Two of the most popular nightclubs in Manchester city centre are to back students’ drink spiking protests by shutting on Wednesday.
Following growing national concern over the rise in drink spiking at nightlife venues across the UK, the two indie nightclubs 42nd Street – known colloquially among students and locals alike as ’42s’ – and The Venue Nightclub will close doors for the night on Wednesday 27 October in support of the boycott – which has been set up by members of the Student’s Union at the University of Manchester in a bid to get spiking taken more seriously.
Student nightlife staple 42s has confirmed it will pay staff in full for their work that evening, despite remaining closed.
In a statement addressing the decision to close posted on the club’s social media pages yesterday, 42 Street said: “After careful consideration, we have decided we are going to close next Wednesday 27th October.
“This is not a decision we have taken lightly, particularly as we have a lot of staff who rely on their income from 42s [and] as such, we will still be paying our staff for the night, despite being closed.
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“Everyone has the right to feel safe on a night out, it is important our staff and customers know that we take their safety very seriously.
“This is not a knee jerk reaction, we have consistently put our customers and staff at the forefront of our identity.
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“We support the @girlsnightinmanc initiative to improve the safety of people on a night out.”
The closures follow growing national concern over the rise in drink spiking at nightlife venues across the UK / Credit: Unsplash (Antoine Julien)
The Venue Nightclub has also taken the decision to close this Wednesday “in support of the protest taking place requesting nightclubs to take more action on protecting people from harm”, confirming that all ticket holders for Wednesday’s event will be automatically refunded, and that the club is in discussions with the licensing team from Manchester City Council to come up with a solution.
In a statement shared to the club’s Facebook page last week, The Venue said: “Whilst we have taken a number of steps ourselves, nobody should ever feel unsafe whilst on a night out [and] we are in constant dialogue with Manchester Licensing, our Security Team, and our staff to do more to stop what is an increasingly concerning issue.
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“As a Nightlife Operator, our customers safety has always been, and will remain, our number one priority.
“Since increasing reports emerged of these issues, we have already implemented a number of procedures in place to ensure a safe environment, such as increased search policies, welfare policies, promoting awareness to customers and creating an environment where customers feel they are able to report their concerns to staff whilst in The Venue.”
“We stand alongside everyone protesting that this issue must be given focus and eradicated from the nightlife sector,” the statement concluded.
The Venue also said it would “welcome all feedback” on what it can do to make clubbers “feel safer” in the future.
The decisions taken by the two clubs to close their doors on Wednesday in honour of the boycotts have been met with mixed reactions by students, who have taken to the comments sections underneath the social media posts on Facebook and Instagram to voice their opinions, with some welcoming and praising the decision, but others pointing out potential wider motives – including one Instagram user who said: “42s is closing on Wednesday so that you won’t be able to boycott them and they won’t suffer any losses and you’re all eating it up,” – and referencing alleged incidents during previous nights out in each of the establishments.
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The boycotts have been set up by members of the Student’s Union at the University of Manchester in a bid to get spiking taken more seriously / Credit: Flickr
The Manchester-based boycotts form part of the wider ‘Girls Night In’ initiative, which will see protests up and down the country on popular student nights, with people being asked to help encourage leaders to take action against the recent spate of spiking incidents.
“We’d like a response from Manchester Combined Authority, from Andy Burnham and Sacha Lord,” 19-year-old Emily Bennett – Liberation and Access Officer at the University of Manchester’s Students’ Union – told the MEN.
“We want to see them put measures in place.
“We want to see them funding anti-spiking devices, making it really clear that they don’t accept spiking. We want clear policies and procedures in place [and we want them to] try their best to catch the people spiking, and to know that there is support for those spiked.”
Discussing the issue of drinks being spiked with Mike Sweeney on BBC Radio Manchester last week, Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said: “It’s just completely off the scale.
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“This thing is about again women and girl’s safety, you know, I’ve said before Mike, my daughters tell me some of the things that happen when they’re on nights out and it’s just it’s ridiculous. We thankfully – I’ve checked with GMP – haven’t had many reports of this, although there were some in the Fallowfield area at the time when the students were coming back to university.
“There was about five reports of drinks being spiked and we have looked into that.”
Mr Burnham also then added that: “This one’s for the men. This one’s for the boys. Get a grip, sort this out, don’t tolerate it. You know, we’ve all got mums, we’ve all got sisters, we’ve all got daughters. This, this is on us this one. Not on women, this is on us.
“Clubs do have to do more, so do men and boys.”
