Factory opening...

In 2008 when visiting Manchester we checked out the old Factory Records offices on the corner of Princes Street and Charles Street. Most of the early Factory work was done from a house on leafy Palatine Road in the suburbs, but in the middle of the 'Madchester' period Factory setup up offices in central Manchester near the BBC building on Charles Street.

Indeed, timing is everything. When we built the Hacienda, it was too soon, when we built the Factory offices it was too late. It did, however, have a zinc roof, which was very cool, although you could only see it from a helicopter. (Anthony H. Wilson)

It also had a hanging table in the board room that cost 30,000 quid... Sean Ryder broke it!

When we saw the building in 2008 it was empty and somewhat neglected - trash and junk mail filling up the area inside the entry gate...

However, in typical Factory style the story doesn't end there. On Friday February 5th 2010, the building re-opens as Factory Manchester - a live music venue brought to you by (amongst others) Peter Hook and Ben Kelly, the architect behind the original design of the offices and The Hacienda... Hooky has put together a band for the occasion which includes Mani from The Stone Roses and Rowetta from the Mondays. They will be playing songs from Hooky's career, so expect a lot of Joy Divsion and New Order and not so much Revenge... Lets hope the club does well and Hooky won't need to write a sequel to 'How not to run a club'...

Toyko Industries have put together an excellent website here - check out the Blog page which features some excellent video diaries...