The Venue

Good guarantee if you went ten years ago, the same mixed cd is still in the djs player.
God awful bar staff, dirty corridors and memories made that you will only want to drink away (Shame you can’t get to the bar then).

Slightly off the normal track in Manchester but a number of nights here are very very good. The most popular has to be the Indie nights available here. However 60s/​70s nights and chart-​anthem nights are also very good here. Definitely worth a look into if not fancying the usual Factory/​5^th Avenue night out.

Hey! It’s time to play my If Wet game again. Or the old Empire magazine game that I’ve stolen and applied to Manchester’s social spaces.
When it comes to indie clubs in Manchester you have the big three, a triad of studenty venues (Venues. The Venue. Fnar) that are bound to play the Stone Roses at some point during the night — 5^th Avenue, 42^nd Street and The Venue. Aww, man, why couldn’t they have continued the road name theme? That’d make the 5^th Ave if wet 42s if wet Venue game far easier.
Anyway it’s better that I stop talking about 5^th Ave and 42s now as I plan to review them at some point. I have friends that always whinge about going to the Venue, I also have friends that prefer it because 5^th Ave has ‘sold out’ and 42s… you know the rest. The bottom line is that while people consider it ‘poky’ and ‘dive’-like, I like it. It’s just fine in my book. And I simply can’t resist a place with damask wallpaper and a ‘Retro’ night that gives us the likes of James Brown, the Small Faces and Blondie. That’s Wednesdays, by the way, the same night that 42s is shut — what a clever little move considering they’re owned by the same people…
Fridays are ‘Twist and Shout’ nights, sticking with music from the 60s and 70s, and I find that rather like the Northern, it’s great for getting your groove on with a good dance partner. Saturdays focus on dance music with an indie twist, guaranteed to have you bopping away until the wee small hours. Cheap drinks and good tunes on all nights is something not to be sniffed at. It’s also very student friendly with discounts for NUS card holders. It may sit in the indie triangle very well, however The Venue can stand up perfectly well without the help of its big brothers as far as I’m concerned.

If Fifth Ave is the petulant teenager that plays its music too loud and comes home at all hours of the night covered in sick (other people’s mainly) then Venue is the waster sibling in their early twenties whose paycheck from Blockbuster barely covers own-​brand rum and the rent on a rotting bedsit. Exactly the sort of person you wouldn’t associate with, except that you do because they’re so much fun.
Cheap doubles, hastily nailed together chipboard furnishings and a soundtrack of indie disco classics (Lovecats, Once in a Lifetime) and bouncy soul (Want You Back, Superstition) all make up the order of service here. The clientele are refreshingly unpretentious and a little older (not still doing exams with pictures on the papers anyway).
Nothing earthshattering but you can have a decent night out for under £30, with some change left for something fried in a polystyrene tray and the night bus home. Winner.

I can remember when The Venue opened a while back. The new 42s it was, so now these Indie students have two options within a half a mile radius. Joys.
The Venue is a fun night out on both a Friday and a Saturday night, even if it can often be full of blunt fringed girls and chequered shirt and skinny jean wearing guys. Cheap entry, cheap drinks and a bad hangover to match.
The Venue is a magnet for students. i prefer the Twist and Shout, a 90s night on the Friday, and Mish Mash on a Saturday with the Indie. It is a little step up from 42^nd Street these days but the same crowds frequent both places I imagine.
If dirt, sweat, cheap drinks and boozey dance moves are your thing, this is the Venue.

Part of me wants to give this place another star for simply having the balls to clone another club and just change the name. 42s in all but moniker, The Venue is the audaciously-​named new indie club in the city. Unfortunately it doesn’t quite make the bar, instead catching its trailing leg and crumpling into an undignified heap of indie kids and scenesters.
I can’t help but feel Manchester’s social scene is sliding somewhat when the height of originality is changing a name. Years ago new places would regularly open that were fresh and exciting, but now they’re the minority, struggling to stay afloat in a sea of shit. The only reason you should choose to go here is if 42s is full, and even then going home would probably be a better option.

Owned by the people who run 42s, The Venue is another so-​so indie, er, venue, where you can get a cheap-​o drink and have a boogie.
It’s better than 42s in that it has a smaller, cooler feel, and little booths out back where I did NOT, I repeat, NOT spend a whole night making out with Much Maligned Ex, only to be asked to ‘tone it down’ by a glass-​collector. The cheek! I had all my clothing present and correct. Honest, guv.
Anyway. The Venue is OK. I wouldn’t go back, because I’m more discerning nowadays, but its mix of indie and motown and 80s classics did a-​please me a good few times, and let’s be honest, in terms of indie clubs, you could do a whole hell of a lot worse…

Just like The Bar in Chorlton and The Pub off Oxford Road, The Venue seems to quite fancy itself. However, it is yet another establishment which doesn’t really live up to its name.
In fact, I think that on any given night a vast majority of the Venue’s clientele probably got fed up of the long queue at 42s so decided to pop to its sister venue around the corner, which has the same drinks offers and the same music.
I’ve never had a particularly good night here. That isn’t just because I seem to have ended up here on Fridays when it’s ‘Twist and Shout’ night. It’s the venue itself I have the problem with. There’s really nowhere to stand, so you’re either dancing or squashed. Or both. Towards the beginning of the night it’s possible to stand at the bar but soon the huge mob of people queuing for drinks merges with the people on the dancefloor making it impossible to dance and impossible for people to get to the toilets or the cloakroom. Talk about a poor layout. The atmosphere doesn’t seem as good as 42s and Propaganda.
I think I’ll stick with 42s — sometimes queues are worth it.

