Some of you will know the place from your student days. I was a regular there and was there at least two saturdays of the month.
I used to joke that half my wages went into the place. Sadly it has been put into administration so its gone. I was only there on saturday night and the place seemed to be as normal but a bit run down. It had a bit of a we have run out of money feel to to the place.
The owners are blaming the recession but it had the worst sound system of any Manchester club I had been to do and it was always the same old music. You never saw any big Manchester names in there and the place just declined.
I feel very sad as it was the one place I would always bump into so many people. I first stepped foot in the place in 2000 and hated it, but as I slowly got into alternative music I started to love it. Been a regular since about 2004.
I feel like all of the sudden my youth has ended and middle age has started. I guess its like if a favourite pub closed down.
Bands like Joy Division first started playing there as Rafters in the late 70's and the club was a cheesy club called Fagans before that.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Tue 13 Apr 10 at 17:04
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:(
I went there once, while visiting Manchester in my student days.
My claim to fame is falling asleep (on some kind of sofa as I remember) for a couple of hours, with metal blaring out of the speakers.
Must have been that mineral water I had earlier in the evening...
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What a stupid name. No wonder it folded.
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Those lovely sofa's always a complete reminder how the club didn't spent any money on repairs. It just became too much of a hangout for 25-60 year olds but there was never any trouble, never any security staff (just a couple at the door) loads of bar staff and just the most chilled out club you can imagine.
Some of people looked quite scary in their full hells angel gear but they never caused any trouble.
£2.30 a pint of rather bad fosters too :)
I am hoping Saturns Hollow will now open on saturdays and fill some of the gap because its main competitor MMU's student union (Rock Kitchen) is far too busy anyway.
I fear the music scene in Manchester is becoming far too obsessed with indie (I do actually go to indie clubs but not the popular ones). This is a big loss for some mancs but one we could probably all see coming a mile away.
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>> I used to joke that half my wages went into the place.
If it's gone bust......you clearly aren't earning much! ;)
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Haha you know what I mean :). I would spent typicaly around £12.00 there including entry no matter what time I went in. If I went in late entry was £5.50 so I would only have a couple of drinks, if I got in early then the £12.00 would all go on drinks.
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sounds like a right dump
best turn it into some designer flats with bare boards no soul and an echo
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It the people that make a club, not the decor, its something only Manchester seems to understand and even that is getting lost.
It is actually in a grade two listed building its the basement of a load of offices. The rumours started a few years ago that Bruntwood wanted to convert into a car park now we will see if the rumours are true.
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Clubs are meant to open, thrive, go downhill and then close.
It's only a matter of how long the cycle takes.
A closure allows fresh ideas, new people and renewal, before the cycle begins again.
Look at it as the business equivalent of: "Hope I die, before I get old."
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I was only thinking that the other day and wondering what the next victim of FAC251 will be (Hooky's new club in Manchester).
However FAC251 and Rockworld are completly different places.
Rockworld has been going in its current form since 1990 and since 1970 as a club so in club terms its lasted a life time.
We are all a bit down about it, where else can late 20 to mid 30 somethings go who want to stay out to the early hours but want a lot more space than a bar can offer and with cheap drinks.
As much I loved the place they failed to inovate, they become stuck caught up with a club for aging regulars such as myself who don't fit in normal places. The problem is it meant new people were always scared of the place.
When a couple of mates said to me on saturday "lets start a club night" I replied "NO!!" but now that idea may be mentioned again. We've already done it once and got chucked out by the landlord for getting wasted on all our own booze he let us bring in!
Its a pitty it couldn't have been sold before it got to this stage. I really think with a new sound system, some new lights and fresh nights they could have still made a go of it.
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I never went in there ever. And I was a student in Manchester 1989-1995 (under and post grad studies).
I did enjoy hiring out the Hacienda once and being able to boss around and overrule the bouncers. Cost us thousands for the night mind.
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I think back then it was really hard core metal. It wasn't really until after the 2000's they started to have rooms with slightly more melow music. I usuallty ended up in the punk/emo and classic rock rooms in there.
