The Haçienda Page 27

  In August New Order played what would turn out to be the band’s last show for some time when they headlined the final day of the year’s Reading festival.

  In September an accountant’s letter was sent to the members of New Order, who, as Gainwest, had put up financial guarantees for the future of the Haçienda and Dry.The message was bleak:

  the current situation of Haçienda and Dry Bar is now somewhat desperate in that, although the business have broken even over the summer months, they have not generated the profit (estimated at £15,000–£20,000 per month) that had been expected, largely due to a significant deterioration in the attendance at the Haçienda on Friday nights. Therefore whilst current trading is generating a small amount of cash and an upturn is expected as students return to Manchester in September and October, it is insufficient to meet current commitments to pay old debts ...

  ... If the companies are unsuccessful in raising further funds, the only option that may be left to FAC 51 and FACT 201 is to put them into liquidation or receivership.

  The letter went on to say that this might mean the forced sale of the Whitworth Street building at well below its market value, plus New Order’s guarantees – several as Gainwest, the parent limited company, and several personal – all being called in.

  Gainwest Ltd and New Order personally were staring at a potential bill for hundreds of thousands of pounds.

  Just days after this letter was sent the Haçienda’s management team were once again gathered at the Round House, where plans were being made to shore up the creaky Friday night apparently responsible for the club’s woes.

  Out were resident DJs Buckley and Russ and in came Tim Lennox and Allister Whitehead. An optimistic Rob Gretton asked whether Tim Lennox would attract the gay crowd. Unfortunately not, offered Paul Mason in response. The team kicked around other ideas for more nights and money-raising opportunities. Bhangra Nights were discussed and then rejected – again thanks to their reputation for attracting violence between rival religious factions. Soul nights and Saturday matinees were discussed and viewed as possibilities to be investigated for another time, though there’s no evidence that they ever were. More pressingly, a meeting with Whitbread had been arranged,the idea being to invite the brewery to contribute.

  Before anything could take place, however, it was agreed that the deal with London Records should be completed, at which point, presumably, faces turned towards Tony Wilson. All outstanding points on the deal had now been agreed verbally,he replied,and it was ‘just a question of the necessary paperwork being drawn up’. At which, notes the minutes, there were ‘wry smiles all round’.

  We couldn’t file for bankruptcy because we were still afraid that the creditors would come after our personal guarantees as shareholders of the Haçienda.

  We tried to sell the club many, many times. But nobody would ever buy it because when they looked at the accounts there were too many irregularities. For instance, director’s loan accounts, huge investments that could never be repaid,and extraordinary items such as the security costs, which alone totalled £365,000 in one year, ten times higher than those of any other club in England.

  Richard Branson of Virgin came to look at the Haçienda, as a possible addition to his club empire.He seemed very interested in buying it, and nearly reached the point of taking it over, but then realized there was no way to make a profit because the security costs were so high. Whenever prospective buyers looked into it, the truth about the gangsters would come out; and when they discovered how deep-seated the violence was – and the extent of it – they scurried off. They realized they couldn’t keep the customers safe. They’d take a look at the accounts and think that the figure for our security costs was a mistake, a misprint. But once they’d walked around the club for a couple of nights, they knew better. Any sensible businessman would say, ‘This is fucking madness.’ It was madness. We’d just got used to it.

  I would have thought that an investor with a big enough ego would decide,‘This club’s rocking.I’m going to sort it out.’But most admitted that they could not. The guy who started Direct Line was very interested at one point, then got away as fast as his car could take him. Beep beep!

  Meanwhile, the criminals even began shifting their focus from the night-time economy – clubs and bars – to the daytime economy – ‘normal’ businesses and businessmen and began setting themselves up in transport and,of course,security.

  One interesting aside. We were invoiced by our security firm and always paid their invoice plus VAT. When we were asked during a special VAT inspection about those security invoices it transpired that our security firm weren’t paying their VAT. What a surprise. In fact, they’d never paid any. The VAT number they’d provided us with belonged to B&Q, of all people. They just kept the money.

