Manchester clubbing behemoth The Warehouse Project has revealed it has begun to roll out urine tests on-site to people who are afraid they may have been spiked.
Speaking to The Independent in an exclusive, WHP boss Sacha Lord said his club night at Depot Mayfield was one of the ‘first ones’ to make the tests available to partygoers.
Telling the paper that WHP medics had “actually bought kits last week”, he said that the club had started to roll these out over the Halloween weekend and plans to use them moving forward.
“We’ve got a real education job to do here,” he said, adding “I just don’t think it’s right that a woman should feel protected by a bottle top on the right out.”
However, it isn’t clear whether the club has plans to introduce any more new measures to keep women safe at the venue – aside from offering urine tests to a victim if / when an alleged spiking has already occurred.
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The move to introduce urine testing kits follows a worrying rise in spiking across the UK since the reopening of nightclubs this July, including a new trend of needle spikings reported in areas close to Manchester including Liverpool, Nottingham, and Preston.
It also comes nearly a week after club boycotts, an End Spiking Now protest, and a list of demands being sent to Andy Burnham and other leaders at the GMCA – with protestors’ key focus being for women’s safety to be made more of a priority in venues across Manchester.
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One of the key demands of last week’s boycott was that nightclubs thoroughly search guests upon entry, with some women starting a petition to ask the government to make this a legal requirement.
Credit: SONY DSC
Asking for a “pat-down search or metal detector”, the petition now has over 171,000 signatures at the time of writing – well over the 100,000 needed for it to be considered for debate in parliament.
The letter to the GMCA, meanwhile, asked for designated employees on hand to deal with problems of spiking and harassment, as well as for venues to produce their own clear procedures on how to deal with such incidents.
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It also asked that the GMCA provides bars and nightclubs with anti-spiking devices, enforce more staff training, and create a toolkit for women detailing measures venues should have in place in order to be licensed.
The comments made by Sacha Lord on changing behaviour echo those made by Andy Burnham, who was in attendance at last week’s End Spiking Now demo.
Mr Burnham told the crowd, “This one is on us: men, lads, boys. That might mean calling out mates for their behaviour or it might mean changing our own behaviour.”
The move from Warehouse Project to introduce urine spiking is a welcome one, however – as Sacha Lord seems to acknowledge himself – more still needs to be done.
The Warehouse Project has been approached for comment.
Mancs advised ‘do not travel’ today amid MAJOR region-wide train disruption
Daisy Jackson
Passengers across the North West are being told not to travel today, after a power failure triggered major disruption across the region.
A vast number of trains have been cancelled in and out of Greater Manchester due to the failure at Manchester Rail Operating Centre (ROC).
The disruption started earlier this afternoon but is expected to continue across all operator routes until the end of the day.
Now, rail operators are issuing ‘do not travel’ notices, and ticket acceptance has been put in place across all Bee Network buses and Metrolink services.
A statement shared by Manchester City Council: “Due to a power failure at the Manchester Rail Operating Centre (ROC), there is major disruption on the rail network across Greater Manchester, the north west of England and the Midlands.
“Delays and cancellations are expected on all operator routes across Greater Manchester until the end of today (Thursday 6th August). Rail operators have issued a do not travel notice with travel advice and the latest information HERE.
“Ticket acceptance is in place on all Bee Network buses and Metrolink services across Greater Manchester.”
All Brewers Fayre and Beefeater locations across the UK are closing down
Danny Jones
It looks to be the end for not one but two of Britain’s best-known and long-running restaurant franchises, as Brewers Fayre and Beefeaters will be closing down all of their locations.
Dating back to the mid-1970s, there will soon be none left anywhere in the country
The pair of recognisable chains, owned by parent company Whitbread PLC – who also own Premier Inn, hence why they usually come as a joint package – have nearly 200 sites across the UK, but they are already in the process of a wholesale shutdown.
News of the impending closures first began circulating back in April, but now the process is said to be fully underway, with multiple Greater Manchester names on the chopping block.
A real shame all brewers fayres are closing down. As a member they’ve sent me a last free main. So enjoying a mixed grill pic.twitter.com/EIHMZ7LCvv
— Daniel Turner⚽️ 🏟️ 1️⃣1️⃣5️⃣8️⃣ (@puffpuff65) August 4, 2026
With roughly 3,800 staff set to be made unemployed as part of the major restructuring by Whitbread, the job cuts will see approximately 12% of their workforce laid off from a total of around 30,000.
One local duo due to face the music is the soon-to-close Stable Gate in Denton and Wheatlea Park in Wigan – both of which are Brewers Fayre branches.
89 of the brand’s boozers have been given until early September (some dates may vary) to shut up shop and hold not just their last orders, but their final dinner service full stop.
The rest of the venues closing next month are Beefeater pubs, including the Heaton Park one in Crumpsall, The Quay House at Salford Quays, and the Whitgate Inn over Oldham way.
As for others nearby, Macclesfield’s Springwood Park is also set to close.
The older of the two British mainstays is Beefeater, which was founded by Whitbread back in 1974 when they opened their first pub, The Halfway House, down in Enfield.
Brewers debuted up North in ’79, with a maiden watering hole called The Farmers Arms in Preston, before going on to open several locations around Lancashire and eventually nationwide.
Most of you will likely have visited or at the very least passed one of those food and drink spots in your time, and while they may be more associated with hotels and service stations these days, they still served as regular haunts for plenty of people who will no doubt be gutted to see them go.
Speaking of services, another big name is expanding further into the North West.
Georgina Pellant -
2nd November 2021 
