27-04-2025
Plaque commemorates David Bowie's night in Stockport station after missing last train
"He was really nice": Bill Frost was one of the sixth formers who booked Bowie to play that night in 1970.
A plaque commemorating the time David Bowie spent the night in a station after missing his train has been unveiled.
The late pop icon slept on the platform at Stockport train station after performing a sell-out gig at the Poco A Poco club in Heaton Chapel on 27 April 1970.
A black plaque in the shape of a vinyl record has been unveiled outside the station by a group of friends, now in their 70s, who booked Bowie as sixth-formers to play.
"He arrived in a second hand RAF jacket with his guitar over his shoulder and he was really nice," said Bill Frost, who was chairman of Stockport Schools' Students' Union at the time.
"He was hungry and thirsty so one of my friends took him for a pint and another took him across the road for some tea. When he came back, he had a pork pie in one hand and an egg custard in the other!"
Bowie, the Ziggy Stardust singer who died of cancer in 2016 at the age of 69, ended up missing his last train to London after the gig.
"He said to me that he wanted to leave early to get the train but everybody ran way over and he was so good that he couldn't get off the stage," Bill reminisced.
Now, that memorable night 55 years ago has been cemented in the northern town's history with a Stockport Music Story commemorative plaque.
It is the 10th one to be installed in Stockport, a town that has produced several famous recording studios and artists like Sarah Harding of Girls Aloud and indie band Blossoms.
John Barratt of the Stockport Music Story said this latest plaque was "very special" as he is a "lifelong Bowie fan".
Bill added: "We know about this because we were there. But what John has done is put Stockport on the map after so many years. It's a great place to live and we're part of that history."
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