Rapper Aitch’s surprise gig - at Manchester Piccadilly Subway

Rapper Aitch surprised fans today (Tuesday) with a secret lunchtime performance of his new single ‘Party Round My Place’ - in his local Manchester Subway branch.

The Brit Award-nominated star posted a lunchtime call-out to his fans online, saying he had something special lined up – but none expected that they’d be one of just 25 people at the in-store performance.

Aitch, who grew up in New Moston, said: “I wanted to do an intimate gig for my Manchester crew and thought this would be a cool spot. It’s been great, big up Subway for having me down and letting me takeover and be sure to cop an Aitch Sub before they all go.”

Aitch, who has appeared on tracks with the likes of Stormzy, Ed Sheeran and AJ Tracey, now has a sandwich renamed after him in the branch - the Aitch Footlong is a cheese toasted Italian B.M.T with chipotle southwest sauce. And the branch changed their signage to say Subw-aitch for the wacky promo stunt.

One fan who was at the impromptu gig said: “It was such a surprise seeing Aitch, I really enjoyed the gig. I’ve been listening to him forever, so this has really made my day.”

Mays Elansari, head of marketing UK & Ireland at Subway, said: “When we heard Aitch was a Subway fan we wanted to pull off something special for his fans. What better way to collaborate with Aitch than to rebrand our Subway Manchester Piccadilly store especially for this surprise event and rename his favourite Subway Footlong after him! It’s the first time we’ve ever staged a gig in a Subway. Who knows, it might not be the last.”

Subway is posting footage of the gig to their YouTube channel here.