A stone’s throw from Manchester’s gay village and right at the end of the student Oxford Road corridor, for years Fifth Avenue was a mainstay on the mainstream clubbing scene. Now it’s closed for good.
Officially no more, the club officially ‘surrendered’ its license in November 2021 according to Manchester City Council.
Whilst the venue had been shuttered since the beginning of the pandemic, news of its official closure has only just been confirmed.
The once-iconic nightclub spot on Princess street had, in the eighties, been thought of as somewhat of a precursor to the Hacienda during its days as Legend.
At that time, it boasted incredible lighting and sound rigs, plus guest and resident DJs such as Greg Wilson, A Guy Called Gerald, Mike Pickering and Paul Oakenfold.
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Since then, though, the club’s had somewhat of a fall from grace – with some even branding it the worst nightclub in the UK.
Of course, after the closure of Legend, the site went on to become Fifth Avenue and was known, even more simply, as just ‘Fifth’ in recent years following a rebrand by owners 5th Leisure.
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Image: Fifth Avenue
Love it or hate it, if you’ve had a night out in Manchester then you’ve probably climbed those stairs down into the belly of the beast at one point or another.
Plagued by numerous noise complaints in recent years, in part due to the fact that a number of apartments are situated directly above the nightclub, planning documents show its owners had submitted requests to refurb, renovate and improve soundproofing at the venue.
However, according to reports in the Manchester Evening News, Manchester City Council recommended that its application be refused referencing ‘significant noise complaints’ stretching back to 2006.
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The Council’s Licensing and Out of Hours team wrote at the time: ‘with an existing abatement notice in force and for the aforementioned reasons LOOH recommend that the application is refused’.
Staff, however, seem to have been under the impression that the club was due to reopen if social media posts are to be believed.
Boarded up for some time now, it is unclear what will happen to the space next. As part of the fabric of the city centre for decades, it would be a shame to see another nightclub disappear from the Manchester scene.
For now, though, it seems that Fifth Avenue is gone for good. Who knows what will replace it.
Feature image – Fifth Avenue
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Two men jailed after series of Porsche thefts across Greater Manchester totalling £1m
Emily Sergeant
Two men have been handed prison sentences following a series of Porsche thefts across Greater Manchester.
An investigation into the actions of Eidmantas Sadauskas and Vytautas Ceponis, both of no fixed abode, by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) began back in January of this year.
Described as being ‘sophisticated’ operation, the pair used equipment and tools to disable the vehicle security alarms and gain access to them, before they would then clone the vehicles, using different registration plates to allow them to slip under the radar.
In total, 25 Porsches – estimated, in total, as being approximately £1 million – were linked to the theft series and identified as having been taken by Sadauskas and Ceponis.
The thefts occurred across Greater Manchester – including in Salford, Bury, Trafford, Manchester, and Stockport – and it’s believed they were being stolen to be sold on for illegal gain.
The thefts occurred between January and October 2025, according to police, before the investigation began.
A comprehensive investigation Stockport’s Neighbourhood Crime Team (NCT) found that Sadauskas and Ceponis were mapped out as being in the areas of the crimes as they occurred, and the vehicles involved in the thefts were additionally identified as being linked to them.
The pair subsequently pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal motor vehicles at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court in late November, before their sentencing last Friday.
Ceponis was jailed for four years for conspiring to steal motor vehicles, while Sadauskas was jailed for four-and-a-half years for conspiring to steal motor vehicles.
Several of the Porsches have since been recovered, and police say work remains ongoing to locate the outstanding vehicles and reunite them with their owners.
“No one should have their property taken from them,” commented PC Chris Hopkins, from GMP’s Stockport NCT. “As officers in the Neighourhood Crime Team, we work proactively to tackle these sorts of offences and punish those responsible.
“We have recovered several of the stolen vehicles and will continue to do so while Sadauskas and Ceponis are behind bars.”
Featured Image – GMP
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Fans are preparing to pay tribute to Mani from The Stone Roses ahead of his funeral service
Danny Jones
Stone Roses fans and Greater Manchester locals alike are getting ready to pay their respects to the late, great, Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield, following his tragic passing last month.
As well as details surrounding his funeral being announced earlier this week, the iconic Manc musician’s cause of death has also finally been revealed.
While Hatton’s service featured a high-profile cortège which started all the way from his hometown of Hyde, past multiple landmarks and ending at the Etihad Stadium, those local to Mani’s family home on the edge of Stockport are also being welcomed to help send him off.
It's the funeral of Mani of the Stone Roses on the 22nd. He lived locally. This poster is asking people to line the route of his funeral cortege to "show that he truly was adored". pic.twitter.com/X0DYHl10Hp
He had been struggling with emphysema for some time; he was declared dead at his home in the suburb of Heaton Moor, and is said to have died peacefully in his sleep.
As you can see from the posters put in various places around the area, residents wishing to pay their own tributes to Mani before his private funeral service at Manchester Cathedral are encouraged to line the long street leading down from St Paul’s and Heaton Moor United Church as he heads towards the city.
Departing Parsonage Road from 10am on Monday, 22 December, before turning right onto Heaton Moor Rd, then Wellington and eventually on to the Cathedral, you can expect plenty of people to show up.
One of those people will be his former bandmate and another influential guitarist, John Squire, who is one of many famous musical names to have honoured him in their own way over the last few weeks.
Other members of The Stone Roses, as well as Primal Scream (who he joined in 1996), are expected to join the close family and friends at the service itself.
Nevertheless, we have no doubt that plenty will be observing the funeral in their own way.
So, for those of you also looking to honour him, you know what to do; and to quote the poster itself, “together we can show this local legend and his family that he was truly adored.”
Georgina Pellant -
15th February 2022 
