ABOUT ROD - News, July 26, 2012: Help Save the home of Rod's first gig

Manchester residents and soul fans are furious after plans were revealed to shut down a famous City Centre club after a developer seeks to turn it into a hotel.

London developers, Olympian Homes, have purchased the site that Legends stands on and intend to demolish it, in order to build another Motel chain within the city centre.

Twisted Wheel DJ Pete Roberts said the loss would be akin to the demolition of the original Cavern club in Liverpool.

Twisted Wheel was a legendary soul night held at the venue in the ‘60s and when it became Legends nightclub, Mr Roberts resurrected the night as a bi-monthly event at the venue.

An Olympian spokesman said the company was currently considering the various options for the existing basement which houses Legends.

“Among these are to retain it in its current use but with a different night club operator, an alternative music related venue, or a leisure facility associated with the new proposed hotel,” he said.

Many club-goers feel that they will be destroying an iconic piece of Manchester history for the music scene and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community.

The venue was the most famous club in Manchester from the 1960's onwards, hosting amongst others Rod who was then a member of Steampacket with Long John Baldry and rightly or wrongly always sites the Twisted Wheel as the venue of his first ever gig and what is a fact is that he did play the venue many times during this era and clearly has some great memories.

At present it is host to Bollox, Homoelectric, Club Lash, Twisted Wheel and Black Planet amongst others.

The online petition can be found here: http://www.change.org/petitions/manchester-city-council-save-legends-nightclub

The Twisted Wheel Story

The Twisted Wheel club has a long and colourful history. The club first opened in 1961 on Brazenose Street, before moving to Whitworth Street two years later. The Twisted Wheel would stay put until 1971, when it was closed down by the authorities, with a byelaw stating premises couldn’t stay open longer than two hours after midnight.

Fans of soul music would travel from all over the country to come to the Twisted Wheel and hear its signature brand of up-tempo rare soul music that became known as ‘Northern Soul’. The name followed a visit by music journalist Dave Godin who noted how the subculture in the North was very different from anything in the capital.

The most renowned nights were the all-nighters every Saturday from 11pm through to Sunday 7.30am. DJs played new records generally not played elsewhere. Each week at 2am Soul artists performed live at the club including American artists Junior Walker, Edwin Starr, Oscar Toney Jr, Marv Johnson, Johnny Johnson and the Bandwagon, and Inez and Charlie Foxx.

In 2000, Pete Roberts finally managed to secure a regular night in the Whitworth Street building and bring Northern Soul back to the Manchester club scene – in the space where it was christened.

Picture from Alex Mann's website http://alexmann.net/?p=467