A Manchester gay icon returns

In a surprising announcement, One Central Street have told AfterDark that the club will reopen as The No.1 Club on Friday September 25th.

For those of you of a certain age or with superb knowledge of Mancunia's clubbing history, The No.1 Club was OCS's previous incarnation and was remarkable for being a popular gay club that was obviously situated way outside of the Canal Street zone. It also cut itself a reputation as a prime house music venue while the rest of the Village was still playing hi-energy and camp pop classics as if stuck in an eighties time warp.

The No.1 Club was at its peak around 1992-93 when DJs such as the Luvdup Twins played there for their event titled 'Hell'. It was the gay club that the straight crowd (that loved their house tunes) were willing to queue for and attempt to get into.

It's seven years since One Central Street opened comprising owners and management that had earned their venue management stripes at such iconic venues as Dry Bar, the Hacienda and Sankeys Soap. It quickly gained a reputation as a cutting edge style venue with an image that projected 'sophisticated sleaze'. Seedy, yet cool. But seven years is a long time in nightlife terms, as evidenced by how many stale older venues there are along Peter Street or Deansgate Locks, so a sharp change of direction has been taken.

Mirror Mirror is the launch event on Sept 25th with Jodie Harsh on the decks and an extended closing time of 5am, and then it returns every last Friday of the month. Saturday 26th sees Leeds event Federation presenting Freak Show, "a dirty, twisted manifestation of the UK’s biggest house night" as they put it themselves. There will be other events on rotation across the Fridays plus gay R'n'B party Off The Hook on Sundays. More details will appear in our listings.

It's rare for a venue to revert back to a former life. Manto changed it's name and decor at one point to become 46 Canal Street only to find that the clientele rebelled and it had to be changed back, at much expense. It's even more unusual for a gay venue to try its luck outside the Village. The Edge bar and club took its chances over at Ducie Street in the Northern Quarter (within the confines of the former Home nightclub) only to find that the Villagers were unwilling to make the trek. However, The No.1 Club has a history and a pedigree within the Central Street building and we're sure that it will be marketed and managed in such a way as to make its mark as an alternative to what Canal Street offers.

Comments:

03 Oct 2009 kevin

Friday night.......once again they let too many straight women in. It's meant to be a gay club people....don't let it go down the tubes like the old No. 1......have a door policy, otherwise you won't get the cruz or essential queens..... you'll just get women who fall all over the place and spill their pints on you which is what happened to me tonight!!

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