Sankeys is – quite rightly – the stuff of legend, a part of Manchester’s nightlife that will be talked about for decades to come.
While Ancoats 2024 is a maze of bars and restaurants, back in the 1990s Sankeys was the only destination most people bothered with – mostly everything else was a shell of a warehouse.
The doors to the club opened, and closed, and opened again, and closed again, with a few tweaks to its name along the way.
Whether you remember it as the Sankeys Soap that opened in 1994, or the Sankeys that built an actual beach (using 50 tonnes of sand) in 2009, or even if you never made it onto this hallowed dancefloor, you probably have a story about the venue.
It hosted everyone from Boy George to Bjork to the Spice Girls to Daft Punk, but famously turned away a baby-faced Justin Bieber (too shuffley, apparently).
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Yes the rumours are true…we turned Justin Bieber away last night. He shuffles on stage and we can't be having that in Sankeys now can we!!
Nowadays it’s one of many, many converted mill buildings around the neighbourhood, filled with small businesses and apartments.
But Urban Splash, who have repurposed Beehive Mill into a co-working space, have kept many traces of Sankeys alive.
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Building manager Carl Holt, once a doorman at Sankeys, remembers when the entrance – now a wall of glass doors with fingerprint recognition – when it had huge steel doors to deter the cars that used to try and ram their way in.
The entrance to Sankeys is now a fire escape. Credit: The Manc GroupBeehive Mill, which used to be Sankeys nightclubBeehive Mill, which used to be Sankeys nightclub
The foyer of the building proudly displays photographs from the club’s final days, showing off rows of empty spirits bottles, crumpled promotional posters, and sticky dance floors.
Videos from club nights at Sankeys are projected on to the concrete wall that houses the mail boxes.
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There’s even the old safe, which developers drilled open to find years-old contraband confiscated from clubbers.
The old dance floor is now home to the head office of The Prince’s Trust, who store their outdoors equipment (wetsuits and the like) in what was once the smoking area, the jungle-inspired graffiti still covering the walls.
The old wooden staircase of Sankeys is now a fire escape and mostly blocked off from public view, while the former recording studios have been turned into bicycle storage rooms and office spaces.
Important meetings that now take place here are actually in what was Sankeys’ medical room, tending to revellers who’d overdone it a bit.
Carl says: “When Urban Splash bought it, they revamped it from top to bottom.
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“It’s flipped on its head, where there’s now all this business based here. It’s great to see but it is a big change.
The safe Urban Splash found when converting Beehive Mill. Credit: The Manc GroupThe old Sankeys medical room. Credit: The Manc GroupFamiliar stairs at Beehive Mill, which used to be Sankeys. Credit: The Manc Group
“I find it quite satisfying – yes I loved it when it was Sankeys, but I also like it the way it is now.
“Some people say to me ‘No, Sankeys weren’t here, this ain’t Sankeys’, they say they don’t remember, and I tell them ‘You don’t remember for two reasons…’
“In the early days when we were refurbishing it, people used to come here for the history.
“For the cobbles and the bricks and all that. It’s history. I love it.”
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While Ancoats is now often lauded as one of the world’s coolest neighbourhoods, nowhere will ever quite be able to recreate the cool of the Sankeys days.
Bez and Shaun Ryder are starring in a new gangster movie – nope, not kidding
Danny Jones
No, you didn’t misread the headline and you’re not on acid: Manchester music legends Bez and Shaun Ryder are set to feature in a brand-new gangster film.
Yes, the ones from the Happy Mondays – why are you having such trouble processing this?
Seriously though, we did a little double-take ourselves when we came across this news, but the familiar Manc faces look to be among the ensemble of a brand-new gangster movie by Irish writer, actor, producer and filmmaker, Ciaron Davies.
And this is just a little leak or rumour that may have been blown out of proportion: you can take it from the horse’s mouth as Happy Mondays frontman, Ryder, recently shared the news on social media.
As you can see, the new film is called Geezers and is billed as a “British crime caper” written and directed by Davies, featuring Shaun as hard-man Robbie and Bez as ‘Monk’. If you saw Ryder shaking off that snake biting his hand like it was nothing then you already know he’s hard as nails.
Although it’s not strictly listed as a comedy per se, ‘caper’ would suggest plenty of humour and light-heartedness, so we’re thinking more like The Gentleman, Italian Job, or maybe even Four Lions, rather than a serious crime thriller.