  The tax office wanted us to pay the outstanding VAT (for the second time) so, not unreasonably, we suggested they get it off the security firm. Do you think they did? No. Even they were scared of the bouncers.

  Meanwhile, Home had opened and was faced with the same problems ...

  I remember sitting in Home the night of the riot that shut the place down. This lot from Cheetham Hill just barged behind the bar, grabbed a whole shelf’s worth of champagne and walked off. Just like in the Haçienda, nobody could do anything about it. They were fighting in the street outside for hours; no one could get out. Funny, I always thought Tom Bloxham’s choice of name was much too close to ours. Haçienda – Spanish for ‘homestead’, geddit? Seemed to backfire on him, though.

  When I watched some closed-circuit TV footage of the Haçienda’s 1995 New Year’s Eve party I saw that not a single person paid admission or showed a ticket from eleven p.m. onwards. The bouncers were religiously filling up their Lucozade bottles with champagne. That’s how businesslike they were. It had been a really heavy night with loads of trouble. Ang had walked on to the cocktail bar landing, seen Damien arguing with some young kid and started kicking off,screaming,‘Just get him out.’ There had been that much trouble, she just freaked. The next thing she knew she was picking herself up from the bottom of the stairs, very dazed and confused. Then Damien came up and said, ‘You all right?’

  What had happened was that as she started yelling the kid had pulled a gun and put it in her face. Damien had grabbed her by the collar and threw her down the stairs to get her out of harm’s way. He beat the shit out of the gunman, came back, went downstairs and – like a gentleman – helped her back on to her feet.

  Later, as she looked around the club, still in her dazed and confused state, she realized that she didn’t recognize anyone in the crowd. Everyone who had partied at the Haçienda during the golden era had moved on, because of fear or age.

  Happy New Year.

  FEBRUARY

  Tuesday 2nd OPEN HOUSE Tom Wainwright; Russ; Miles Holloway OPEN HOUSE Tom Wainwright; Russ; Buckley

  Tuesday 16th OPEN HOUSE Tom Wainwright; Russ; Buckley

  MAY

  Wednesday 5th BOY’S OWN PRODUCTIONS Andy Weatherall; Pete Heller; One Dove

  Thursday 20th A NIGHT IN THE LIFE OF . . . David Morales; Frankie Knuckles; Tony Humphries; Buckley; Angel; Danny Hussein; Allister Whitehead; Marshall; Tom Wainwright

  JULY

  Wednesday 21st SOAK Allister Whitehead; Marshall; Danny Hussein; Andy Ward; Nightmares on Wax

  AUGUST

  Wednesday 5th GRAEME PARK’S THIRTIETH BIRTHDAY PARTY

  SEPTEMBER

  Sunday 12th HEAVENLY IN THE CITY St. Etienne; Espiritu; the Rockingbirds; White Out; Andy Weatherall (part of the In the City music convention)

  Monday 13th ROB’S PARTY Sub Sub; A Certain Ratio (part of the In the City music convention)

  Tuesdaey 14th MIXMAG/MINISTRY OF SOUND PARTY Tony Humphries; CJ Mackintosh; Justin Berkman; D:Ream; Juliette Roberts (part of the In the City music convention)

  OCTOBER

  Saturday 2nd Graeme Park

  NOVEMBER

  Friday 5th Todd Terry; Russ; Buckley; D
ave Rofe

  NOVEMBER

  Friday 5th Todd Terry; Russ; Buckley; Dave Rofe

  DECEMBER

  Wednesday 1st JAZZMATAZZ

  Thursday 2nd OPEN HOUSE Tom Wainwright; Danny Hussein

  Friday 3rd SHINE! Trannies with Attitude

  Thursday 9th OPEN HOUSE

  Friday 10th Laurent Garnier; Judy Cheeks

  Thursday 16th OPEN HOUSE

  Friday 17th DIY

  Thursday 23rd FLESH (attendance 1380)

