Legendary Mancunian live music venue Gorilla is back, baby! Housed in a Whitworth Street railway arch, back in April the club had to shut its doors for six months for ‘essential work’. People feared it was gone for good, but last week it finally reopened its doors, switched the soundsystem on and welcomed back a crowd of loyal revellers.
If you’re not familiar with Gorilla, let us get you up to speed. The popular venue, decked out with reclaimed school furniture, is a place to eat, dance and nurse your hangover the next morning. It serves up roast dinners, cocktails, brunch and a whole load of gigs and club nights – it even hosted an intimate show from The 1975 back in January.
It’s understandable then that locals are overjoyed at Gorilla’s comeback, celebrated last week with a party dedicated to indie and pop bangers. The venue announced its return over on Instagram, saying: ‘Well it’s been a wild six months but we are so buzzing to finally announce that we are back! We honestly have not stopped thinking about getting back to Gorilla since we found out we were being closed.
‘We just wanna say a big thank you to everyone for being so sound & supportive to us whilst all this has been happening. It’s been a big battle – but not one we ever gave up on.’
Following the announcement one user commented ‘Manchester is healing’, one called it an 'icon of the Manc scene' while another wrote ‘Thank god for that!!!!’.
If you want to check it out for yourself, why not make a whole trip out of it? We’ve got a guides to all the best hotels or Airbnbs in the city, the best restaurants and the best things to do once you’ve fully recovered from the night before.
ICYMI: this is the UK's best city for roast dinners.
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