The Venue is kinda of like the 42s overspill club.
It’s just a couple of streets away on Jackson’s Row so it’s not too far to walk and it’s ownded by the same people so it’s the same prices, same music and pretty much the exact same place, just a few streets away.
It makes sense really because 42s is always busy so why not open another one?!
Plus it livens things up a bit for Manchester’s indie kids, they now have Venue as well as 42s and 5^th Ave to go to!
Wednesday nights are actually a really good night in Venue, it’s retro night and they put games out like giant Jenga and giant Connect 4.
And the music is retro too which can be quite amusing when you see the oh-​so-​cool indie kids having an internal battle with themselves when 5ive start playing and they want to dance but can’t risk their reputation. Fun times.

The Venue is an underground club, on Jacksons Row near Deansgate. It’s open three nights a week Wednesday kicks 0ff with Retro, classics from the 50’s, 60’s 70’s and 80’s and a dollop of indie thrown in starring Chris James on the decks. Friday is Twist and Shout, with classic Pop, Funk and Soul from the 60’s and 70’s. Saturday is Mish Mash with all the new and some classic, indie, electro, dance, big beat, rock, punk, funk.
The club has some cool areas, a retro living room in front of the cloakroom and a hole in the wall circular upholstered seat in the larger area past the dancefloor. Quality night out.

You know those little Russian dolls? Well…
If 42^nd St is just a mini carbon copy of 5^th Ave then the Venue is a eeny meenie photocopied version of 42’s– and I’m willing to bet that my next student club review continues on the same trajectory.
Man, students in Manchester must wake up to Sonny and Cher every morning feeling just like Bill Murray* (*how awesome is Bill Murray?!)
Oooookaayy here we go, the Venue plays indie classics, serves cheap booze, smells like hormones and doesn’t give two hoots about being itself or standing on its own two little feet.
Sound good? Then go, next…

The Venue, a relatively new little club, is pretty similar all round to that other indie club just off Deansgate– 42^nd Street. They are about the same size inside, drinks are just as cheap and when you are in the middle of twenty to thirty people you might not remember which club you are actually in.
It has got pretty jam packed and sweaty on a Venue weekend but if you like your music and you’re not too bothered about your surroundings, then this is a good call. That said, it does amazingly have sofas around past the bar which should pip it past the post of 42s but it does feel the wrong side of ramshackle. Plus I have memories of waiting a lo-​ong time at this bar (just the one here).
The crowd is young, sixth form students, uni students and people who wish they didn’t have a job to go to on the weekday. So, there’ll be a fair few on the pavement across the road putting the world to rights.

great place to hear cool 60’s and indie music. A little more on the edge than other indie club but all the better for it. put out games during the week and has table football.

Utter tosh. Some tosser decided he wanted to try and kill me in there for literally no reason. Bad atmospher and full of idiots. Avoid at all costs, unless you want a fight.

Inexplicably popular indie club just off Albert Square.
The Venue is probably great if you’re already off your face when you get there, they do cheap beer and spirits and it’s very popular with students.
However, the vodka is of the variety that leaves an unpleasant burning sensation in the back of the mouth, they also have an overactive smoke machine that produces a fog so thick it’s like the smoking ban never happened — if you have asthma or any other respiratory issues I’d avoid here.
Like its one-​time sister club 5^th Avenue, they also have some pretty rude and unpleasant bouncers, both on the door and inside the club (including two (male) stationed outside the ladies toilets), looking for any excuse to throw people out.
Students love this place, but if you’re over 21, I’d stay well away, there’s far better nights out in Manchester

After re-​opening 22^nd december 2006 after its closer it has definitely made a comeback, ith cheap drink prices, humerous door staff who know how to do their jobs, and amazing bar staff, this place is wonderful.
As for the music… well there is no where I like to go better than this place to BOOGIE, with different music ranging form the 70s, beatles, new age indie, mo town etc.
Open on wednesdays and the weekend, ebing a sister club to 42^nd street, around the corner and being in great rival with 5^th avenue, princess street.
This by far is a wonderful fun crazy night out where anyone can enojoy the atmosphere.
I have never had to queue longer than a minute at the bar for a drink, everything is very efficient.
Although the toilets could do with more loo roll and maybe being a bit bigger.
Heres hoping it wil stay open again for another 10 years

Those familiar with Manchester’s local haunt 42^nd Street will see many similarities with its sister venue, er, The Venue.
Unlike 42’s where you go upstairs to the club, The Venue is underground, wherein lies the big problem of lack of phone signal, which is pretty annoying.
Saturday at The Venue sees the Indiependance club night-​a classic mix of, you guessed it, indie and dance music that Manchester has made its own.
Friday hosts a night full of retro music guaranteed to get the crowds up on the dancefloor, even if it is to shout out the words to songs made famous by Dirty Dancing.
Other nights see more of the same successful lineups so familiar to Manchester’s indie clubs, but one can also stumble across aftershows for bands such as Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party and Babyshambles.
One of my personal favourite aspects of The Venue, however, is not its great music, friendly bar staff, or shiny happy atmosphere but in fact the seating area to one side of the club: a kind of alcove/​sofa with sides so soft they feel like «unicorn skin». Whether a drunken exaggeration or not, when you’re next at The Venue, give these seats a rub, get the vodka redbull in, and then get your groove on on the dancefloor before it gets too crowded. Enjoy!