  Friday 24th CHRISTMAS EVE PARTY Jon DaSilva; Jose;

  Herbie; Buckley; John McCready; Mark Tabbener

  (attendance 808)

  Monday 27th CHRISTMAS BANK HOLIDAY SHINE! Alex P;

  Allister Whitehead; Tim Lennox; Dave Rofe;

  Sam Mollinson (attendance 978)

  Friday 31st NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY Tom Wainwright;

  Roger Sanchez; Tim Lennox; Allister Whitehead;

  Buckley; Herbie; Jose; Mark Tabbener

  FACT 51 Limited

  Trading as: The Haçienda

  NOTES

  Sundry creditors include Swivel, Sandypress, Clean-Machine, etc., without whom running the club becomes almost impossible.

  The involvement of bailiffs has only become an issue towards the end of this week. Three in one week is hardly to be expected. The ones working for PRS are very aggressive (I know them from Factory days and if payment is not made then they will take away whatever they feel is required). The ones working for the rates people are less of a problem, but we obviously need to keep them happy each week.

  The third one works for the court and is merely collecting various small CCJs but cannot be ignored.

  We can always pass on the contents insurance as before, despite the obvious drawbacks and dangers. There is no way that the buildings insurance cannot be paid.

  This cash-flow makes no provision for saving towards the next VAT return – due on 31 October 1993.

  Bar and door sales figures are estimated on the performance of the previous five weeks with increases for the late openings during September.

  The PAYE people are running out of patience with us. If we were not involved with the bailiffs I feel that we could have dealt with them satisfactorily but obviously this is now not the case.

  There is a chance we could get away with not reducing the bank overdraft each week but we risk losing their support.

  As I write I do not know when we will receive the Stella Dry or whether there will be VAT of £700 on top of it.

  No provision has been made for any further payments to PLT (the building bridging loan company).

  Saturday door has been increased to £12.00 per person for September. No adjustments have been made for Friday nights.

  RTL fee has been calculated on the basis of recent bills and has been adjusted for the later opening during September.

  I would like to think that this is very much a ‘worst case’ scenario, but if we are asking people to inject yet more money into the club then they should be made aware.

  In conclusion, if there had not been a sudden influx of bailiffs I still feel that the situation was manageable until the autumn when we come into our busiest period and the ownership issue will (hopefully) have been resolved.Unfortunately this is now not the case.

  (Uncredited)

  FAC 51 Limited

  Trading as: the Haçienda

  CASH FLOW TO THE END OF SEPTEMBER

  29/08 04/09 11/09 18/09 25/09

  (£) (£) (£) (£) (£)

