How not to run a club - Major Manc club closed due to somthing silly

Lucid in Manchester (the biggest night club in Manchester) I didn't personaly like it, its a bit scallyish but anyway it turned out they never had an entertainments licence so now the government are refusing to give them a new licence, on top of this they had trouble getting a new drinks licence so they had to close the club for good.

Silly twits how can you forget to apply for somthing so basic? In even church halls require these licences!

 

I very much doubt that "they forgot" more like, lets see how long it takes for someone to find out we don't have one and pocket the profit as we go.

 

Yeah it seems like it, the think this club was a super club, not some back street indie club, the equipment in there must have been worth millions, apparantly two of the UK's largest plasma screens where in there.

http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/s/152/152429_last_orders_at_top_city_club.html

It really dosn't make sense as it dosn't appear to be one of them fly by night operations.

 

Hum that sounds dodgy?

Did they have much trouble there? I wonder if the police had any involvement in the decision.

 

I avoided the place becuase it was known to be a scally place, but I that I mean it was the type of place where people 'wanted' to be seen, so you got a lot 'shirts' there. The club certainly wasn't realy about the music. I think it was rougher than most a lot of Manchester clubs, it felt a bit rough when I went once, there was a lot of scallies there but there wasn't any trouble, this was a sunday night though.

I have a mate who basicaly said the place is full of w*kers, but I haven't really been properly to answer that. Scallies seem to be attracted by plasma screens though.

 

Excellent AT, I'm now both a shirt, a scally and a W****r!!! I've spent a good few afternoons and early evenings there. Was good to watch the sport and just chill out. Never went in the club bits though, we then usually move on to the Deansgate locks and then to eat, possibly via the village.

Coo the first time I've ever been called a scally. I'll chalk that one up

 

Lol sorry I didn't use the word w*nker, sorry about the shirt thing, its just what it looked like when I went in, millions of people wearing shirts, the place was relaxing when I went in, as I said we never had any trouble, this was a sunday evening though, I've been told its a different story at weekends in the club bits. I guess I am used to bouncers who seem to turn anybody away in a shirt (such as 42s) I guess its kind of the opposite since a lot of clubs its the dress code to wear shirts.

Anyway even I whore a shirt on NYE's so I guess I could be classed a 'shirt' I have also worn shirts in the whole that is known as 5th Ave.

I guess a lot of places are different during the day. I am sorry if I offended you, I know you're not a scally, it was too much of a generlaisation and I admit my error.

I remember once being quite annoyed reading a review about 42's (where I go a lot these days) in the MEN basicaly saying its fully of smelly students, whering Smith's T-SHIRTs that haven't been washed for months and who's best effort for dressing up is whering a pair of old shrunk jeans.

I myself have been there with a Smiths T-SHIRT and shrunk jeans.

Do you have any idea why they have had problems getting a drinks licence though?

 

Man whats all this shirt business? I always wear shirts. £1 from the second hand shop in afleks. Nice one.

 

I'm guessing they're going to make them sweat a bit. They must have had one to open, so my guess is they've had a bit of trouble and the police are being difficult. They'll have to improve their security, jump through a hoop or two, and will then be allowed to reopen. It used to happen to the Hacienda. Either that or it will have a refurb and open with a different name and a different manager

 

The Hacienda was different though, some Salford gangsta's were involved and I think the police were less leaniant then. There seems to be two things that attact trouble, big name clubs where the celebs go and any where that is cheap.

The Moon Under Water on Deansgate is a good example, that used to go get trouble some times but they have now changed it a weatherspoons Lloyds, put up their prices quite dramatically and the trouble seems to have stopped.

There is a wetherspoons near me I wish I they would sort out, there was a shooting there quite recently and I know there has been lots of trouble since, its the cheapest pub south of the city centre.

All the furnishings of the club has been stripped now, there is nothing left but there bare shell according to the article even the carpets have been removed, so I guess it will be remained closed until either the management team decide to turn into a different club or somebody else takes over the lease.

