Two of the most popular nightclubs in Manchester city centre are to back students’ drink spiking protests by shutting on Wednesday.
Following growing national concern over the rise in drink spiking at nightlife venues across the UK, the two indie nightclubs 42nd Street – known colloquially among students and locals alike as ’42s’ – and The Venue Nightclub will close doors for the night on Wednesday 27 October in support of the boycott – which has been set up by members of the Student’s Union at the University of Manchester in a bid to get spiking taken more seriously.
Student nightlife staple 42s has confirmed it will pay staff in full for their work that evening, despite remaining closed.
In a statement addressing the decision to close posted on the club’s social media pages yesterday, 42 Street said: “After careful consideration, we have decided we are going to close next Wednesday 27th October.
“This is not a decision we have taken lightly, particularly as we have a lot of staff who rely on their income from 42s [and] as such, we will still be paying our staff for the night, despite being closed.
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“Everyone has the right to feel safe on a night out, it is important our staff and customers know that we take their safety very seriously.
“This is not a knee jerk reaction, we have consistently put our customers and staff at the forefront of our identity.
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“We support the @girlsnightinmanc initiative to improve the safety of people on a night out.”
The closures follow growing national concern over the rise in drink spiking at nightlife venues across the UK / Credit: Unsplash (Antoine Julien)
The Venue Nightclub has also taken the decision to close this Wednesday “in support of the protest taking place requesting nightclubs to take more action on protecting people from harm”, confirming that all ticket holders for Wednesday’s event will be automatically refunded, and that the club is in discussions with the licensing team from Manchester City Council to come up with a solution.
In a statement shared to the club’s Facebook page last week, The Venue said: “Whilst we have taken a number of steps ourselves, nobody should ever feel unsafe whilst on a night out [and] we are in constant dialogue with Manchester Licensing, our Security Team, and our staff to do more to stop what is an increasingly concerning issue.
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“As a Nightlife Operator, our customers safety has always been, and will remain, our number one priority.
“Since increasing reports emerged of these issues, we have already implemented a number of procedures in place to ensure a safe environment, such as increased search policies, welfare policies, promoting awareness to customers and creating an environment where customers feel they are able to report their concerns to staff whilst in The Venue.”
“We stand alongside everyone protesting that this issue must be given focus and eradicated from the nightlife sector,” the statement concluded.
The Venue also said it would “welcome all feedback” on what it can do to make clubbers “feel safer” in the future.
The decisions taken by the two clubs to close their doors on Wednesday in honour of the boycotts have been met with mixed reactions by students, who have taken to the comments sections underneath the social media posts on Facebook and Instagram to voice their opinions, with some welcoming and praising the decision, but others pointing out potential wider motives – including one Instagram user who said: “42s is closing on Wednesday so that you won’t be able to boycott them and they won’t suffer any losses and you’re all eating it up,” – and referencing alleged incidents during previous nights out in each of the establishments.
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The boycotts have been set up by members of the Student’s Union at the University of Manchester in a bid to get spiking taken more seriously / Credit: Flickr
The Manchester-based boycotts form part of the wider ‘Girls Night In’ initiative, which will see protests up and down the country on popular student nights, with people being asked to help encourage leaders to take action against the recent spate of spiking incidents.
“We’d like a response from Manchester Combined Authority, from Andy Burnham and Sacha Lord,” 19-year-old Emily Bennett – Liberation and Access Officer at the University of Manchester’s Students’ Union – told the MEN.
“We want to see them put measures in place.
“We want to see them funding anti-spiking devices, making it really clear that they don’t accept spiking. We want clear policies and procedures in place [and we want them to] try their best to catch the people spiking, and to know that there is support for those spiked.”
Discussing the issue of drinks being spiked with Mike Sweeney on BBC Radio Manchester last week, Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said: “It’s just completely off the scale.
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“This thing is about again women and girl’s safety, you know, I’ve said before Mike, my daughters tell me some of the things that happen when they’re on nights out and it’s just it’s ridiculous. We thankfully – I’ve checked with GMP – haven’t had many reports of this, although there were some in the Fallowfield area at the time when the students were coming back to university.
“There was about five reports of drinks being spiked and we have looked into that.”
Mr Burnham also then added that: “This one’s for the men. This one’s for the boys. Get a grip, sort this out, don’t tolerate it. You know, we’ve all got mums, we’ve all got sisters, we’ve all got daughters. This, this is on us this one. Not on women, this is on us.
“Clubs do have to do more, so do men and boys.”
Featured Image – Google Street View
News
Full list of road closures set to be in place for Manchester Day 2024
Emily Sergeant
Manchester Day is back for 2024 this weekend, and the full list of road closures set to be in place has been confirmed.
Now that schools are officially out across Greater Manchester, and the summer holidays are well and truly here, the hugely-popular Manchester Day is making a return once again this Saturday 27 July, and as always, it’s set to be “the day summer officially starts” in the city centre – with a massive celebration of “all things Mancunian” on the cards.
