From place to space to scene: The Roxy Room and the emergence of Manchester’s alternative pop culture identity

Abstract

This article explores the emergence and development of alternative nightclub culture in Manchester, England, during the 1970s and early 1980s. It takes as its main point of reference the Roxy Room at Pips Disco, the hitherto neglected foundation of Manchester's alternative music club network. The article aims to identify and evaluate a particular sense of connection between the ever-evolving dynamic of the city's punk-imbued club space and the bricks and concrete of its environment. If, as its on-going influence on aspects of both Mancunian culture and urban milieu would suggest, the Haçienda club at first stabilized and then re-defined the parameters of this relationship, then the Roxy Room at Pips Disco instigated what might be termed the initial negotiation. It is this pre-history, then - a root of particular working at leisure patterns and cultural industries development so firmly associated with the Haçienda - that the article seeks to uncover. Utilizing a variety of new interviews with Pips habitués and a number of key figures in the music and cultural industries (all of which were conducted by the author), the article generates new knowledge in its reconsideration of what has remained a marginalized and yet influential presence within Manchester's popular culture history.