I feel sorry for the 100 people who have lost their jobs, there isn't enough venues in Manchester for them all to find similier work else where.

If Lucid has closed down because of security problems I have a feeling other places I should not really mention on here due to legal reasons may soon follow. I.e those clubs which pack students in so tightly that it is a fire hazard then beat you up if you look at the bouncer the wrong way.

 

I was going to ask what the deal is with shirts?

Is a shirt a nick name for a certain type of person? Im perplexed!

Never heard the expression before.

 

I only heared it the other night, it was a bouncer at 42's who put the idea into a had. I went there on Thursday night, there were too young people with shirts on, (it was an indie club) and they said to them "its a private members party only here tonight unless you have NUS", I was with my mate who isn't a student so I got a bitt worried, these lads had ID but they said unless its NUS its so use.

Me and my mate where next, I said (rather foolishly) is it a students night only tonight, he replied no we just don't like letting too many shirts in which suggests they seem to have had some trouble. Me and my mate got in no questions, we didn't have to show any ID at all.

I didn't quite understand it myself, there where people with shirts on in there, I have worn shirts in clubs many times. I know these bouncers fairly well now though, and they know I won't cause any trouble.

In fact ironicaly the only place I have had trouble getting into a club was Lucid, where one bouncer was being funny about my ID (all I had was an NUS) a head bouncer then came out and said he is old enough (I was 21 at the time, I looked probably older) the other bouncer apologised and let me in.

I guess 'shirts' could be a variation of the word 'suite' i.e a middle class person with a middle class job.

I think the problem with the lot of these student clubs though is if you're under 25 and don't dress like a student the bouncers may detect potential trouble.

I shall have to dress up like I did on NYE and see if they will let me in, trousers, smart shoes, a designerish shirt but I was going to a party at a local bar so it would have been cheeky to turn up scruffy!

I have some of my dissertation to write now anyway, only 3400 words to go then I got start my other assignments.

 

arr 42nd street been very drunk there in the past,is the banshee (oxford road) still going?
Any way if the local authoritys dont wont to renue a puplic ents licence then they have 101 reasaons not to,the lateset is the dda act.

 

Shirts, its what men always seem to wear cos they can't think of anything else 'original' to wear, you wear it to work, you wear it to the pub, you wear it to the club, yarn! women say men are predictable, hum, I wonder why!?

The DDA act I hope isn't using use to close clubs, its not what its about, Its about raising awareness of disabilities and asking venue owners to take "reasonable" adjustments to make them accibled to disabled people,

 

Hippy the Banshee moved in the early 90's to up near Piccadilly. God I got drunk in there too many times. It's gone now completely. Life will be much poorer for Manchester students

 

I think the new law states that from October 2004 premises need to be modified to allow disabled people in. 99% of Manchester clubs are based in old basements of victorian office blocks though, so none of these can really be made accessable. I once saw a person with a wheel chair in 42's so I assumed they got in via the fire doors, but if he needed the toilet he would have had no chance unless he could walk slightly.

The biggest threat to clubs in Manchester is the fact most venues stilll don't employ bouncers with licences, I think 42's is the only club I know where all the security staff are legal.

The police are only giving them so long and if they are still not got licences the police said they would consider shutting the venues down if there is any incidents.

 

That's not strickly true, public venues need to ensure they take "reasonable" adjustments to make the accessible.

This is a wise policy door staff need to be licenced and controlled, some of them think they're the law and could do with a course in customer care, overgrown bullies IMHO!

 

The door staff at 42's are always really nice - they are also qualified. When they wouldn't let the 'shirts' in on Thursday they said to them "private members party only tonight but try 5th ave or south, have a good night though" this is a much better way of avoiding conflict. At most clubs its "you're not coming here dress liked that mate" which always causes an argument.

Since this new law the standards of door staff has improved dramatically.

