Memories of Manchester’s long lost but not forgotten club nights

Before the face of the city centre underwent a glow-up, seeing the gentrification of its different districts with the building of numerous city centre apartments and the addition of many boujee restaurants and bars, Manchester had a number of really great dives.

In the days before social media, people would instead meet up in social situations and dance the night away to great music, get totally steaming and have a laugh with mates while making plenty of new ones – it’s what it was all about.

These absolute dungeons held club nights legendary enough to be written into history books, and many eventful nights took place in them – with some former revellers still around to tell the tale.

Those were the days; when your mate would ask you, ‘what are you wearing?’ and you’d reply, ‘jeans and a nice top’.

As rituals in preparation for the weekend would begin… The girls would get their stilettos re-heeled at the cobblers, after a few weeks of stomping them right down to the metal.

The guys would buy a new tea-towel print shirt and apply far too much hair gel, with neatly separated strands at the front of their short back and sides.

Brothers would steal their sister’s hair straighteners, making them pong of sweaty hair, but still deny using them. Sisters would steal each other’s clothes and replace them the next day, with more than a hint of cigarettes and booze, sprayed over with cheap Exclamation from the local Superdrug.

Fancy coats were a hassle, it didn’t matter if it was raining cats and dogs or snowing outside, you didn’t need a jacket because you were Northern.

There were no smart phones, so you either took a Kodak out with you or you paid for a keyring containing a group photo of you with your mates, taken by photographers who would be doing the rounds.

Some nights were so great that you would dance until the sun came up and the lights went down. Sweaty, red-eyed clubbers would spill out onto the streets hunting for crap food and a cab to take them home. And to top it off, you could go out and have a belting night on a tenner.

Here’s some of the gone but not forgotten club nights around Greater Manchester and tales of the shenanigans that went on there – from the partygoers that were there.

The Pav

Based on the old Castle Irwell student village for University of Salford students, this hell hole contained drunken carnage like nowhere else and was an iconic part of student life in Salford – a rite of passage.

Built on the site of a former race-track which became student halls sometime in the 1970s, The Pav was the student dive bar that was said to be slowly sinking into the ground over the years.

Former student Louise Patton remembers the ’15-hours of drinking’ nights being ‘the most memorable’ where student boozers wore themed T-shirts – pretty impressive memory skills after all that alcohol!

Louise Thompson, who worked behind the bar for more beer money, recalls ‘drinking out-of-date vodka mudshakes after hours, until the cleaners would arrive in the morning’. 

Drunken students would call ‘Alan the taxi driver’ to take them into Manchester and bring them back to the halls at the end of the night.

Chris said: “Jeez, I’ve countless memories! I worked and drank there for three years from 2003. I met my wife and made so many friends. Been in some states in that place!”

The Pav no longer exists as Castle Irwell closed in 2009 and was sold off so a new housing estate could be built.

Fifth Avenue

This club was the place to go to hear all your favourite indie-rock bangers. But, club-goers soon got to know that if you went up to request a song from the DJ, it wouldn’t get played.

The same set played week-in, week-out as you started the night with The Charlatans and ended it jumping and shaking your head around to Faithless. Fifth Ave held epic foam parties that would get very messy. Louise remembers how the ‘bank holiday foam parties were brilliant’.

M-Two

Once the place to go if you liked R’n’B, this venue was huge. So popular, it would have queues along the front, around the corner and all the way up the side street – in any weather.

Hundreds of shivering girls would persevere through the pain of frost bite just to be able to get inside the club. Lads would separate from their mates and ask to join groups of girls to hopefully get accepted entry.

It wasn’t easy to get inside – if the door staff didn’t like what you were wearing or there were too many of you, you would likely be turned away.

The layout inside had balconies overlooking the dance floor area – after all, it was an old amphitheatre. Located inside the Theatre Royal building on Peter Street, it became Discotheque Royale in the ’70s, before it was rebranded as Coliseum and later, M-Two. The club closed its doors for good in 2009.