Featured Image – Google Street View
News
Beloved plant-based independent street food business Herbivorous is set to close imminently
Danny Jones
We hate writing this, but we have news of yet another local hospitality closure as beloved Manchester-born and pioneering plant-based brand Herbivorous has confirmed they’ll soon be calling it a day.
If you can hear us sighing through the screen, apologies – we’re just getting really fed up of saying farewell to our favourites, so god knows how rubbish those involved feel.
As you can see, the team behind the multi-location vegan street food specialists began by writing: “It’s a long one so stay with me… It seems you can’t open social media at the moment without reading about another hospitality business closing down.
“Throughout 8 years of Herbivorous years we’ve come up against many challenges from Covid 5 years ago to watching all the big vegan brands from London and beyond come to Manchester and largely disappear again to the closure of Hatch our busiest site, but with continually increasing costs its becoming really difficult to maintain a thriving business.”
Herbivorous started out life back in 2016 as a cult hit at the old outdoor food, drink and entertainment hub centring around a ‘container village’, the first of its kind in the city and soon to reopen under new owners and a new name.
Since then, co-founders Robyn and Damian have gone on to expand not just to one permanent site over in Withington but with outposts in Sheffield and York, having gained a strong reputation with stalls and pop-ups all over.
Their hospitality story might not have the ending we personally would hope for, but it’s been a brilliant one for so many foodie fans – us lot included.
Nevertheless, they go on to add in the emotional statement that external pressures such as a recent bereavement and their own ever-growing family have also contributed to the decision which, despite being an understandably hard one, “feel like the right time.”
“We are so incredibly proud of how far we’ve come from spending long days slinging duck wraps from our green vintage horse box at festivals to three Herbi locations across the North of England”, they continue, “and with that we’ve also met so many fantastic people!”
“Whether you worked for us at a few festivals over [the] summer or for years at our restaurant, we just wanted to say and massive thank you! The memories will stay with us forever and, of course, how can we not mention our fabulous customers!
“Thank you all so much for choosing Herbivorous over the years. Those of you who had our food at Festivals and then found us at one of our permanent locations, those of you who came back week after week to Hatch, Spark, Withington and beyond.”
They signed off by detailing their final business days, with their Sheffield Kommune spot having already shut for refurbishment; meanwhile, their spot in SPARK York will be wrapping up on Saturday, 19 April.
As for their flagship brick-and-mortar venue here in Greater Manchester, Herbivorous Withington will be shutting on Friday, 25 April.
Once again, there’s nothing we can say other than thank you for years of delicious food, that we’re guttted to see you go, and that everyone at The Manc Group wishes you the best whatever comes next.
AJ Tracey is playing a VERY intimate gig in Manchester next month
Thomas Melia
London rapper and respected grime artist AJ Tracey is ‘live and direct’ once again, announcing a whole host of UK dates, one of which is a rather intimate gig right here in Manchester.
It’s official: one of UK rap’s leading gents is getting back on the road and he’s showing a ‘Little More Love’ to lots of cities, including Manchester.
In a post on the UK star’s socials, AJ Tracey trades his music persona for that of a sports pundit as he announces the dates for his upcoming tour while impersonating an F1 commentator.
Anyone looking to attend Tracey’s ‘Not Even A Tour’ can catch the star up and down the country on his over 20-date tour with a stop in Manchester as soon as this month.
The rapper has reached phenomenal heights since dropping the unforgettable ‘Ladbroke Grove’ in 2019 and is heading out across the nation to make sure everyone knows about it.
Get ready to spit bars left and right as this rapper’s discography is stacked with serious tunes like ‘Dinner Guest’, ‘West Ten’, ‘Thiago Silva’ and more.
More recently, he collaborated with Walsall’s finest Jorja Smith for a flirty garage beat also known as ‘Crush’ with the video being the two artists talking it out in a good old fashioned caff.
The latest collaboration with Smith marks the start of a new era for Mr. Live and direct as it fell in line with the announcement of his third studio album.
Titled Don’t Die Before You’re Dead, we’re sure he’ll be “building a vibe” wherever he goes and probably previewing a few exclusive tracks from his upcoming project too.
This gig may come as quite a surprise for any hardcore fans of the ‘Ladbroke Grove’ star as the venue in which he’s performing is definitely intimate only, holding just over 250 guests.
This rap giant is bringing his unbelievable beats to none other than the legendary small-cap city centre live music venue, The Deaf Institute, at the end of this month.
It’s safe to say you won’t get many more chances, if any, to see him in such a tight-knit space again.
AJ Tracey is bringing ‘Not Even A Tour’ to Deaf Institute in Manchester on 30 April, with tickets on sale Friday 4 April from 12 noon.
The Manc -
25th October 2021 
