Agent: Mark Doggett
Web: Soundcloud
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Availability: Asia

The Haçienda was the product of Manchester - its people, its mood and its time. From an initial idea by Rob Gretton (manager of Joy Division), and the TV broadcaster and music entrepreneur Anthony Wilson, the nightclub was set up as a then "alternative" platform and venue for new bands, many of whom had found difficulty in performing due to a broad antipathy to their music, largely on account of its subversive qualities.

Bands like New Order and Joy Division got their first breaks at the club after it opened in 1982. It differed enormously from other more conventional discos. It was part of the Factory Communications organisation (FAC51) and included Salford born Anthony Wilson (chairman, promoter, shareholder of Haçienda, and Granada Television presenter), Howard Jones (part-founder and manager of the club), Rob Gretton (Director and shareholder of the Haçienda) and others involved in local music. It reflected local new trends in music and dancing - acid house, indie, punkish, wild and weird, encompassing gay and lesbian nights, it soon developed a devoted northern club culture following. It was at this time that he term 'Madchester' was coined to describe the new wave of Manchester music that was to dominate UK charts for the best part of a decade, and which had been largely promoted by the Hacienda club.