 

The main indie club here in Exeter, the Cavern, is in a basement. They often have people in wheelchairs in there, it's not uncommon for the bouncers to either carry the person down in their chair, or both seperately. As you say, the toilets aren't an easy option, but that's the case in a lot of places that have level access due to small premises etc.

 

The Well House in Exeter is a classic example; one step up to get in (a ramp'd be p*ss-easy to install, but the whole area's listed due to the Royal Clarence Hotel (supposedly the oldest hotel in England!?), The Ship pub (good for a ringside view of a fight every Friday night, and for scoring drugs in, although its' original claim to fame is that Sir Francis Drake got beered up in there regularly) and, of course, the Cathedral (with the longest vaulted ceilinig in Europe IIRC). Where's my red coat?

Anyway, back on topic - the Well House has level access to the bogs, but the men's is down a windy passageway. Last time Andy (a mate in a wheelchair) was in there, we ended up using the ladies' - very surreal! One woman who came in had the shock of her life, but was cool when she saw the wheelchair situation

Not saying too much here, but a certain Exeter nightspot's been "done" for cramming too many people in and BLATANTLY breaking fire regs. Not saying any names, but let's just say it's in a basement...

This has been going on for years - look at the Coconut Grove fire in Boston in 1942 - more than DOUBLE the licenced number of people were in there when it caught fire - a fire which spread rapidly due to low ceilings, "Rexine" tiles on the walls (plastic-based carpet tiles) and lots of material hanging from the walls/ceilings - muchos carnage (try many people stuck in a revolving door, and no other escape route from that side of the building due to blocked up AND un-iluminated fire exits).

Good to see that people learn from others' mistakes, since on 1 November 1970, Le Club Cinq Sept in France burnt down due to extensive use of plastics (expanded polyurethane) which caught on fire - lots of toxic smoke. Guess what? ANOTHER case of blocked up fire exits, and in this case, a revolving gate with SPIKES on the inside. The first thing the fire crew saw when they got to that one was a poor sod of a bloke impaled on the spikes...

...and do you wanna know the punchline for the Cinq Sept? THE PLACE HAD NEVER BEEN SAFETY CERTIFIED - no police or fire officials had EVER seen the place, and the building used materials banned in 1969 (yet wasn't even opened until very-late '69 IIRC. And the final blow - it was a mile from the nearest house, and HAD NO TELEPHONE. IN 1970!?!?!

Remember people - clubs aren't the safest of places to be!

The funniest thing I saw recently was during the Ozric Tentacles gig at Exeter's Phoenix in October. LOTS of people on shrooms/acid/E, and of course, LOTS of number crunchin' (spliff!) going on. The fire alarms kept going off. At this point I was in the chillout (and pretty battered), and the fire alarm was actually in time with the music (I kid you not - or at least it was the first time it went off). Now I was pretty sure it wasn't on the record and WAS an alarm, but gave it 30 seconds and it went away. The second time, I thought "this is a REAL alarm and could actually be serious" so told my mates (both of which were only on a couple of pints and no naughties, so it wasn't just me!!!), and we started to move outside. Everyone else was getting down to the beeper until 3 burly bouncers came storming through shouting "Fire fire fire" - seeing all these other trashed-up people feebly attempting to get up while we were just going out the exit cracked me up - although, if it had been a real fire - well, you get my point...

BTW - WHY is it, that in 2005, unlicenced bouncers can still work!? Sheesh - Labour whine about binge drinkers and problems on the streets - surely they should get tough on the people who are SUPPOSED to help this stop happening at the SOURCE of the problem!? Bloody crazy!

Oh - one more thing - AT, I'm moving to Manchester! Almost every club in Exeter has a "shirts and shoes" policy (i.e., you have to wear them). I've never encountered more stuck-up, showey w*nkers in my life; at psy-trance nights in London, you can wear anything, and it seems to me that people who DO wear what they dig, rather than what they're forced to, are more chilled out and approachable. I'm supposed to wear a shirt and trousers to work but have refused (it's too hot - I fall asleep), so if I'm not doing it at work, I'm CERTAINLY not doing it at play!!!