The club’s founders are going to ‘take a short breather’ after 20 years of parties…
The Warehouse Project has announced it will take a ‘fallow year’ in 2027, significantly scaling back its programme after celebrating 20 years in Manchester.
The club series, which has become one of the defining fixtures of the city’s nightlife calendar, said there will still be events next year, but ‘on a far smaller scale’, with WHP in its current format taking what founders Sam Kandel and Rich McGinnis described as ‘a short breather’.
The announcement comes during its 20th anniversary season at Depot Mayfield, two decades after the first Warehouse Project parties took place at the former Boddingtons Brewery in Strangeways.
In a statement reflecting on the milestone, Kandel and McGinnis said: “When we started The Warehouse Project, nobody could have imagined it would run the way it has. At the outset, it was simply about turning a novel idea into reality.
“Since then, all we’ve been thinking about is the next move: the next night, the next artist, the next season, the next venue. Suddenly two decades have gone by and it feels like someone pressed fast-forward.”
The Warehouse Project launched in 2006, with the idea of creating a temporary club series rather than a permanent year-round venue.
Its first home was the disused Boddingtons Brewery, where early bookings included Public Enemy, before it moved beneath Manchester Piccadilly station to the railway arches of Store Street in 2007.
Store Street became synonymous with WHP over the years that followed, before the project moved to Victoria Warehouse in Trafford Park for 2012 and 2013. It returned to Store Street in 2014, remaining there until its final season beneath Piccadilly in 2018.
In 2019, WHP moved across the railway lines to Depot Mayfield, transforming the vast former railway depot into its biggest home to date.
“We wanted to build something rooted in Manchester,” Kandel and McGinnis said. “Something belonging to the city, that could become a reason for people to want to travel here from all over the world… Destination Manchester.
“The idea was simple: find a space that existed for a finite period each winter and create a series of totally unique musical moments — each unique in its own right, reaching different audiences, but all coming together under one roof for one unmissable season.”
Over those 20 years, The Warehouse Project has hosted artists spanning electronic music, hip hop, indie and pop, including Aphex Twin, Four Tet, Skrillex, Disclosure, Fred again.., The Chemical Brothers, Underworld, New Order, The Prodigy, Megan Thee Stallion, Calvin Harris, DJ Paulette and The Blessed Madonna.
Its annual programme has also become home to major recurring club nights and promoter takeovers, encompassing everything from house and techno to drum and bass and harder electronic music. Defected and Glitterbox, Worried About Henry, Teletech and You&Me have all appeared on WHP programmes, alongside large-scale events including queer block party Homobloc and the multi-stage Repercussion festival.
The founders said the temporary nature of the project was central to its identity from the beginning.
“Those early years had a particular energy. There was huge risk at every turn and, at times, unimaginable chaos that could easily have ended the whole thing before it had really begun,” they said.
“While we still love and obsess over the curation of every WHP season, it was never just about a line-up. In those early days, the whole format genuinely felt brand new: the venue, the sound, the production, the music, and a real industrial spirit that built a whole temporary world to contain it all.”
For its 20th year, WHP has put together an expanded anniversary programme at Depot Mayfield, alongside a short film, outdoor exhibition, podcast, print magazine and an archive of recordings looking back at its history.
The current season includes nights with Solomun, Overmono, Worried About Henry, You&Me, Hannah Laing and Teletech, The Streets, Tiësto, Defected and Glitterbox, alongside a dedicated 20 Years of The Warehouse Project event in November.
But rather than immediately following the anniversary with another full-scale season, the team said 2027 would give the project an opportunity to step back.
“We spoke at length about how to mark 20 Years,” the statement continued.
“After all this time, how do we make this 2026 season feel like the landmark moment it should be? We think the answer is to dial things back the following year. So, in 2027 WHP, in its current format, will take a short breather.
“There will still be events, but on a far smaller scale. And no, we are not going back to Store Street!
“But The Warehouse Project as you currently know it takes something of a fallow year in 2027.”
No details have yet been announced about the smaller programme planned for next year, or what form The Warehouse Project will take beyond 2027.
Signing off the announcement, Kandel and McGinnis thanked the artists, staff and audiences who have been part of the project over the past two decades.
“And to everyone who has ever bought a ticket, stood in a queue in the Manchester rain, discovered a new artist, lost their friends, found them again, stayed until the lights came up, or walked out into the morning knowing they’d just experienced something special.
“You are the reason we are still here.”
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