Volunteers celebrate 'legendary' Salford Lads' Club's 120th birthday

Salford Lads Club was built in 1903 and officialy opened to 100 boys a year later

A "legendary" youth club which draws music fans from across the world after it was made famous by the Smiths has been celebrating its 120th birthday.

Salford Lads Club officially opened in 1904 on Coronation Street in Salford as recreation space for boys in the area.

The building featured in a photo on the inside sleeve of The Smiths 1986 album, The Queen is Dead.

Projects manager Leslie Holmes said the Edwardian site was the last "original lads' club" in England.

Originally open only to boys, the site was built in 1903 and opened a year later in the Coronation Street area, where dock workers and shopkeepers were living with their families, he said.

Volunteer Leslie Holmes said the origins of the club were 'luckily' preserved in records

"At night the teenagers had nothing to do, so places like this were built by independent companies," Mr Holmes added.

Records show the club, which opened up to girls in 1990s, cost local brewery Groves and Whitnall £10,000 to build.

The club original motto hangs on a sign along with other memorabilia

Mr Holmes said the lads' club was the largest of 22 similar recreation clubs across Greater Manchester which have since shut.

More than 200 boys and girls take part in activities like sport and music projects at the club, which has been kept open due to a lot of hard work, he said.

The club has become a major draw for fans of The Smiths after featuring in an album photo

But he said the pictures of the four members of The Smiths standing outside the club on the inside cover of The Queen is Dead "probably saved the building as much as anything".

"It has become one of the most iconic pictures in the whole world, and transformed this place into a spot like a spiritual place, especially for Smiths fans," he said.

Smiths fan Alan Kovan came from the US to see the club in person

One of those is Alan Kovan, from Detroit, Michigan, who told BBC Radio Manchester he came to see the "iconic place from The Queen Is Dead".

"I've been here before but it wasn't open and I wanted to see the inside", the former record shop owner said.

"It's incredible how the Smiths transformed this place, and it's still helping kids".

Reflecting on the site's future, Mr Holmes said the "legendary club" remained a "stable influence" for young people in Salford in a "vastly changing world".