Manchester AfterDark’s Post

Manchester AfterDark Attended: We were happy to get a look around the new attic space at Joshua Brooks on Saturday for the fourth in their Day Time Disco series, this one featuring Mousse T. Here's what we found. Accessed via stairs at front-of-house, with a 150 capacity and natural light (until sunset anyway), we get a quite different space from the familiar basement. That daylight comes partially from east-facing windows, but mainly from west-facing. It then reflects off white walls so that natural light is made the most of. After dark, artificial light comes from a series of subtle LED strips suspended from the ceiling that cycle through red, green and blue. Sound is solid without being overpowering, presumably to also meet council restrictions so as to not disturb local residents, and, unlike many venues, it's in surround. Plenty of clubs we visit only fit their sound system at one end of a room, where the DJ performs. The JB attic has a speaker in each corner. The west interior wall is fitted with several double booths and tables, holding from 6 to 8 people and each with its own TV. While it's ideal for showing sporting events, it's a little superfluous for a club night. But, it's also good to have the choice to take a rest if it's needed. These booths are directly facing the DJ area, which is where most dancers preferred to be. This means that there can be a bit of a bottleneck in that space, depending on numbers. But if being in the thick of the crowd and the peak of the atmosphere is your aim, this is the spot. The south wall is shared between more booths and two darts cubicles. No toilets on this floor, so it's back down to the existing ground floor facilities for those. Now the DJ area. We haven't seen this in years, but the DJ stand and the bar area are one and the same. You're DJ'ing inside the large square bar area and working alongside the other staff. Looking forward to hearing tales about international superstar DJ's having inebriated young women lean towards the decks and ask them for five Sambucas. Get served on the stairs-side or the darts cubicles-side of the bar, and avoid the DJ side, where you won't get any service. Overall, this is a great new addition to the city's clubbing spaces, with clear multi-purpose usage due to the screens, booths and dart boards. One question is what future nightlife use it might see once the summer is over. Our visit was for a 4pm until 10pm event, which ended as the 100% Late Replies party began in the basement. Will this attic hold separate ticketed club events at the same time as the basement, but with a different music genre to avoid any clash? Could it act as an expansion, 'a room two' of whatever party is in the basement with traffic between the rooms? Could it be opened up to outside promoters? We're looking forward to finding out the answers

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