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Rafters (nightclub)

Nightclubs in ManchesterUse British English from November 2012

Rafters, later known as Jilly's, was a nightclub located in St. James Buildings, Oxford Street, Manchester, England. Some well-known bands played concerts at Rafters in the 1970s and 1980s. Rob Gretton, who went on to become the manager of Joy Division, worked at Rafters. It featured in the 2007 film Control. The Depeche Mode albums An Futurist Night and A Second Now in Manchester were recorded at Rafters in 1981. A Second Now In Manchester was released on CD on Vertigo Records in 1990.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Rafters (nightclub) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Rafters (nightclub)
Oxford Street, Manchester City Centre

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N 53.475277777778 ° E -2.2413888888889 °
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Changos Burritos

Oxford Street
M1 5EE Manchester, City Centre
England, United Kingdom
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Grand Central Pub
Grand Central Pub

Grand Central is a rock/metal pub and music venue at 80 Oxford Street, near Oxford Road railway station and opposite The Principal Manchester hotel in Manchester, England. It is a four storey building (including cellar) which is typical of buildings that were originally houses in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Wakefield Street on the southside leads to the railway station via a pedestrian stairway. It was once used as a meeting place for customers on their way to Jilly's Rockworld (originally named Rafters nightclub) which was situated in St James's Buildings at 65a Oxford Street, but since Rockworld's closing in early 2010 there is no longer a widely recognised alternative venue in Manchester. Every Thursday night the pub works in partnership with Rocksector Records to put live music on. There are usually three or four bands and the pub is strictly free entry.Grand Central has also hosted the annual Battle For Bloodstock competition. The competition runs on Tuesday nights over a few months early on in the year, where 36 local bands compete over six heats, two semi-finals and a Grand Final. The winners win a slot at the Bloodstock Open Air Festival in Derby, a well-respected British metal festival. It was refurbished in 2004 and has since been host to Carved Photography's exhibition featuring photos by Sabrina Ramdoyal of bands from Manchester's local rock/metal scene as well as more established bands from all over the world. The pub currently offers a pool table, jukebox and two fruit machines. There used to be a club open downstairs called Subway, however this closed before 2002.

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Manchester Oxford Road railway station
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