Business News Live Business

Manchester’s The Roadhouse to close

By | Published on Monday 23 March 2015

Roadhouse

It was confirmed last week that Manchester gig venue The Roadhouse will close later this year, with the last show due to take place on 31 May. A series of “memorable send-off gigs and club nights” are now planned between now and then.

Announcing that the end was now nigh for her venue, owner Kate Mountain, who first took over the space in 1999, told reporters: “The Roadhouse has championed thousands of local musicians who dreamed of rock n 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”.

Meanwhile Guy Garvey off of Elbow, who worked at the club before playing some of his earliest gigs there, told the Manchester Evening News: “Kate’s been trying to make it work for so long, and closing it is not a decision she arrived at in any way lightly. She was loathe to shut it for so long because of the sense of duty she felt to young bands”.

He went on: “I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn when I say she was really concerned for her staff. For everyone who worked there, it became the hub of their universe. When we got our record deal, we all left in the same weekend leaving her with no staff. And when we lost our record deal, she took us all back”.

Noting the role the venue has had in the Manchester music scene while under Mountain’s leadership, Garvey added: “She has been one of the caretakers of music in Manchester for so long. If there isn’t a bronze statue of Katy Mountain somewhere in the city soon, I’ll sculpt one myself”.



READ MORE ABOUT: