NEW Manchester club at former Factory offices: FAC251

FAC251, the former offices of iconic label Factory Records, is reopening as a club later this month.

The three-room venue dubbed Paradise Factory (geddit?) will operate for just six months under the watch of the team behind the Warehouse Project. The opening weekend happens over three consecutive nights starting January 24.

Former Hacienda residents Laurent Garnier and Mike Pickering lend a double helping of nostalgia to the Thursday kick-off while on Friday, it's an all out bass war as dubsteppers Skream and Kode 9 join drum'n'bass heavyweights High Contrast and Logistics. The final curtain-raiser on Saturdays sees Swedish mafioso Steve Angello square off against 2020 Vision's Paul Woolford.

Random Factory fact: Did you know the final Factory catalogue number, FAC501, was given to Tony Wilson's coffin?

112 – 116 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 7EN

Thursday, 24 January 2008
10pm – 4am Line-up / Laurent Garnier Mike Pickering Krysko Danny Mac

Friday, 25 January 2008
Line-up / Skream Kode 9 High Contrast Logistics Rich Reason Prophecy Tonn Piper Bass Camp DJs

Saturday, 26 January 2008 Line-up / Steve Angello Paul Woolford Krysko Greg Lord Andro

http://www.residentadvisor.net/news.aspx?id=9020

I used to go here when my friend guest DJ'd. I never knew it was the Factory offices! Duh

fuck all them no-names.

what's the damage? £££££??

Vinnie - Wilson's coffin was Fac 500, the Xmas XFM special broadcast was Fac 501. Hopefully the numbers will stop now, it should have at 500 considering...

Ummm, in the Movie Control, The scene showing Tony Wilson talking to Ian Curtis in the empty Derby Hall in Bury after the April 1980 riot features a large equipment case on which the number "501" prominently appears. When Tony Wilson was buried in August, 2007, his coffin was marked with the number 501, the last number in the Factory Records catalog.

Andrew Sayer wrote: Vinnie - Wilson's coffin was Fac 500, the Xmas XFM special broadcast was Fac 501. Hopefully the numbers will stop now, it should have at 500 considering...

Err..I didn't write it..I just copied and pasted from the link..

the club's official site is here with more info

http://www.112-116princessstreet.co.uk/

The Paradise Factory opened years ago - me and my mate went in soon after it opened and had a 'hilarious' time slowly realising that it was a gay club. We were all innocent and from the suburbs - noting that there was no women in there and wondering why the place was so dark, then finding a room full of women on the top floor and being annoyed 'cos they wouldn't let us in, then getting chatted up a bit.

Ahh the innocence of yoof!

I used to go in there quite a lot - it was always gay friendly rather than completely gay - had some good laughs in there with my norty friends back when I could keep up with them.

That Warehouse Project is meant to be great. I've not been myself, but heard good things about it from friends who have.

Does this mean it aint for botters any more?

copied from the offical site:

1989 Factory Records HQ In 1998 Factory Records purchased a disused textile Warehouse in Manchester City Centre which would become its new headquarters. Ben Kelly was commissioned to re-work the building, and this became his third and final project for Factory.

As with preceding projects, Kelly took the empty shell, and re-worked the interior space. Though this wasn't at the time a public space like The Haçienda or Dry, the Princess Street HQ was nevertheless a grand statement for the label as Factory increasingly positioned themselves as a corporate identity.

The entrance to the building was through a large steel gates featuring a perforated plaque of the Factory logo. Ultimately, the sheer expense that the label went to in the overhaul of what was to be the final home of Factory in Manchester, is cited as one of the major contributing reasons as to why the label eventually collapsed.

1993 Paradise Factory is Born Whilst the Hacienda was getting world recognition and flying the flag for Manchester, let alone Britain...two visionaries were itching to expand their statement. Peter Dalton and Carol Ainscow had taken Manchester's dark and gloomy gay village by the horns. What was once seen as a seedy area of Manchester, became one of the trendiest places to be seen, with the birth of their bar, Manto, now recognised as the bar which changed the future of the gay scene in Manchester, guiding it into the 21st Century.

When Factory closed, the iconic building, 112-116 Princess Street, was bought by Peter and Carol, transforming it into the most popular gay club in the country. Although during the weekend, the venue became reknowned for its strict gay policy, the Thursdays spawned nights, such as Justin Robertson's 'Sleuth' that would re-mould the club scene in Manchester.

It was 2004, when Paradise shut its doors.

2008 A new incarnation of the club is announced It is to be operated only for the first six months of each year. Laurent Garnier & Mike Pickering play the opening party on January 24th. Many more national & international artists will follow them. We will update this section in a few months time.

For now its up to you to make sure its a good read...

So they BOUGHT the building? Business must have been good over at Manto (it was).

Business was always good at the Paradise Factory, but I can't imagine it made too much money - not really the sort of club where you struggled to get served at the bar ifyerknoworramean...

Thats next door to me!

I wondered what they were doing with it.

Liam Lives Next to a...