THE OWNER of Manchester's long-standing Roadhouse music venue on Newton Street has today, with a 'heavy heart', announced the club's imminent closure.
“The Roadhouse has championed thousands of local musicians who dreamed of rock and roll stardom"
The Roadhouse - which has hosted the likes of Kasabian, Coldplay, Elbow, The White Stripes and Stereophonics - will host its final gig on Sunday 31 May.
Lead-singer of Elbow, Guy Garvey, once described the 200-capacity venue as the band's 'spiritual home', with nearly every member of the band having worked behind the Roadhouse bar at some point in their lives.
The bar was first opened as a Blues den in 1993 by John Macbeath, with The Roadhouse following in the footsteps of streams of Manchester’s dive bars of the 1960s-80s; attracting a wave of new musicians and arty-types, laying the foundations for what would become the city's creative and bohemian district, the Northern Quarter.
Kate Mountain, Roadhouse owner for sixteen years alongside Steve Lloyd said:
“The Roadhouse has championed thousands of local musicians who dreamed of rock and roll stardom, it was a commitment we have always taken seriously, offering a stage and an opportunity to local bands from the first week we opened the doors and will do so until the very last.”
Emerging Manchester promoters So Flute have made The Roadhouse their home in recent yearsMountain and her team are programming a series of send off gigs and club nights throughout May before the official closure on Monday 1 June.
When quizzed about the reason behind the club's closure, Mountain replied only with this: 'a new venture'.
It remains unclear whether Mountain has sold the venue or intends to transform the venue into something different. Looks like we'll have to wait and see...
