The area will be redeveloped as a wetlands park, as part of the planned transformation of Strangeways...
The White Hotel will close its doors in January 2027, bringing an end to one of Manchester’s most influential underground music venues.
The announcement, which has been rumoured for months, was confirmed in an interview with The Guardian, with co-founder Ben Ward saying the team had decided ‘to go out on our own terms, long before we became a museum’.
Located on an industrial estate behind Strangeways prison, the former MOT garage has become a defining space in Manchester nightlife over the last decade, hosting everyone from the late Andy Weatherall – who played his last set there – and Detroit icon DJ Stingray to avant-garde theatre, experimental classical performances, all-night queer club nights and even bizarro election coverage nights.
Founded by Ward and artistic director Austin Collings, The White Hotel officially opened in 2015, although its roots stretch further back into Salford’s warehouse party scene. Over the years it built a cult reputation for its strict no-photos policy, marathon raves which started at midnight and ran through to morning, not to mention a period when its bar was located in the garage’s inspection pit.
Speaking to The Guardian, Ward said the venue’s location had become increasingly difficult to sustain due to flooding concerns linked to the wider redevelopment plans around Strangeways.
“Basically, it’s a swamp,” he said.
The closure comes as major regeneration plans continue across the Strangeways area, where around 7,000 homes are expected to be built over the coming years. According to The Guardian, the site currently occupied by The White Hotel is set to become part of a new wetlands park rather than residential development.
Despite its international reputation, The White Hotel always operated outside the mainstream.
Its regular programme mixed experimental electronics, noise, techno, live improvisation and queer club culture, with nights from collectives including Meat Free and High Hoops becoming fixtures of Manchester nightlife. The venue also became known for commissioning unusual one-off events and performances.
In 2018, it briefly found itself at the centre of national tabloid controversy after hosting an art performance recreating Princess Diana’s funeral procession through Salford, complete with a fake coffin and mariachi band playing Candle in the Wind. The likes of the Daily Mail condemned the event, while Collings later described it as ‘weirdly heartfelt’.
It also once staged a performance of Being Purple Aki, a play about the Manchester-born Akinwale Arobieke, who was famously charged with dozens of counts of sexually motivated harassment during his decades living in Liverpool.
Over the years, the venue earned near-mythical status in UK club culture, regularly appearing in international music publications and becoming synonymous with Manchester’s more experimental side. Mixmag once described it as ‘the city’s most experimental venue’, while Vice called Salford ‘the most exciting place to party in the UK’ during the rise of The White Hotel and nearby club Hidden.
It even spawned a sister venue, on the edge of Ancoats, a bar initially called Peste which has since periodically changed its name, becoming O! Peste Destroyed, P3 Annihilation Eve and, most recently, Impiety Hour.
Although the venue itself is disappearing, Ward and Collings suggested its spirit would continue elsewhere through future events and projects, including The Black Lights, their new festival which will take over Blackpool next month.
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