For most commuters in north Manchester, the Hellfire Club is a regular sight.
The brilliantly engineered curved structure sat on the corner of Queens Road dates back to the late 1800s and is also widely referred to as the Junction Inn or the Junction Hotel – a drinking hole that many locals consider as one of the more significant of north Manchester’s past.
Today, the building is a shell of its former self and as far as we’re aware, is currently still on the market for upwards of £300,000 with no interest from prospective developers.
The Junction Hotel
But that wasn’t always the case…
The Grade II listed building has played host to a number of ventures in its time, more notably the previously mentioned Hellfire Club which launched in 2006 and peacocked as a horror-themed bar home to “nefarious activities”.
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In the mid-2000s it’s said that biker gangs visited regularly and it survived comfortably due to a large regular clientele that called the place home.
Ironically, however, the Hellfire Club succumbed to a hellfire of its own in 2014 and shut down – leaving a much-adored history of revelling and memorable evenings in its wake.
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A year later, after a lavish refurbishment, Cirque Manchester took over.
Cirque Manchester, described at the time as “the hidden gem” Manchester had been waiting for, was a unique champagne-house bar set over two floors.
The Hellfire Club of old
The 250-cap venue opened each weekend and aimed to lure punters of similar venues in Manchester city centre out of town for “unparalleled service and a luxurious drinks menu”.
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With its vintage lounge that boasted VIP table service and glamorous waitresses, Cirque failed to become the elite celebrity hangout that it promised and closed for a rebrand just one year after its launch.
That’s when it got sexy. Literally.
Cirque’s owners, not wanting to fail (and clearly believing in such an iconic building), enlisted the services of Cheryl Smith, best known for organising Sexhibition, the North’s biggest sex festival.
Cirque
Keeping its name, the club’s new promoter turned the building into a burlesque emporium with the hope of attracting a more exclusive clientele during a time in which a ‘burlesque boom’ was sweeping Manchester’s nighttime landscape.
Equipped for fetish and BDSM nights, Cirque had brought back some of the nefarious energy that the building was famous for during its long stint as the Hellfire Club – and after rebranding away from a Deansgate crowd and focusing more on an exclusive audience on the rise, the club experienced some immediate success.
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But that success was short lived, and a pattern had officially formed on the corner of Queens Road. The old Hellfire Club, or Junction Inn, or Junction Hotel, was struggling to rediscover its identity and multiple failed attempts at reinvigorating it had left it derelict.
The Hellfire Club today
Then the hellfires returned.
Derelict buildings in north Manchester don’t stand for long without being savaged by fire, and in 2019, the still-photogenic curved building had become home to multiple blazes, leaving it run-down and home to mountains of scorched rubbish and timber.
With its gutted Victorian-interior and unsafe floors and stairwells, over the last few years, the idea of redeveloping this historic landmark has become an off-putting prospect for property developers – but it can’t be long until someone decides that turning it into flats just two miles from Manchester city centre could be a lucrative proposition.
In the meantime, it continues to stand strong and is remembered by many as a place in which they laughed with friends, filled their bellies, or saw some sh*t they’ll never forget.
Long live the Hellfire Club!
Feature
How a cult classic game helped create the sound of Blossoms’ new album
Danny Jones
More specifically, their soundtracks, as in a recent chat with the Blossoms boys, we found out that their upcoming album was at least partly influenced by a beloved PlayStation 2 classic from 2006.
This is just more proof that you really can find inspiration in just about anything.
Yes, even if only in part, an old video game that many of you may have played back in the day is somehow connected to the latest and technically still yet to be announced release.
We’ve heard of groups such as The 1975 trying to make an album that sounds “as if John Hughes had directed a movie about our lives”, and Red Rum Club leaning further into the growing Western aesthetic with almost every outing, but we never thought we’d hear of a record born out of a love for Bully…
The lads actually touched on that whole ‘still TBC’ when we spoke to them at their studio in Stockport, joking not just about divorce but how they’re baffled by the whole ‘are they working on new music?’ speculation in the media. “Well, yeah, we’re a band – that’s what we do for a living”, as they put it.
But back to the point at hand: lead guitarist Dewhurt’s affection for Bully, a cult favourite PS2 title released by Rockstar Games – the same people behind Grand Theft Auto (GTA) and Red Dead Redemption – and the score behind it, essentially served as a seed for the feel of their newest work.
As he explained above, before being expanded on by frontman and primary lyricist Tom Odgen, they were fortunate enough to be in possession of the details for one half of a duo they both admire: Young Gun Silver Fox, a.k.a. British artist Andy Platts and US multi-talented instrumentalist, Shawn Lee.
Lee also just so happens to be the composer of the original Bully video game soundtrack.
Ultimately, this all came about because Josh contacted him over email simply to praise the game’s music (sure, when he was a teenager, we promise), and only took them until the last year or so to put two and two together. Small world, eh?
Oh, the nostalgia.
It has since occurred to us that we’ve come across him before, too.
For us, it was when playing the first Tales From The Borderlands (a spin-off of the popular action role-playing looter-shooter series that has since been turned into a Hollywood movie), which features his song ‘Kiss The Sky’ and ALSO enjoyed in our late teens.
