The Northern women fighting to keep you safe on a night out
First they created the Spike Report database, now they're launching a new Safe Place initiative to educate the night time economy sector on safeguarding.
When it comes to helping women feel safer on a night out, there’s no one better to ask than the women themselves – which is exactly what northerners Elysia O’Neill and Della Claydon are doing.
Following reports of a rise in drink and needle spikings last year, the Leeds-based duo and TheEgalitarian co-founders moved quickly to set up the Spike Report – a community-led database for women to detail not just when and where they were spiked, but the response of venues and the police too.
Within nine days, it had already gathered over 160 reports. Seven months down the line, that figure is now in the thousands with reports spanning the length and breadth of the country.
The site is regularly visited by women, with the goal being to keep them and their mates safe on a night out.
Explaining the reasoning behind the idea, Elysia told The Manc that only 1 in 10 people currently report being spiked to the police and that “there’s definitely a lack of empowerment and self-belief in terms of whether someone’s been spiked, whether anyone is going to believe them.”
ADVERTISEMENT
“We set up the Spike Report to basically tackle the issue of how invisible spiking is as a problem […] and to essentially raise awareness of the fact that it is an issue, something that’s prevalent in society, ’cause it’s disputed by many large actors in the night time economy and the police themselves.”
Image: Impossible MCR
Based on the numbers self-reporting to their database, it certainly appears that survivors feel much more confident reporting to their peers instead of the police.
ADVERTISEMENT
It’s a sad fact certainly not helped by the high-profile murder of Sarah Everard by a policeman last year, nor by the Met’s brutal treatment of the women who gathered to hold a peaceful vigil in her memory after the fact.
By recognising this erosion of trust in traditional reporting methods, The Egalitarian team has now amassed a unique and detailed data set into what, where, when, and how spiking incidents are occurring across the country.
They’ve also been running a questionnaire since October 2021, asking their community what they would like to see in terms of changes regarding the news, police, legal systems, what kind of policies and procedures they can implement.
ADVERTISEMENT
Now, through their new Safe Place initiative, they’re planning to use this data to educate venues, authorities and night time economy workers on how to better safeguard people on a night out.
Explaining the desperate need for an attitude shift in the industry as a whole, Elysia said: “We’ve got a very detailed insight into how people in the night time economy and other authorities are handling spiking.
“We’re wanting to create partnerships with the night time economy venues particularly because that’s what us as an organisation and the community themselves think, that really the onus does lie with venues, rather than necessarily the police.
“We want staff to be educated on safeguarding, vulnerability, looking out for people that are vulnerable, but knowing how to look after someone who has been spiked or even voluntary intoxication.
“Whether it’s voluntary or involuntary, it doesn’t make them any safer when you kick them out of the club.
ADVERTISEMENT
“We need everyone to be looking after the customers, and essentially what we’re looking for is for venues to show that they do acknowledge that they have a duty of care for customers inside their venues.”
Here in Manchester, data from the Spike Report shows that 60% of survivors rated the venue’s response poor to very poor, 20% said it was neither good nor bad and 20% said it was good to very good.
Of the 40% that also contacted the police, 25% said they found the response poor to very poor. 25% neither good nor bad, and 50% good to very good.
Image: Girls Night In Manchester
Read more:GirlsNightIn Manchester: women protest across the UK as needle spiking incidents increase
The conversation around better safeguarding on nights out first began to change following last October’s Girls Night In protests, which saw huge numbers stay at home to boycott nightclubs and many others take to the streets.
ADVERTISEMENT
Meanwhile, across the city a number of venues moved to introduce drink covers, posters, and spiking tests, at a cost to themselves, to reassure customers and help them feel safer.
The mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, joined the Manchester protest on the night, and later he and the Night Time Economy Advisor, Sacha Lord, met with students involved to discuss what more could be done to improve safety.
Girls Night In Manchester wrote on its Instagram following the meeting: “Andy and Sacha have committed to setting up an Anti-Spiking Partnership for the city region, where GMCA will partner with major venues to roll out anti-spiking tests which can detect seven different types of drugs and be used as evidence in court.
“In the meeting we also discussed other measures such as expanding Save Haven and volunteer schemes funded by GMCA such as the Village Angels that operate on Canal Street, and improving reporting in venues.
Image: Girls Night In Manchester
“We are hopeful that some tangible changes will come as a result of these meetings, but still remain to be convinced until they are in place.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Seven months later, an anti-spiking partnership has been announced but for now no commitment has been made on rolling out anti-spiking tests at venues.
Revealing the partnership as part of the region’s new Night Time Economy Strategy, Andy Burnham acknowledged that there was ‘more to do’ regarding women and girls’ safety out and about at night time and that that Greater Manchester was now ‘pioneering a different conversation’.
He told hospitality leaders: “Sacha and I took a suggestion from students at the University of Manchester to bring through an anti-spiking partnership and you’ll see reference to that in the strategy being launched today.
Read more:Andy Burnham announces new anti-spiking partnership inspired by Manchester students
“We’d like to work with more of you to build out the idea of that, whether we can provide more testing on sites, so that we can protect people who fear they may have been a victim in that way.
ADVERTISEMENT
“That’s an important thing that we can do and we look forward to working with more of you on that.”
The Egalitarian team, meanwhile, is also positive they can bring much-needed change to the sector – expressing a strong desire to work closely with local authorities, including Greater Manchester.
Elysia said: “I think once the word’s out and people like Andy Burnham are aware of the fact that we’re doing this, I think it becomes a lot easier for government funded services, which are struggling always and so underfunded, to know that this exists.