Never went to Hacienda as I was 15 when it closed. I don't think I even knew what the Hacienda was in 1997! Been to Hooky's new club three times but its far too expensive and crowded at the moment to be any fun.
I loved Rockworld because you would go in before 11:30 get into free, then tell the bouncer I am off for a McDonalds he would then joke saying I will die young at this rate and I would come back with a couple of burgers and take them into the club to eat there. It was that relaxed no where else in Manchester is like that.
The guys/girls who run Satans/Fab Cafe are very niice though and I am hoping they will fill a gap.
I am just a bit sad because it wasn't a night club to me, it was my meeting place, my working mans club if you like.
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>> I did enjoy hiring out the Hacienda once and being able to boss around and
>> overrule the bouncers. Cost us thousands for the night mind.
The clearest memory that I have of the Hacienda is the condensed sweat on the girder supports on the dance floor...lovely...it's flats now isn't it?
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5th Ave (an awful commercial indie club) used to get like that. I had a lot of happy times there in my younger days though. That club is still going strong but strictly for the students and not for old folk (which seems to be over 24 in clubland).
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>> 5th Ave (an awful commercial indie club) used to get like that. I had a
>> lot of happy times there in my younger days though. That club is still going
>> strong but strictly for the students and not for old folk (which seems to be
>> over 24 in clubland).
Ah, this is bringing all my clubbing trips to Manchester back. I did a quick Google of Club Tropicana at the Academy...is it still going?!?!
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Club tropicana drinks are free?
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>> Club tropicana drinks are free?
>>
Are you really Tony Blackburn Z??
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That is club Academy now, not sure what Tropicana is but I think the night existed when I first started clubbing not seen it advertised for a long time.
I just love how relaxed some of the smaller clubs in Manchester are and I would hate to see any more go. I hate anything with dress codes and heavy bouncers.
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>> I just love how relaxed some of the smaller clubs in Manchester are and I
>> would hate to see any more go. I hate anything with dress codes and heavy
>> bouncers.
What was/is the place halfway between the Hacienda and Oxford Road, with a bouncy dance floor? That was always good for a laugh. Some kind of old theatre I think.
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That is the Ritz, it actually has a very good rock night on Monday nights but I can never go because of work. In otherwords nobody else ever goes because they are in work so I can't.
The Ritz is grab a granny night on a saturday night. Not fun at all.
The Ritz may look like a threatre but it was build as a night club and is supposed to be one of the oldest purpose build night clubs left in the world.
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>> The Ritz is grab a granny night on a saturday night. Not fun at all.
>>
And what age would that be young Man??
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Its one of them all generation nights. Age ranges seem to be 18-22 and 50+ with nothing inbetween!
Rockworld had a lot of older clubbers as well, it was not unusual to see people in their 60's dancing away.
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Nothing wrong with a grab a granny night. Ah the delights of the hammersmith palais.....
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 13 Apr 10 at 22:23
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>>
>> The Ritz may look like a threatre but it was build as a night club
The Ritz is/was an old fashioned dance hall. You can see a lot of the action of 50 yrs ago in the film ' A Taste of Honey ' It may be on YouTube, most things are .
My own clubbing days in Manchester were somewhat earlier than Rats' The Cromford, Liston's Music hall and many now forgotten were just drinking clubs, haunts of criminals and the CID ( Or DO, as it was called in Manchester ) Gambling clubs came along and found a loophole whereby they could sell drinks if accompanied by a meal....usually 2 slices of ham and a sectioned tomato ! I can only remember 1 curry house in the City Centre then, about 1967/8...we would go to the back door, which was usually open, and they would fill an empty, catering size can with chicken madras. This served all the night shift at grub time........free of course !
The A division checked on all the clubs during the night, usually for a drink or two.
I was too old when the 'Top of the Pops ' type clubs opened.
I remember my only foray into the Twisted Wheel was to do a sudden death report on a teenage girl who had collapsed on the dance floor. Natural causes, a greatly enlarged heart. Pretty girl about 16...tragic.
Ted
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Heavy bouncers were one of the attractions for me at nightclubs.
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>> I hate anything with dress codes and heavy
>> bouncers.