Now, while we’ve seen both of the Salfordians on screen before not only in the likes of music videos, interviews, panel shows and even as two of the funniest guests to ever go on Celebrity Gogglebox, this latest venture will serve as their respective acting debuts.
According to the IMDb page, the synopsis of the film is as follows: “Crime caper about a stolen bag of money. Caught in the crossfire are ‘The Geezers’ a bunch of wannabe criminals who have bitten off more than they can chew. With 24 hours to grab the cash, London may just go up in smoke tonight.”
Shame it’s not set on the mean streets of Manchester, or better yet Salford, but you’ve still very much caught our interest.
You can see the first promotional poster for the film down below.
As for Davies, he has been involved with a number of small-budget TV film projects, as well as appearing in shorts and even video games, so it’s fair to say that getting 62-year-old Ryder and his ever-energetic hype man, 60, involved is quite the coup for his movie-making career.
Although the film has no release date just yet, we know that filming locations having included parts of Warrington and Pinewood Studios, will be produced by Loose Gripp Films and distributed by publishers High Fliers.
Given the high-octane nature of Geezers and its genre, the feature will involve lots of action, stunts, violence and even martial arts – though how much kung-fu these two will have learned for the project remains to be seen…
All we know is that the film is supposedly “coming soon” and if you don’t want to see Bez and Shaun Ryder doing their best impression of a Guy Ritchie gangster movie then you’re lying to yourself. Praying for a Rowetta cameo to put the cherry on top.
Featured Images — Shaun Ryder (via X)/Loose Gripp Films/IMDb
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Blossoms at O2 Ritz Manchester – five-night hometown residency is already a triumph
Daisy Jackson
Blossoms are a band who were born and forged here in Greater Manchester, and now they’re back retracing their steps with a five-night residency across the venues that launched them into the big leagues.
Their star has risen all the way to arena level and headline shows at Wythenshawe Park at this point, especially here in their hometown, so the chance to see them back in these cosy-ish little venues is special, and a little bizarre.
For night two of their landmark sold-out gig series, it was the turn of the O2 Ritz, that sweaty spot off Oxford Road where the floor bounces downstairs and you stick to the carpets upstairs.
Poetically, the first time I ever saw Blossoms was in this very room in 2016, when they had the mid-afternoon slot at Neighbourhood festival and the queue to get in went all the way back to St Peter’s Square.
Since those days, Blossoms have come a long, long way, and their live show has evolved and matured from five lads thrashing on their instruments to this well-oiled, hip-swaying, flares-wearing, chart-topping machine.
There’s even choreography now – how fancy!
A stand-out moment from the show is actually a song from their new, fifth studio album Gary, which is still barely eight weeks old.
A spoof recording of legendary Manchester indie club 42s rings out, then all five band members abandon their stations, slinging keytars and marching drums around their necks so that they can dance together in front of neon signs.
Blossoms have just done their second of five shows in Manchester, this time at the O2 Ritz. Credit: The Manc GroupBlossoms on stage at the O2 Ritz in Manchester. Credit: The Manc Group
Blossoms promised more disco with this album and they bloody meant it. It’s not just the flares and the blow-dries and the moustaches (though those do help) – it’s in the funk and groove that’s gradually crept into their music exponentially with each album release.
This is still indie rock but it’s the most danceable of its genre. Good luck keeping your shoulders from wiggling and jiggling in here. Good luck keeping that grin off your face.
And Gary is one of the most unexpectedly fun albums to be released in the last year – the fact they called it Gary, named after a giant fibreglass garden centre Gorilla, should’ve been our clue. It could border on silly were it not such a masterpiece.
It seems like the only thing Blossoms are trying to prove is that you can be wildly successful without taking yourself too seriously. They just seem like a group who want to have a good time and it’s totally infectious.
Case in point – when each band member is introduced, keyboardist Myles Kellock plays the riff of Satisfaction by Benny Benassi and The Biz. Unexpected.
Blossoms also clearly give a sh*t about their live shows and graft at it – I’ve seen these guys an awful lot and it’s because their tour dates are plentiful and consistently worth the ticket price.
This is definitely the biggest era of their career so far, but have they peaked? Not even close.
Daisy Jackson -
10th July 2022 
