slam winning poet, Mark Mace Smith aka Thud Dub. A regular Apples & Snakes Seconds Out slam winner, alongside BBC Radio 4 North West Slam winner 2007, and Commonword Superheroes of Slam finalist 2008, Thud Dub won 2008 Glastonbury Festival's poetry slam. He steps up in the Continental's snug on Saturday 27th September. You can hear him here: http://www.myspace.com/thuddub.

The weekend will close up with the SUNDAY NIGHT JAZZ CLUB, 28th September 2008 from 9PM. This month we're hosting a very special session from MIKE WALKER.

Fresh from the Ditson Festival of Contemporary Music in Boston, the Salford born guitarist plays The Continental Jazz Club for the first time. Expect to hear world-class improvisation from the man the Guardian called "one of the most powerful jazz guitarists in Europe" - this is a rare opportunity to catch him in such an intimate venue. Mike's debut album, "Madhouse and the Whole Thing There" is out now on Hidden Idiom records - if we're lucky, he might bring a few copies with him... Check him out at http://www.mike-walker.co.uk

He'll be playing with Harold Salisbury - we're sure Harold needs little introduction to the Preston jazz aficionado. The sax stalwart has become something of a local legend, having blown all over the northwest for the best part of 50 years. Backing up Mike and Harold are the rock solid rhythm section of ex-Free Parking bassist Gary Culshaw, and Jonathan Hartley on drums. All we can say is you'll need to be there early to grab a seat!

To ensure you're on the guest list for Friday night, email us back at info@newcontinental.net with your full name - also include the full name and email address of any guests you want to bring. See the attached invitation for further details.

See you there!

PS it's not really a sorority / fraternity party, I've just watched too many films not to put that down in 'choice of party'Mehr lesen

Preston’s landmark riverside pub The Continental throws its doors open this bank holiday with a great menu of the best in British food, fine wines and beers, and a free jazz concert for the whole family to enjoy.

The pub will be open all weekend, but the date for your diaries is Bank Holiday Monday from 4 pm, when Prest...on’s favourite jazz saxophonist Harold Salisbury will be leading a band stuffed with local talent in a sunshine filled set of cool tunes out in the beer garden (sunshine to be confirmed). In the event of less than perfect weather, the music will be moved inside so you can still enjoy a meal or a drink to the accompaniment of the best jazz the city can offer.
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