>>
Whilst I was always much more of a live gig person than a clubber I did used to hang about at the alternative / goth nighclub at a pub in sunny Luton, my mate was once refused admission for looking ' too straight' :-)
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Thats the great thing about those type of clubs in Manchester you can get in dressed as anything there is no dress code. The only reason people are rever refused entry is if they look under aged with no ID or they are very drunk.
Somebody in front of me at the door in 42nd Street (another old manc club) got refused entry because he had a skin head and was wearing a shirt. The bouncer told him it was not his scene but we all knew they had a secret no shirts policy.
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SteelSpark, that brings back memories! And the 60s nights were good there when they did them.
Best comedy moment on the night we hired the Hacienda (if anyone knew Owens Park hall of residence I helped run the socials for a few years) was when someone went to lean against the 'wall' between the dance floor and the loading bay. Think of the scene in only fools and horses with the bar. But funnier! I could see them about to do it from a distance knowing it was not a wall. He tried to look cool - but fell through the plastic curtain.
The big bouncers were fun to tell them to let in my drunk friend. She was drunk as were her friends but I was paying the wages ;-)
Flats now of course.
Do I recall a bar round the corner that was above the Hacienda called the Fifth Man?
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"As much I loved the place they failed to inovate, they become stuck caught up with a club for aging regulars such as myself who don't fit in normal places. The problem is it meant new people were always scared of the place. "
Much like my fears for this forum :-)
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But thats whay I like this place and I loved Rockworld. It felt like our club to all my mates that went. I loved the fact riff raff 18 year old students kept away from the place, sadly they are the ones that spend the money.
PS I was a riff raff student once :).
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Tue 13 Apr 10 at 21:59
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>> But thats whay I like this place and I loved Rockworld. It felt like our
>> club to all my mates that went. I loved the fact riff raff 18 year
>> old students kept away from the place sadly they are the ones that spend the
>> money.
>>
>> PS I was a riff raff student once :).
>>
I didn't get that far. Had to work. We lived in skip in middle of road.
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You were lucky !.....etc.
Ted
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It seems Bruntwood yet again are trying to turn Manchester into clone city. They may as well just rename the city Bruntwood and have done with it. Apparantly they won't release the venue as a club to anybody at any cost so it has gone for gone :(
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Time to settle down, Rattington ! Pipe and slippers, lapdog instead of laptop.
No more grooving down, baby ! B & Q on ' Wet Wednesday ', Bus pass, steel hips........the full catastrophe !
Ted
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I would have seen the New York Dolls at B&Q but the venue closed down! David Bowie did make it though. Mind you I wasn't even born then!
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I never realised just how poweful Facebook could be until today. Lots of people organising new club nights and spreading the word about it. It feels like the spirit will live on like the spirit of the Hacienda has 13 years after it closed.
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When I lived in Manchester in the 80s we used to go to a night club in Princess Street. Can't remember the name, it was a real dive though. In a basement, lino floor and served beer in plastic glasses but we always had a great laugh there. Used to wipe my feet when I came out. Went to the Hacienda a few times because it was the place to go, but didn't like it much. Very expensive and there were always fights breaking out, allegedly between rival drugs gangs.
Actually once saw New Order at (I think) the Manchester University Students' Union, ca. 1983. They were atrocious. I saw them again about 10 years later and they were much better as they'd actually learned to play their instruments.
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Only time I saw New Order was in London ironically in front of about 100,000 people in Hyde Park.
Bit annoyed about Hooky commenting in the MEN about its closure, since he owns a club just five minute walk away.
www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1214167_music_is_over_at_jillys_rockworld
It still hasn't sunk in and my Facebooks being going mad all day. A lot of people have organised new nights. It is what I love most about Manchester, mancs make things happen they don't just let things go and that spirit is why the city is probably become so wealthy in recent years.
In the next few months I iagine the rock/alt scene in Manchester will go mad, lots of new nighrs opening and it will sake some months before a few become established and the rest go.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Wed 14 Apr 10 at 23:16
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From the M.E.N. article "Since yesterday we have had nearly 7,000 visit our website. I just wish we had had that number coming through the door every week. I don't know if the clubs will ever open again. It's in the hand of the liquidators,"
sounds to me more like the business was forced to close rather than the owner deciding to close, aren't liquidators normally called in just before bankruptcy?