About M-Two, Dave McLaughlin remembers: “There was loads of bouncers always on the door and the queue was huge. The dance floor was brilliant and the music was really good in there as well. They had like R’n’B and Hip Hop.”

Reminiscing of his misspent youth, he continued: “We’d go to a friend’s house first for pre-drinks, then get the bus into town and drink pitchers at Paramount before the club.”

He added: “Back then, the music influenced the way that you dressed and the places you went. Music was important.”

Circoloco at Area 51

Laura Jayne, who worked for some of the club nights and liked to rave the night away at others, recalls: “I loved all the Electro house nights: Studio One 11 at Venus, Ampersands, Sankey’s but most especially Area 51’s Circoloco night.

“That [Circoloco at Area 51] was the best night we ever had in there after a crazy bidding war with Sankey’s to host the night.

“Working for the club, I always remember the politics between the venues to get the bookings – the rivalry was very real. I miss those days; of being out for the vibes and the music. Making new friends each time and dancing my a*se off for hours on end.

“Area 51 was absolutely rammed and the roof [would be] pumping off with the tunes. Venus was mint – I think it was the connection to strangers. You don’t get that in the same way anymore. I’m glad we had the times we had before Instagram.”

Walkabout

This club had three floors which each played different genres of music. The lower level played all the feel good cheesy tracks from the time. The next level up played R’n’B and Hip Hop tunes, and the top floor played dance and trance tunes.

Revellers would drink bottles of alcopops and dance the night away. When it was time to leave, navigating the metal stair case after a few too many drinks was pretty tricky. 

Especially as it was made extra slippery from all the clubbers who had wandered between floors throughout the night to sample the different music on offer, while clumsily spilling their drinks along the way.

It felt like a weekly basis that someone would land on their backside and go flying down this staircase. Walkabout shut in 2015 and later reopened as Blues Kitchen.

Pure

It played pure dance music all night long and had a huge dance floor – so big, it also held roller discos. Ex-party-goer Dana takes us back to an era before social media as she shares her clubbing experience throughout in the early noughties. This club had metal detectors on the way in.

She reminisces of the times she would borrow her friend’s ID who looked nothing like her to get into clubs. “There were no camera phones, it wasn’t about going out for the pictures, it was about dancing the night away, ” she said.

“You’d have to look through sites like Tillate.com to see the fun everyone had or take your disposal camera and have belly laughs at the non-edited photos.”

Dana remembers: “Going out with just £10 and getting drunk and not coming home until the sun came up. And hoping to see the guy you fancied or meet new people as there wasn’t any social media.”

Cha Cha Boudoir

Ali Saeedian fondly remembers outrageous club nights in Manchester’s Gay Village before the pandemic. He says: “Nights such as ‘Cha Cha Boudoir’ that elevated the standards of club performances to new levels where nothing was impossible and a spectacular show was put on no matter what, and in turn launched countless drag careers in Manchester. 

“If waiting a month or three for the next event was too long, Aftershock at club Sub101 was the place to be. No matter where you started, everyone used to end up in Aftershock dancing and sniffing poppers with [drag artist] Anna Phylactic.

“There was such a buzz around these events every time they were on. The dilemma of what to wear, when to go, where to meet, what time the performances were on, who was Queen of the night (the winning performer that night) was honestly playing on a loop in my head everyday.”

“The aim was always to shock and stand out, in contrast to today’s post pandemic neutral and humble sense of living.

“Or is it just that no one has the same energy? Maybe I was just younger.” Ali has created his own event night called Your Dad Sells Avon to give clubbers a chance to re-live the days before Covid. 

“I started YDSA because I missed the pre-pandemic days of clubbing in Manchester. Every aspect of this club night is sampled, or paying homage to past Manchester club nights or venues,” he added.

You can follow @YDSAEVENTS if you’re interested in attending the club nights and re-living your pre-Covid party days.

What’s your favourite Manchester clubbing memory?