CityLife

Sankeys has 15 reasons to celebrate this summer

Sankeys revellers contemplate attending all 15 parties...

“THERE are very few clubs that have managed to keep going as long as Sankeys has,” says one reveller in the queue for the Radium Street venue. “Even in London and Liverpool, you won’t find many that match up to its reputation.”

Indeed, if you discount the two-year break taken by the club in the run up to the millennium, Sankeys has now be running for 15 years, giving it veteran status on the city’s scene and further afield (it was recently voted fifth best club in the world in a DJ magazine readers’ poll).

Sankeys Soap

The club opened in 1994 at the 200-year old Beehive Mill in Ancoats, turning up to a party at which the Hacienda occupied the top table. Sankeys Soap, as it was then known, burst into town like a punky young contender to its more established cousin’s crown, lean and mean in the places where the older club was already carrying a few extra pounds.

The Sankeys Soap name was a reference to its home’s past as a soap factory, but would take on a new level of meaning given the behind-the-scenes politics and dancefloor dramas that would go on to engulf the club, any of which would give the comedies or tragedies of Weatherfield a run for their money.

Four years into its initial stint, Sankeys closed due to blights in the form of drug and gang problems, to the same audible sighs of relief from Greater Manchester Police headquarters that met the closure of the Hacienda a year earlier.

High esteem

In 2000, the club rose again, and in the years since has managed to build up the high esteem in which it is held today via a combination of policies including the booking of big-name guests, nurturing of local talent such as Naive Melody and a stringent crackdown on the types of people allowed in to the club, which famously saw one group of friends being reacquainted with the pavement for not being ‘funky enough’.

A refit in 2006 allowed Sankeys to cement their place as a brand while also smartening up some of the more rough ‘n’ ready aspects of the Beehive Mill venue.

Now, to celebrate the milestone of reaching a decade and a half in the business, further improvements – 15 of them in fact – are planned at the club.

Spectacular lighting displays

These are set to include barcode entry systems like those found at Pure, ice cannons in the main room, a new sound set-up and spectacular lighting displays, the latter of which are already generating huge excitement at the club.

“The LED lights they’re putting in are looking amazing,” said a Sankeys spokesperson. “Especially the equalizers going up the poles and the ceiling lights. It should be a mind blowing spectacle.”

Equally spectacular could be the 15 weeks of parties the club have got lined up to celebrate their birthday, which kick off on 19 June with a set from Simian Mobile Disco.

Tweaks to the line-ups are currently being made, with a finalised programme set to be in place by the end of the weekend, but CityLife is already looking forward to nights featuring Roger Sanchez (3 July), Martinez Brothers (8 August) and Mr Euphoria himself, Pete Tong (19 September).

The Sankeys 15th anniversary parties continue until September 26. For more information on line-ups and ticket information, check out sankeys.info.