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'Fac 51 Haçienda' (better known as simply 'The Haçienda') was a nightclub and music venue in Manchester, England. It was one of the best known nightclubs in the world during the Madchester years of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Originally conceived by Rob Gretton, it was largely financed by the record label Factory Records and the band New Order along with the late label boss Tony Wilson. It was located on the corner of Whitworth Street West and Albion Street, close to Castlefield, in the centre of the city. FAC 51 was its official designation in the Factory catalogue. New Order and Tony Wilson were directors of the club.
Designed by Ben Kelly, upon recommendation by Factory graphic designer Peter Saville, the Haçienda opened in 1982 and survived until 1997, despite considerable and persistent financial troubles. During much of this time the club was mainly supported by record sales from New Order. It served as a venue for Madonna on her first performance in the United Kingdom. It is considered by Peter Saville to be the birthplace of the 90s.
Upstairs consisted of a stage, dance area, bar, cloakroom, cafeteria are and balcony with dj booth. Downstairs was a cocktail bar called 'The Gay Traitor,' which referred to Anthony Blunt, a British art historian who spied for the Soviet Union. The two other bars, 'The Kim Philby' and 'Hicks,' were named after Blunt's fellow spies. From 1995 onwards, the lower cellar areas of the venue were converted to create the 5th man, a smaller music venue.
At one time the venue also included a hairdressing salon. As well as club nights there were regular concerts, including one in which Einstürzende Neubauten drilled into the walls that surrounded the stage.
In 1986, it became one of the first clubs outside the US to start playing house music, with DJs Mike Pickering (of Quando Quango and M People) and Little Martin (later with Graeme Park) hosting the ''Nude'' night on Fridays. This night quickly became legendary, and helped to turn around the reputation and fortunes of the Haçienda, which went from making a consistent loss to being full every night of the week by early 1987.
The growth of the Madchester scene was boosted by the success of the Haçienda's pioneering Ibiza nights in the summer of 1988 and the launch of the ''Hot'' acid house night (hosted by Pickering and Jon DaSilva) in November.
Although peaking in popularity during the rise of the rave era with the like of Fantazia holding events there, most of the money ended up circulating to drug dealers due to the popularity of ecstasy on the club scene. The Haçienda itself saw very little of the nightly expenditure. By the time the Hacienda had closed in the mid 90s, the term "superclub" had been coined for its well marketed and managed successors such as Cream, Ministry of Sound and Gatecrasher. In the last years of the club's existence there were several shootings inside and outside the club and security and relationships with the police were a constant problem.
In 1997, this culminated with a student's death outside the venue, at the hands of the security staff. At the very same time, a group of police and council officials were outside the venue and witnessed the event.
The Hacienda lost its entertainments licence in June 1997, following a final gig with Spiritualized and remained open for a short period as an art gallery before finally going bankrupt and closing for good.
After the Haçienda officially closed, and before it was demolished to make way for the block of flats built on the site, the Haçienda was used as venue for two free parties organised by the Manchester free party scene. One such party ended in a police riot and siege of the building. The venue also suffered notable vandalism from the events.

Michael Winterbottom's 2002 film ''24 Hour Party People'' starring Steve Coogan as Tony Wilson, tells the story of the Haçienda. The movie was filmed in 2001, and required reconstructing the Haçienda as a temporary set in a Manchester factory, which was then opened to ticket holders for a night, acting as a full-scale nightclub (except with free bar) as the film shooting took place.
The Whitworth Street West site of the original has recently been rebuilt as city centre flats, but has kept its iconic name. Bassist Peter Hook from New Order owns the Hacienda name and trademark, and licenced its use to Crosby Homes, the developers of the new flats. Hook is currently in the process of writing a book about the Haçienda.
The Manchester exhibition centre Urbis is hosting an exhibition celebrating the 25th anniversary of the club's opening, which will run from mid-July 2007 until the end of the year. Peter Hook and many other of those originally involved are contributing or lending material.
The Hacienda played host to monthly gay club night 'Flesh' during the early 1990s.

Contents

Origin of the name

External links

Bibliography

Origin of the name

A hacienda is a large homestead in a ranch or estate usually in places where Colonial Spanish culture has had architectural influence. Even though the cedilla is not used in Spanish, the spelling "Haçienda" was decided on for the club because the cedilla makes the "çi" resemble "51," the club's catalogue number. [1]
The name comes from a slogan of the radical group Situationist International: "The Hacienda Must Be Built", from ''Formulary for a New Urbanism'' by Ivan Chtcheglov[2].

External links

★ Pride Of Manchester Haçienda memories by Haçienda DJ Dave Haslam

★ Fantazia.org.uk - Profile on the club & more on rave

★ Ben Kelly Design: Haçienda

★ Fantazia.org.uk - Fantazia/Haçienda flyer from 1992

★ The Haçienda Story

★ Join The Haçienda's friends on MySpace

Bibliography

★ The Hacienda Must Be Built, Savage , J., , , International Music Publications, 1992, ISBN 0863598579