Tonight would have seen Fac 51 The Hacienda celebrate its Twenty-Second Birthday.

Of course, the Haç is no more, demolished to make way for luxury apartments. A lot has been said about the way in which the new apartments have been sold. The advertising, at least in the initial stages, has leant very heavily on the hazard stripe motif used for the club by designer Ben Kelly, who is not best impressed. Since the block was completed, the developer, Crosby Homes, has toned it down somewhat.

For better or for worse, in an attempt to acknowledge the history of the site, the back wall of the Hacienda apartments, running alongside the Rochdale Canal, has a timeline carved out of the metal panels running along at towpath level. However, it's woefully inaccurate and even gets the year in which the Haç was demolished incorrect. Because you're all just gonna wonder what the highlights included are, here it is, inaccuracies 'n' all...

the hacienda opens may 21 1982 bernard manning
1982 - new order, boy george, simple minds
1982 - grandmaster flash, thompson twins, tears for fears
1983 - the smiths
1984 - the tube, madonna, dj mike pickering nude night
1985 - einsturzende neubauten banned after attacking cast iron columns with a pneumatic drill, the stone roses, the pogues, the associates
1986 - erasure, bad, the jesus and mary chain, dj dave haslam temperance club nights
1987 - five figure loss, zumbar
1988 - dj graeme park and mike pickering friday nude night
1989 - madchester rules, clare leighton
1990 - greater manchester police, george carman qc
1991 - the hacienda closes and reopens
1992 - take that, factory records collapses
1993 - new order republic london records, ten years old, ten years in front, dj boys own, dj andy weatherall
1995 - ben kelly
1996 - flesh ends
1997 - the 15th birthday party dj mike pickering, dj graeme park, sasha, laurent garnier the hacienda closes saturday 28 june 1997
1998 - the hacienda demolished
.........................2003
"Now that's finished. You won't see the hacienda. It doesn't exist. The hacienda must be built." Ivan Chtcheglov 1953

Huge thanks to Moist!

Labels: Ben_Kelly, Dave_Haslam, FAC51_The_Hacienda, Factory_Records, New_Order

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