  Bar

  Sunday 4000.00

  Monday 1500.00 2000.00

  Tuesday 4000.00

  Wednesday 5000.00 2000.00 2000.00

  Thursday 750.00

  Friday (prev) 2250.00 2750.00 2750.00 2750.00 2750.00

  Saturday (prev) 7500.00 8500.00 8500.00 8500.00 8500.00

  Door

  Sunday 2000.00

  Monday 1500.00 0

  Tuesday 1500.00

  Wednesday 2750.00 2500.00 1000.00

  Thursday

  Friday (prev) 2250.00 2250.00 2250.00 2250.00 2250.00

  Saturday (prev) 11,000.00 13,200.00 13,200.00 13,200.00 13,200.00

  * * *

  33,750.00 27,450.00 31,200.00 43,200.00 26,700.00

  Stella Dry 4000.00

  Outgoings

  Staffwages-net 2750.00 3350.00 3250.00 5000.00 2750.00

  DJs 600.00 I125.00 2225.00 I125.00 I125.00

  *Sundry creditors 5000.00 5000.00 5000.00 5000.00 5000.00

  Whitbread, etc. 7133.00 4545.00 5108.00 8708.00 4208.00

  RTL 4300.00 6250.00 4750.00 6250.00 11,250.00

  *VAT 2500.00 2500.00 2500.00 2500.00 2500.00

  *PRS (bailiff) 3500.00 3500.00 3500.00 3500.00 3500.00

  *Rates (bailiff) 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

  *Sundry (bailiff) 1000.00 1000.00

  *Contents insurance 5500.00

  *Buildings insurance 4100.00

  Bank decrease in 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

  o/draft

  * * *

  41,783.00 36,370.00 31,333.00 37,083.00 35,333.00

  Deficit -8033.00 -8920.00 -133.00 6118.00 -4633.00

  Accumulated deficit -8033.00 -16,953.00 -17,085.00 -10,968.00 -15,600.00

  * These cash payments include/or consist of arrears and therefore do not reflect in September profit and loss account.

  Extract from the minutes of a weekly management meeting held in the Round House on Thursday 23 September 1993:

  The Haçienda

  The opening of Home has not made any impact on Saturday-night attendances. There was currently no Friday night in terms of a club night but the bar was open late. At the last Flesh night Paul Cons was handing out promotional material for their Saturday, which he is promoting. This was put a stop to as soon as it was discovered.

  The police had requested to see plans of the club in order to inspect the fire exits and potential means of entry. As a result PM [Paul Mason] had not allowed as many people in the previous Saturday as he was worried that the police could have been filming.

  RG [Rob Gretton] asked if the metal detector was working properly. PM explained that it either worked too well or not at all. It was suggested and agreed that it should be set off occasionally by the door staff to give the impression to customers that it did work, and that it should be done on known potential troublemakers and their friends.

  Any other business

  PM had £5 bet with RG that Manchester would get the Olympics. [Paul Mason won: the Olympics went to Sydney].

  Extract from the minutes of a weekly management meeting held in the Round House on Thursday 30 September 1993:

  Other potential investors

  There was a discussion as to who might consider investing in the business in the event of there being no assistance forthcoming from Whitbread or other breweries.

  The following list of potential investors who could be approached was put together (in no particular order of sanity):

  Elliot Rashman/Andy Dodd

  Messrs Jabez & Clegg

  Tom Bloxham

  Pete Waterman

  Gareth Hopkins

  Jim Ramsbottom

  Richard Branson

  Ed Bicknell

  Quincy Jones

  Carol Ainscoe

  Peter Gabriel

  Chris Blackwell

  It was felt that AHW [Tony Wilson] was the best person to approach these people if it came to this.

  Extract from the minutes of a weekly management meeting held in the Round House on Friday 28 October 1993:

  Haçienda Album

  AM said that a friend of hers had heard a tape of the album and was keen to release it if we were no longer interested.

  RG pointed out that it wasn’t the fact that we were no longer interested. When the album was first due to be released there were not sufficient funds to finance the project. He had hoped to put it out to his own label, but has had to put all his spare cash into the Haçienda
to keep it going. There was also the problem that several of the tracks needed to be licensed from Polygram. We do not want to alert Polygram about the album so there [can be] no chance of it falling under ‘the deal’, and so there could be no progress with the project until ‘the deal’ was completed.

  With regards to financing the project, AW said that Vini Reilly had recently received some money, and maybe this could be put into the album project.

  RG asked AW why the money could not go into the Haçienda instead to help with various cash problems. AW felt that he could not recommend this to Vini as he thought it was too risky.

  RG stressed his amazement at the statement as he and PH had put in considerable sums of their own money to keep the club going, thereby risking their own financial position.

  It was agreed that the album would eventually come out on our own label but not until the Factory/Polygram deal had finally been completed.

  Any other business

  RG had a £5 bet with AE [Alan Erasmus] that Manchester United would be knocked out of the European Cup.

  Extracts from minutes of a weekly management meeting held in the Round House on Thursday 18 November 1993:

  New Year’s Eve

  AM said that there was potentially a problem with Roger Sanchez as we might have to pay for a flight, but he was also playing at Hard Times so we might be able to split the cost with them.