The Early Doors Club finds a new home - and it's 850 years old: live music comes to St Chad's Church

Rochdale, meet your newest home for live music: St Chad's Church.

The Early Doors Club has announced that its new chapter begins at the parish church on the hill - a venue that is anything but new to Rochdale. St Chad's has stood above the town for more than 850 years, older than the town hall it looks down on and older than most buildings in Greater Manchester.

Local folklore even claims the site wasn't chosen by people at all. Legend has it that spirits and fairies kept moving the building materials from the riverside up to the hilltop, no matter how many times the builders carried them back down - so the church was built where the fairies wanted it.

Now the Grade II* listed building, steeped in centuries of history, is preparing to host its very first Early Doors Club show. The promoter thanked Rochdale Creates for its support in helping find the club's new home in the borough.

For the Early Doors Club, whose early-evening format is built around live music that finishes at a civilised hour, a hilltop church with centuries of acoustics behind it is quite the setting. Churches have quietly become some of the country's most atmospheric gig venues, and St Chad's - with its commanding position over the town centre - has the potential to become one of the borough's most distinctive.

Full event information, including the first show at the new venue, is being announced by the Early Doors Club on its social media channels. Rochdale Daily will carry details of confirmed shows in our What's On listings.