It still continues to baffle us how things can come full circle like this.
As it turns out, his music appears in various pieces of pop culture, and with Tom professing his love for the funky, bass-forward 80s vibes of Lee and his partner Platts’ stuff, he was then roped in as part of the production team on the hypotheticalBlossoms LP number six. Not that we know anything about that…
What has now come out of all this is the previously alluded to lead single entitled ‘Joke About Divorce’, the music video for which dropped last month.
‘Joke About Divorce’ our new single is out now! We love this record, we recorded it live to tape at Tilehouse Studios with Shawn Lee producing. The second we got the mix back it felt like an instant Blossoms classic (if we do say so ourselves)!
We’re still not sure whether or not this is just the first finished song from the project, the opener or indeed even a title track; all we know is it’s another catchy creation from the Stopfordians.
But yeah, in a roundabout way, somehow that ‘problematic’ game that our parents and teachers complained about when we were kids, either by sheer chance, serendipity or perhaps the divine will of the audio gods, appears to have served as a kind of sonic sapling for a fresh era of the local outfit.
Sadly, we have very little else to offer you in terms of information regarding the ‘as yet confirmed’ next studio release from the Blossoms, but we can tell you we’re very much looking forward to hearing what comes next – especially live.
In case you missed it, they’re headlining this year’s edition of NBHD Weekender music festival at the end of the month; you can see the rest of the lineup down below.
Featured Images — Rockstar Games/Audio North/Press shot (via Go! Entertainment)
Feature
Inside Tyga, as a Manchester favourite changes its stripes for a new era
Danny Jones
We recently had the pleasure of visiting Tyga, Manchester city centre’s latest Indian restaurant, which has taken the place of former local favourite, Asha’s.
The Peter Street spot had always been a great place for a curry and progressive takes on the nation’s staples, often pulling inspiration from the Rajasthan region, but now the unit is the start of a new chapter.
In truth, the food was always pretty damn good here – often truly great, even – as we found out the last time we reviewed it; however, it’s clear that there’s been a greater honing of the concept.
Put simply, Tyga is trying to elevate what the team already did so well, whilst adding an extra layer of fine-dining refinement.
@the.manc Peter Streets Indian spot Tyga, has had a serious glow-up, bringing a more refined, fine-dining take on Indian cuisine while keeping all the bold flavours at the heart of it. The 24-hour slow-simmered lamb shank is an absolute must, as is the butter chicken which just melts in your mouth. 😍 It’s not just about the food here though, with an extensive cocktail list that brings theatre to the table, they’re the perfect accompaniment to your table full of scran. It’s the perfect spot for date night, celebrations, or when you just want to seriously impress someone over dinner. 🍸 Get it booked. 📍 47 Peter Street, M2 3NG #themanc#tygamanchester#manchesterfoodie#manchestercurry#wheretoeatinmanchester♬ original sound – The Manc
You hear sentences like a ‘contemporary twist on cuisine’ and ‘modern approaches to classics’ recycled quite a lot, and we get it: it can be a great way to get across that you’re trying to push culinary tradition(s) forward, but it often feels a bit of a throwaway term that’s used far too much.
That being said, while there’s definitely a feeling of familiarity to this recently refreshed foodie lineup, this is one of the times and places where it actually seems like that phrase means something.
While the building and stunning venue itself might have stayed largely the same, bar some knick-knacks being swapped for a few different tiger-based decorations, the authentic clay-pot lamb, ‘Tyga’ prawns, salmon tikka, and Vepudu spiced stir fry show some real innovation.
A lot of these might be rooted in a kind of food we know very well here in Britain, but these latest iterations in recipes and experimentation with their components result in some very cool creations.
The ember wings were smoky and moorish in a way that we’ve not had in a restaurant like this before, and the lamb chops alone were worth ordering by the wheelbarrow full.
Small plates have also been thrown into the mix more seamlessly this time around, too, as have some of the Indo-Chinese options that feel less like a footnote now and, instead, like a continuation of the tweaking and trying out new things seen throughout the rest of the offerings.
Even the vegetarian/vegan section of the menu has been lifted in certain aspects, too, with previously popular dishes being brought back better and more beautifully presented than ever.
Before we forget, a special shout-out goes to those beetroot dill patties.
Speaking of presentation, although they might have simplified some stuff (such as the okra fries that simply need to be dumped on the table and be devoured in seconds by gannets like us), as mentioned, plenty of other bits have been levelled up.
It comes as no surprise, therefore, that they’ve just been voted alongside some fellow standout spots by the Asian Catering Federation.
They’ve never shied away from a bit of pageantry, and nothing has changed in that respect.
Everything from the plating to even giving you a rotating water jug that revolves on a single point and never spills has a bit of flair, without being too much or straying into gimmicky territory.
Most importantly of all, whether you want a classy room for your next date night, somewhere intimate the next time you go out for tea with your partner, or still fancy a more banquet-style feast for you and your mates in the form of the updated ‘Maharaja’s Grand Platter’, Tyga can turn its paw to any occasion.
Sam Ridgway -
8th May 2021 