“It saves their time and their funding, it could be really helpful to the wider community in such a mutually beneficial way.”
30 years ago, the IRA detonated a 1,500kg lorry bomb on Corporation Street in the heart of Manchester – here’s the story
Georgina Pellant
Today marks three whole decades since an explosion from the inside of a lorry parked on Corporation Street shattered windows and destroyed buildings across the city centre.
Causing an evisceration that stretched for miles, when the 1,500 kilogram IRA bomb went off in 1996, it was the biggest detonation in Great Britain since the Second World War.
Following the explosion, the city fell silent – leaving rack, rubble and ruin in its wake. Famously, one red post box was left standing – today fitted with a memorial plaque in remembrance of the tragedy.
It seems scary to think that back then, most people could only stand there, watch on and worry.
The bomb caused an estimated £700 million worth of damage to Manchester’s infrastructure and economy, and over a quarter of a century later, locals still tell the stories of where they were when it went off – and of the devastation it left behind.
Notably, one resident of the Cromford Court maisonettes on top of the Arndale – a 77-year-old RAF veteran suffering from the flu – didn’t even bother to get up when the telephone warning to evacuate hit, considering himself to have survived much worse feats during his time in military service.
Having been a rear gunner in a Lancaster in the war, he reportedly told police and authorities “he was buggered if he was going to let a small bomb affect him.”
In subsequent years, Danny O’Neill has become a part of an urban legend surrounding the bomb as his staggering story has been told time and time again.
Around 90 minutes prior to the detonation, the Provisional Irish Republican Army had telephoned in warnings – meaning that around 75,000 people were able to be evacuated from the area before the bomb went off from the back of a van.
However, the bomb squad were unable to defuse it in time, leading to over 200 injuries from people still left in the area.
Thankfully, despite those injuries, there were no fatalities, and many of those reported traumas came from the shattering of thousands of windows and other damage to buildings in which unsuspecting people were getting on with their days.
Several buildings near the explosion were damaged beyond repair and had to be demolished, while many more were closed for months for structural repairs, and this prompted the biggest regeneration of Manchester city centre ever – something that is still continuing to this day, arguably at a more rapid rate than ever.
The city lay dormant for days after the explosion, as people came to terms with what had happened and kept their distance. Many moved out of the centre for a period of time, while many more simply decided not to visit for fear of another incident.
It was a desolate place, eerily quiet, and in need of some serious TLC.
According to Home Office statistics, an estimated 400 businesses within half a mile (0.8 km) of the 1996 blast were affected, 40% of which did not recover.
Credit: Manchester Libraries
Market Street – near the explosion and at that time the second-busiest shopping street in the UK – was considered by some a “fearful” place, and one that was to be “avoided like the plague”.
The prospect of pulling Manchester’s bustling city centre out of its darkest depression was not casually approached by those in charge.
It was acknowledged as a mammoth task from the get-go, but Greater Manchester has never let anything get in its way. Despite how steep the hill is that we’re standing at the base of, we always manage to reach the peak, ready to go again.
Manchester City Council green-light new venue at Medlock Square, with Mamma Mia! The Party to open the immersive space
Danny Jones
The smash-hit ‘Mamma Mia: The Party’ is set to land in Manchester next year as the maiden event of another brand-new space set to open as part of the upcoming Medlock Square development.
Etihad Campus has seen a lot of moving pieces over the past few years, be it the building of Co-op Live, the ongoing expansion of Man City’s home ground, the soon-to-launch hotel attached to the stadium and now Medlock.
But those in control of the land are content with stopping there; this looks to be just the start of a whole new evolution for the East Manchester area, with an as yet untitled new immersive arts, experience and events venue also set to join the new slate of projects.
You see another glimpse of the purpose-built mini arena, of sorts, down below.
With plans having now been approved by the City Council, the ‘immersive’ space will be situated between the Etihad, Co-op Live and Medlock Square itself, holding up to 600 guests per performance.
Currently set to open in late 2027, following the rest of the square’s launch window being fully rolled out, we still don’t know the name of this next addition, but the structure itself will dovetail with the surrounding buildings and areas as part of seasonal activations, live shows and sports screenings, as well as pop-ups, brand collaborations and more.
Looping back, the interactive, multimedia extravaganza that is ‘Mamma Mia! The Party’ will finally be making its Manc debut as part of the 10th anniversary of the all-singing, all-dancing and even all-dining in-demand production.
As per an official press release from the Medlock Square media team, the show will combine “live music, theatre, food and storytelling” and “offer visitors an unforgettable night out.”
The original UK production at The O2 in London has now surpassed more than 1,500 performances, with a total of 700k guests attending these shows in 110 countries across the globe. Safe to say it’s rather popular.
As for Medlock Square and the surrounding Etihad Campus, Manchester City supporters have also been given another look at the soon-to-open, immersive hotel tie-in experience.
With a skywalk, rooftop bar, a new MCFC shop and various other bits set to spill out onto Medlock Square, it all feels like a period of wholesale changes over in the blue half of the city – especially with the football club bidding farewell to their manager Pep Guardiola after more than a decade.
Following the new and improved North Stand being named after him in the first of many tributes, the City Football Group (CFG) are also set to commission a statue in his honour over the coming months.
Meanwhile, Medlock Square is also due to open later this year, although an official completion date has not been confirmed.
You can stay up to date with all the latest on Mamma Mia! The Part’s Manchester shows right HERE.
Not forgetting a brand-new women’s football facility, too, there is so much stuff going on over at the Etihad that it can be hard to keep track, but here’s the latest look at some of the rooms set to feature in the hotel of the same name.
Georgina Pellant -
6th May 2022 