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It was the 7th most talked about thing on Twitter worldwide yesterday and the facebook groups setup about the closure have got 1000s of members. Other clubs in Manchester have been overwelmed with calls about people wanted to setup club nights.
The problem is so many people will now be upset and miss the place BUT half of those same people probably hardly went. Its like those people that missed Woolworths but never shopped there.
There was something magical about the place because it was so different from other clubs. But it was a dive and badly needed a proper refurb.
In the past couple of years things have moved on so quickly in the Manchester clubbing scene and Jilly's was still stuck in the 1970's. They didn't do enough to attract new members.
Edit and yes they simply just ran out of money. They have been in debt for a long time and the decline in numbers just hit them too hard. I think they decided to close now rather than keep trading and then risk not being able to pay staff etc. It is in voluntery admin as I can understand it but it may not be.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Thu 15 Apr 10 at 10:55
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I never went there (and never wanted to) in my student days. It will probably end up developed as offices or apartments.
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It had a bit of a reputation of being full of goths but really it was full of just normal people wanting to escape from an ever increasing commercial world of chain bars. It did used to scare me at first though the way some of the people dressed!
The revelopment will be difficult because its in a basement of a grade ii listed building. There are no windows or anything which.
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see post Tue 13 Apr 10 18:27 :-)
best thing for it twitter indeed pah...............
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I know where the building is but didn't know the club was in the basement. The people queuing outside to get in was always enough to put me off. I knew people/friends who went though.
I also know people who continued to go the the Hacienda during it's more troubled times. The shootings outside with machine guns would have put me off though.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Thu 15 Apr 10 at 17:39
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>> I also know people who continued to go the the Hacienda during it's more troubled
>> times. The shootings outside with machine guns would have put me off though.
I think that it finally lost its licence when it was visited by magistrates one night, and they witnessed an attempted murder outside the club when somebody tried to drive over a guy's head.
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It just got revokved that time and then they convinced them to let it stay open. Aoccrding to Hooky they got the council on their side as they realised the Hacienda meant people staying in hotels etc.
They got their licence back and it re-opened for a few more months but they eventualy ran out of money. By that time the directors had their houses secured against directors loans and I think they just wanted to get out.
How not to run a club by Hooky is a very good read. Quite a lot of motoring stuff in there too.
All I want is a quiet life but I love my music too much too which is why I like clubs. Rockworld went out of its way to be the most uncool place in the world, which made it the coolest club ever.
My memories are some want romantic though, yes I have lots of fond memories of going mad on the dance floor, throwing up in the toilets (rarely and in my younger days) and having good banter with the door staff. I also have memories of hosters heated to about 10c and some of the mosh pits going a bit too far.
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There were no ques you always got in straight away and that is why we went. Sadly for management that also meant they had not enough income. Musicbox next door did popular Mr Scruff nights but even me moved on.
I think I would have liked the Hacienda in the early days but I hate busy crowded clubs more than anything. I like them to be busy but not so busy it takes 20 minutes to get a drink.
Some of my mates are trying to get me involved in a new ska night but I think my will limit my involvment to a free website in exhcnage for free entry! The last one wasn't exactly a sucess 15 people turned up and we all knew each other! It attracted exactly one member of the general public and he only stayed for 2 minutes.
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>> The shootings outside with machine guns would have put me off though.
You big girl's blouse!
Never saw any shootings at the Hacienda, there were some nasty fights though. One of the worst I remember involved a group of women. It was awful, really brutal. I'm sure they would have tried to glass one another if the glasses hadn't been made of plastic, which was standard in every nightclub in Manchester in the 80s.
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Another thing I will miss about Jilly's they actually gave you proper pint glasses. The Hacienda made the mistake of becoming the place to be and that meant the gansters also wanted to be there. I suppose the Printworks or Deansgate lock on a friday night is the nearest Manchester has to it now.
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RIP Jilly's Rockworld :( - SteelSpark
