The Haçienda (How not to run a club) by Peter Hook

The Haçienda (How not to run a club) is Peter Hook's wildly entertaining memoirs of being part owner of The Haçienda - Manchester's famous club. Hook's story weaves through the history of the club through the purchase and design of the club (mainly subsidized by sales of Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures), it's opening in 1982 through to it's eventual closure in 1997.

The fact that The Haçienda made it through 15 years is amazing as the club seemed continuously on the point of closure - either through financial difficulties in it's poorly attended early years or the drugs, gangs and violence that came with the acid house movement and 'Madchester'...

Hooky is full of great tales, most of which involved the drugs (of which there were plenty) and the violent Manchester gangs which made running the club on a normal basis impossible - indeed one of the gangs ended up running the door!