Northants, Leics &amp; Rutland


<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://www.gavinwallacephotography.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="813" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/Billy-Lockett-Gavin-Wallace.jpeg" alt="Billy Locket photo by Gavin Wallace" class="wp-image-50957" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/Billy-Lockett-Gavin-Wallace.jpeg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/Billy-Lockett-Gavin-Wallace-300x244.jpeg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/Billy-Lockett-Gavin-Wallace-768x624.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Photo by Gavin Wallace</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-northampton">Northampton</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="947" height="1024" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/Billy-Lockett-Delapre-Abbey-947x1024.jpg" alt="Billy Lockett at Delapré Abbey in Northampton, photo by Gavin Wallace" class="wp-image-50960" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/Billy-Lockett-Delapre-Abbey-947x1024.jpg 947w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/Billy-Lockett-Delapre-Abbey-278x300.jpg 278w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/Billy-Lockett-Delapre-Abbey-768x830.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/Billy-Lockett-Delapre-Abbey.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 947px) 100vw, 947px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Billy at Delapré Abbey in Northampton, photo by Gavin Wallace</figcaption></figure>



<p>My house is nice and my friends are great and I just love it here, everything feels easier in Northampton. If you want to go to a nice restaurant you don&#8217;t have to book two weeks in advance and I&#8217;ve got a great community here. It&#8217;s a huge music town, everywhere I go, everyone is in a band or they&#8217;re a singer or they&#8217;re making artwork or they&#8217;re a videographer or a photographer. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about what a creative place Northampton is. It&#8217;s comparatively cheap to live here and a lot of artists are broke, and that means that people like us can have a shot at doing what we love instead of having to have two jobs just to pay the rent. There&#8217;s nothing like the friends you grew up with too, it just feels like it&#8217;s you. There&#8217;s just something about that feeling of being home. Northampton is definitely the underdog town, but that&#8217;s it&#8217;s charm, isn&#8217;t it?</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-gordon-smith-guitars-higham-ferrers"><a href="https://www.gordonsmithguitars.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Gordon Smith Guitars</a>, Higham Ferrers</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="659" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/Gordon-Smith-Guitars.jpg" alt="Gordon Smith Guitars" class="wp-image-50962" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/Gordon-Smith-Guitars.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/Gordon-Smith-Guitars-300x198.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/Gordon-Smith-Guitars-768x506.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Gordon Smith Guitars</figcaption></figure>



<p>Gordon Smith is a local guitar maker and they do electric guitars and absolutely gorgeous acoustic guitars, made right here in Northamptonshire. So all the guitars I&#8217;ve used on my new album are made in Northants and the whole band is local too, it&#8217;s a dream for me.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-picturedrome-kettering-road-northampton"><a href="https://www.thepicturedrome.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Picturedrome</a>, Kettering Road, Northampton</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="741" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/picturedrome.png" alt="The Picturedrome northampton" class="wp-image-50967" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/picturedrome.png 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/picturedrome-300x222.png 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/picturedrome-768x569.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The Picturedrome</figcaption></figure>



<p>I always do a couple of Christmas homecoming gigs at The Picturedrome and this year they&#8217;ve sold out months in advance. I&#8217;m looking forward to those gigs even more than Amsterdam, Paris, London. I&#8217;m doing a couple of arenas with Jamie Cullum and that doesn&#8217;t even come close to the excitement of The Picturedrome to be honest. My friends and family will be there.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-black-prince-abington-square-northampton"><a href="https://www.theblackprincenn.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Black Prince</a>, Abington Square, Northampton</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="665" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/Blacl-prince-northampton.jpg" alt="the black prince northampton" class="wp-image-50965" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/Blacl-prince-northampton.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/Blacl-prince-northampton-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/Blacl-prince-northampton-768x511.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The Black Prince</figcaption></figure>



<p>I&#8217;d say this is the best venue in town for live music. My band gets together to rehearse here and I look forward to it so much. I did a sort of impromptu birthday gig here recently and I feel like my fanbase here is stronger than it&#8217;s ever been. Especially since The Voice. I think everyone&#8217;s just excited that there&#8217;s something in Northampton to get behind. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-empowerment-training-centre-freehold-st-northampton"><a href="https://theetc.fit/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Empowerment Training Centre</a>, Freehold St, Northampton</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="667" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/05/ETC-02.12.2023-80.jpg" alt="Empowerment training centre northampton" class="wp-image-46449" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/05/ETC-02.12.2023-80.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/05/ETC-02.12.2023-80-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/05/ETC-02.12.2023-80-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Not really a cult&#8230;</figcaption></figure>



<p>Not a gym so much as a cult, to be honest and when you go there you feel safe. I suppose it&#8217;s a comfortable space for people who don&#8217;t feel the gym is the place for them. Which I really get. It&#8217;s not a cheap gym, but it&#8217;s kind of impossible to leave, you feel like you belong. I do think Tim, the owner, does care, I don&#8217;t think he&#8217;s a money man. He wants everyone to succeed and to enjoy the experience. I play lots of tennis too, I use the courts at Dallington, Weston Favell and Abington Park. I&#8217;m tennis mad and I play as much as I can. I&#8217;m completely obsessed with tennis and I&#8217;ve been playing for around five years now, but it&#8217;s such a hard game to play. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-v-amp-b-st-giles-square-northampton"><a href="https://vandb.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">V&amp;B</a>, St Giles Square, Northampton</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/VB-NORTHAMPTON.jpg" alt="V and B Northampton" class="wp-image-50971" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/VB-NORTHAMPTON.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/VB-NORTHAMPTON-300x300.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/VB-NORTHAMPTON-150x150.jpg 150w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/VB-NORTHAMPTON-768x768.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/VB-NORTHAMPTON-500x500.jpg 500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<p>There&#8217;s a great open mic night here, which is organised by local musicians Tukay and Ryan, I think it&#8217;s on once a month. I feel like people are really keen to go and see live music again now and I think a lot of venues are putting a lot of effort in to appeal to customers, to be the sort of place people actually want to spend time in. It&#8217;s nice to walk through town and see so many places that actually look good, places like <a href="https://maulebrewing.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Maule</a>, <a href="https://www.palarestaurant.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pala</a>, <a href="https://www.saintscoffee.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Saints</a> and <a href="https://www.lolasbar.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Lola&#8217;s Bar</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-charles-bradlaugh-earl-street-northampton"><a href="https://www.thecharlesbradlaugh.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Charles Bradlaugh</a>, Earl Street, Northampton</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/Charles-Bradlaugh-Northampton.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-50954" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/Charles-Bradlaugh-Northampton.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/Charles-Bradlaugh-Northampton-300x300.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/Charles-Bradlaugh-Northampton-150x150.jpg 150w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/Charles-Bradlaugh-Northampton-768x768.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2024/09/Charles-Bradlaugh-Northampton-500x500.jpg 500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<p>I really love the food at the Bradlaugh, my girlfriend Mimi always tells me it doesn&#8217;t count as a restaurant, but they serve food, so it counts as far as I&#8217;m concerned. There&#8217;s an amazing jazz night every Wednesday and it&#8217;s always packed. Mimi loves to go to <a href="https://www.sorrentinos.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sorrentino&#8217;s</a> and I also love <a href="https://nuovo-restaurant.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nuovo</a> and <a href="https://www.oblique-northampton.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Oblique</a> and <a href="https://www.palarestaurant.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pala</a> is just fantastic. All the good restaurants are independent ones. </p>



<p><em>Watch Billy on ITV&#8217;s <a href="https://www.itv.com/thevoice" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Voice</a> on Saturday nights at 8pm</em> <em>and buy tickets to see <a href="https://billylockett.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Billy on tour here</a>. </em></p>


My Favourite Places: Singer-songwriter Billy Lockett

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