Underground rave den Venus to close after almost twenty years on the clubbing scene

Manchester clubbing institution Venus has today announced its closure via Facebook.

In a post, the management said the news was delivered with 'a heavy heart' and that they hadn't expected it for 'many many more years'.

The underground raver haven - which began life in 1999 at Club V and moved to Maybrook House on Blackfriars Road in 2010 - has been a staple of Manchester's late-night clubbing circuit for almost two decades.

However, bosses say they found it increasingly difficult to compete with the influx of late-night bars to the city, which they say has brought about the 'decline of the nightclub industry'.

The management also said 'the introduction of festivals' and 'much larger city centre venues' had hit them 'harder than expected'.

You can read the statement in full below.

Venus Club Manchester Png
Venus becomes the latest Manchester nightclub to call it a day

Venus is the latest Manchester club to call it a day, after the city's infamous Sankey's club made way for a new property development in Ancoats in January last year.

Despite the closures, an industry insider told Confidential that reports of the death of the city's nightclubs were premature. "It's not dying, it's just evolving," they said. "Get yourself along to Hidden, Warehouse Project, White Hotel or Gorilla at the weekend, there's still plenty of life, plenty of hunger for it."

DJs, clubbers and figures from Manchester's nightlife scene have been responding to the news of the closure on social media. Parklife boss and Warehouse Project founder Sacha Lord said Venus had 'provided Manchester with many happy nights', while DJ Joshua Roberts said it was 'a very sad day'.

Statement from Venus (5th Jan 2018):

It’s with a heavy heart that we bring you news with thought we would never announce for many many more years. Venus has been in the Manchester clubbing scene for nearly 20 years and New Years Eve 2017 was to be our last event.

Since our start in 1999 the clubbing industry has changed massively, huge improvements to the Manchester infrastructure and nightlife has slowly seen the decline of the nightclub industry we all know and have loved very fondly. Since moving from our first home (Club V) in 2010 we had many successful events and years at Venus the Club (Maybrook House). Since our move in 2010 the Manchester bar scene has really taken off and had a very positive effect on the city. This however is one aspect that had directly impacted on the business. Roll back to years to 2007-2010, most bars in Manchester closed around 11pm and gave us a fantastic foothold within the nighttime economy. Back then there were many smaller clubs but mainly in Manchester Venus and Sankeys. 

With the introduction of festivals and further much larger Manchester City Centre venues it has hit us harder than expected. People have never stopped commenting how much safer they felt when inside Venus in comparison to any other venue in the UK, but unfortunately all good things come to an end.

We would like to thank everyone involved in Venus since 1999, our extremely loyal clubbers who have joined us for at least 1000 Saturday night, bank holiday Sunday and New Years Eve events.   Our team have always been our back bone and we would like to thank every single person who has helped Venus over the years. Without the help and support we would have been a distant memory. 

We will be making no further comment.

The Venus Management.