PLEASE READ THE FOLLOW-UP ARTICLE TO THIS HERE.
IT’S NOT common knowledge that the popular music venue Night and Day is a family run business.
Managed by father and daughter duo Jan and Jennifer Oldenburg, Night and Day have helped to launch Mancunian acts like Elbow on to worldwide success and were one of the very first bars to set up stall in the Northern Quarter nearly a quarter of a century ago.
Now the threat of closure could put an end to the 23-year-old venue.
“We’ve been here 23 years and I would really like to make it to 25."
A complaint made by a resident living on Oldham Street has seen the bar handed a statutory nuisance abatement notice, which could see an untimely end to this long-standing bastion of Manchester music.
Many famous music acts have graced the Night and Day stage
“We only got the notice yesterday,” explains Jennifer. “We face a £20,000 fine or six months imprisonment if we breach the noise levels. We don’t even know what the level is as it’s not been measured with a decibel reader.
“The complaint was made last Saturday which wasn’t even a particularly loud night for us. It’s really worrying for us as we’ve been here 23 years; long before the flats were even built.”
With 21 days to launch an appeal, the duo began an online petition on the night of Wednesday 15 January. In less than 24 hours they'd amassed a staggering 38,083 signatures (roughly equating to 1800 signatures an hour).
“It’s really emotional for us to see how much people care about Night and Day,” says Jan. “Even after the first 100 signatures I was getting emotional.”
A bar that nearly every music goer who has grown up in Manchester can remember visiting, losing such a venue would be a huge blow to the city’s music scene. “We’re a platform for lots of up and coming bands,“ says Jennifer. “It would be a massive shame for the city to lose our venue."
The online support has been flowing in thick and fast for Night and Day, "We’ve had massive support from musicians such as Johnny Marr, Frank Turner, Tim Burgess and lots of local bands too," says Jan. "There’s been so many tweets coming in that it’s hard to keep a track of everyone expressing their support for us.”
Twitter support from Johnny Marr
The pair are adamant that they don't want to enter into a war with the resident who issued the complaint, but just want the council to recognise the importance of Night and Day as a music venue, "This is a street full of bars and people going out. People come to this city for the entertainment. Our concerts are always over by 12 o'clock," says Jan.
“We’ve been here 23 years and I would really like to make it to 25. Venues all over the country are struggling with this same issue so hopefully if we can stay open then it will help them out as well.”
Night and Day Cafe are currently appealing the notice. With so much public support, Confidential would be hugely surprised to see this closure carried through. The number currently stands at 40,000, it could easily reach 100,000. That's a lot of NOs.
Find Night and Day Cafe on Twitter: @nightanddaycafe
And to sign the petition to get Manchester City Council to remove the Statutory Nuisance Abatement Notice: www.change.org/nightandday
Night And Day bar
To close?
