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.
Olly Murs has now officially cancelled his show in Manchester tonight, a day after walking off stage just six songs into a huge arena gig.
The Heart Skips a Beat star had been performing in Glasgow last night when he abruptly stopped the show, apologised to fans, and left the stage.
The gig was cancelled around 30 minutes into his show, which is part of a huge UK arena tour that was meant to be heading to Manchester tonight.
A tearful Olly said that he was seeing a doctor last night and would update fans of the rest of his shows ‘as soon as I know anything’.
It’s now been confirmed that his gig at the AO Arena will not be going ahead.
Olly Murs said in a statement: “30 minutes into my set in Glasgow I lost my voice & unfortunately had to leave the stage midway through the show. This has never happened before and not something I take lightly.
“I’m sorry to all the fans who came out to the show last night and am forever grateful for your support.
“To everyone in Manchester and Birmingham I’m deeply sorry, but am unfortunately going to have to cancel my shows this weekend. I have contracted a respiratory infection and have been instructed to go on a strict 48 hour voice rest by the doctor to ensure no further damage to my vocal cords.
“I have been enjoying this tour so much, and am so sorry to let down my fans – but have to put my health first. I’m hoping to be fighting fit in a few days to finish this amazing 15 year celebratory tour with a bang.”
In a video he shared to Instagram last night, Olly Murs said: “Firstly I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry I had to walk off after six songs and cancel the show. I’ve never done this in 15 years.
“Most of the time as singers you can kind of get through it if your voice isn’t 100% – I walked out tonight thinking my voice was great, I maybe felt a little bit run down but I didn’t think I couldn’t do the show. I wouldn’t have come out there otherwise.
“So to walk off after six songs, as I said, I’m so sorry. As you can probably hear from my voice, I just sounded rubbish and it’s unfair for you guys that spent all that money to come and see me. You deserve the best show and me being at my best, and I’m so sorry from the bottom of my heart.
“Hopefully I can recover from this.
“I’m actually going to see a doctor tonight which is great, so I’ll give you guys an update as soon as I know anything. Obviously I wanna try my absolute best to make these shows possible at the weekend.
“So yeah, so sorry for everyone tonight, apologies from the bottom of my heart. Gutted.”
One of the biggest attractions of this year’s Parklife festival line-up has pulled out just weeks before the event.
Rising star and TikTok sensation Lola Young will no longer be performing at the huge Manchester festival.
She’s the voice behind ‘Messy’, that song you can’t get out of your head (or off your For You Page), and has already earned herself two BRIT Award nominations.
Lola Young was one of the biggest names announced on this year’s Parklife line-up, which has headline slots from Charli XCX, 50 Cent, Jorja Smith and Peggy Gou.
She was set to perform on the Saturday of the festival, taking place on 14 and 15 June.
But Parklife has now confirmed that Lola Young has dropped out of the lineup owing to a ‘scheduling conflict’.
In a post on Instagram they wrote: “Due to an unavoidable scheduling conflict Lola Young will not be performing at Parklife 2025.
“We would like to apologise for any disappointment.
“Full set times will be published at 5pm Tuesday 20th May on the PL25 App where we will also be announcing some surprise additions to the weekend in the run up to the festival.”
Parklife will be taking place next month in Manchester – you can keep up with the latest HERE and grab final tickets HERE.