From the Industrial Revolution to the Rave Revolution: A History of Sankeys

Jo Waddington delves into the history books to uncover the highs, lows, unforgettable memories and future plans of the world's number one club. 

Once upon a time in the 1820’s, hidden away on a street in Manchester’s Ancoats, Beehive Mill was erected. Beehive Mill was a hub of industrial activity in its heyday. Housing a cotton mill, iron works, coal yard and a soap factory it continued to provide a valuable service to the city. 

As time went by and economy boomed Beehive Mill stood the test of time, and in 1994 one particular area of the mill, Sankeys Soap, made the transformation from Industrial Revolution to the Rave Revolution.

A new club is born

Andy Spiro and Rupert Campbell were responsible for transforming the basement of the soap factory into a nightclub. Sticking with the name Sankeys Soap, the club opened when dance music was in its prime, however almost suffered bankruptcy within the first 6 month. Luckily things started to take shape when Bugged Out! was born in the November of that year. During its first few years, Bugged Out! welcomed the likes of Daft Punk, The Chemical Brothers, Moby, Jurassic 5 and Bjork, which helped put Sankeys Soap on the map as one of Manchester’s main dance venues. 

One particularly unforgettable highlight of these early days was when Carl Cox took up a residency for a whole weekend, resulting in a mass sell out.

Keeping Sankeys Soap's head above water eventually began to prove a difficult task. The rave scene seemed to be fading, customers were lacking and problems with drugs resulted in a negative relationship with the authorities. Regrettably Sankeys Soap was forced to close in 1998.

Highs and lows

A couple of failed attempts later, and a new millennium brought a new beginning for Sankeys Soap with business partners David Vincent and Sacha Lord-Marchionne. Reviving the club would be no easy feat, what with the stigma attached with the public and authorities, but re-opening with the slogan ‘Don’t worry we found the keys’ they managed to make Sankeys Soap even more successful that before. Big name DJs from far and wide came to play at the club and several awards were won, including Mixmag's 'Best Small Club', and 'Event of the Year 2003' for the massive warehouse party which housed over 11,000 people. The same event was also labelled 'Second Best Dance Event of All Time'. The club's 10th Anniversary was marked in 2004 with 10 weeks worth of parties and the release of a compilation. Sankeys Soap was on a winning streak.

However, with great highs come great lows. David Vincent left Sankeys Soap in 2005 and a year later the customers began to lag again. In 2006 there is a turn in events… David comes back and takes full control of Sankeys Soap then announces again in May that Sankeys Soap will close once and for all.

A new beginning

In the coming months Sacha embarks on new ventures (making music history with the infamous Warehouse Project) and David works hard within the walls of Beehive Mill. Enlisting the help of original owner and founder Andy Spiro, David opens the newly refurbished club in September. Under a new name, with a new look, a brand new stunning LED lighting system and the tagline ‘A New Beginning’ – 'Sankeys' is born.

Over the course of his career, David has curated huge events in big arenas of Manchester and London as well as promoting events for Hacienda, Ministry of Sound and Ibiza super-club Pacha. Running Sankeys at its most successful the first time and then coming back with fresh new ideas the second time confirmed the fact that this club and industry is his passion. He explains once the club re-opens he wants the newly resurrected Sankeys to be the best club in the Universe and ‘failure is not an option’. An ideology he seems to live by. Keeping a finger on the pulse, Sankeys opens up different areas of the club and new nights are introduced.

2008 sees Sankeys at number 17 in the DJ Mag Top Club poll and a year later the club celebrates its 15th Anniversary. This period of time really cements Sankeys' place as one of the world's greatest clubs. 15 weeks of parties and even more changes create a huge buzz, and 50 tonnes of sand is shipped from the Bahamas sand to create a beach within the vicinity of the club! DJ Mag award Sankeys the award for 'Number 1 Club in the World' in 2010 – a huge milestone.

Sankeys is renowned for being one of the most technologically advanced clubbing experiences in the world. With a high calibre of DJs/acts booked over the coming months it seems the only way is up for the UK’s premier dance club. 

Moving forward and following last year’s success, David Vincent announced plans to create 'Seven Sankeys of the World'. These will be the seven cities that inspired the original Sankeys concept back in 2006. The first was Sankeys Ibiza that opened in May this year in Playa d’en Bossa, and later this year will see the third Sankeys open in New York. 

This is an exciting time and an incredible achievement for Sankeys. Anyone want to take a guess as to where the other four may be? We’ll make sure to keep you posted, as it seems ‘failure [will never be] an option’.

Words: Jo Waddington

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