The theme of this year’s annual event is ‘Let The Games Begin’, and it’s inspired by the international summer of sport, just 2024 Olympics kicks off over in Paris.
The day will be packed full of free events and activities to get involved with.
Some city centre roads will be closed on Friday 26 and Saturday 27 July for Manchester Day.
These will include:
🛣️Deansgate 🛣️St Ann Street 🛣️St Mary’s Gate 🛣️Market Street 🛣️King Street
— Manchester City Council (@ManCityCouncil) July 21, 2024
But of course, in order for the all the fun to go ahead as safely as possible, and as tends to be the case for events like these, Manchester City Council says it will need to make some temporary road closures to facilitate it.
The full list of road closures has now been confirmed by the Council, and there’s some major city centre thoroughfares set to be out of action.
Here’s everything you need to know.
Manchester Day is back for 2024 to celebrate the international summer of sport / Credit: Manchester City Council
Manchester Day 2024 – Road Closures
Saturday 27 July
From 6am to 11:59pm, Manchester City Council has confirmed that the following roads will be closed:
Deansgate (Manchester Cathedral to John Dalton Street) – access will be maintained to Marks and Spencer’s car park and Number One Deansgate.
St Ann Street (Deansgate to Cross Street)
St Mary’s Gate (Exchange Street to Deansgate)
St Mary’s Street (Southbridge Street to Deansgate)
Market Street (Exchange Street to Cross Street)
Fennel Street (Corporation Street to Cathedral Street) – access will be maintained for morning deliveries only.
Cathedral Street (Fennel Street to Exchange Square) – access will be maintained for morning deliveries only.
Cateaton Street (Exchange Square to Deansgate)
Barton Square (St Ann’s Square to St Ann Street)
King Street (Cross Street to Deansgate) – no access for deliveries.
All accessible bays, bus lanes, and taxi ranks within the closed areas will also be suspended during from 6pm on Friday 26 July to 11:59pm on Saturday 27 July.
The parking suspensions set to be in place are:
Deansgate (Manchester Cathedral to John Dalton Street)
St Ann Street – including the bays outside St Ann’s Church (Deansgate to Cross Street)
St Mary’s Gate (Exchange Street to Deansgate)
St Mary’s Street (Southbridge Street to Deansgate)
Southgate (St Mary’s Street to King Street West)
Market Street (Exchange Street to Cross Street)
Fennel Street (Corporation Street to Cathedral Street) – access will be maintained for morning deliveries only.
Cathedral Street (Fennel Street to Exchange Square) – access will be maintained for morning deliveries only.
Cateaton Street (Exchange Square to Deansgate)
Victoria Street (Cathedral Approach to Deansgate)
Todd Street (Corporation Street to Station Approach)
King Street (Spring Gardens to Southgate)
South King Street (Ridgefield to Deansgate)
Barton Square (St Ann’s Square to St Ann Street)
King Street West (Deansgate to St Mary’s Parsonage)
St James’s Square (John Dalton Street to South King Street)
Cross Street (King Street to Corporation Street)
Museum Street (Peter Street to Windmill Street)
Marsden Street (Cheapside to Brown Street)
Manchester Day 2024: Let The Games Begin! will take over the city centre on Saturday 27 July from 12pm-6pm.
Check out everything you need to know ahead of the event here.
‘Complex’ Metrolink repairs to the Rochdale via Oldham line could take weeks to complete
Emily Sergeant
Work currently underway on the Rochdale via Oldham line is expected to take several weeks to complete.
Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has confirmed that land movement affecting the Metrolink network near Derker has now “slowed”, and this means that detailed ground investigations and temporary repair works have been able to get underway.
In order for trams to run again on the crucial line from the city centre to the two major Greater Manchester towns, TfGM says that a small section of track has to be moved back – also known as ‘slewed’ – into its original position.
The overhead line poles also need to be repaired too, the transport operator revealed.
Rochdale line update
Land movement affecting the Metrolink network near Derker has slowed, enabling detailed ground investigations and temporary repair works to get underway.
To get trams running again, a small section of track has to be moved back into its original position… pic.twitter.com/byERjitdi1
Unfortunately though, due to the “complex” nature of these works, and despite the fact that TfGM says it’s actively looking to “accelerate” the repairs, the project is expected to take up to five weeks to complete in full.
On top of this, the detailed ground investigations will also establish whether any further work to strengthen foundations beneath the track will be needed at a later date.
TfGM has apologised for the inconvenience caused to passengers.
‘Complex’ Metrolink repairs to the Rochdale via Oldham line could take weeks to complete / Credit: TfGM
Speaking on the scale of works currently underway, and how long he expects them to continue for, Pete Sommers, who is TfGM’s Network Director for Metrolink, said: “I’m sorry for the impact this is having, and will continue to have, on people’s journeys.
“We are working to get trams running through the area again, but this remains a complex and challenging issue and it could still be a few weeks before this happens.
“We will of course keep passengers updated, and I’d encourage people to check our social media channels and website for the latest information and advice.”