A beloved music institution in the city centre is set to be demolished this summer as work on a huge £1.7bn development gets underway.
Retro Bar, on Sackville Street, has been hosting music gigs and live events since opening its doors some 35 years ago. Dubbed the ‘official birthplace’ of The Chemical Brothers, it has also given platforms to the likes of Frank Turner, The XX and Everything Everything during the early parts of their careers.
Owners of the grassroots venue, which is situated opposite the University of Manchester campus, have now been told that they cannot trade past July due to works beginning on the ‘Sister Masterplan’ development, a joint £1.7 billion venture between Bruntwood SciTech and the university.
Formerly known as ID Manchester, the project aims to regenerate the University of Manchester's north campus into a new 'innovation district and neighbourhood’. Covering nine acres, It will feature state-of-the-art tech facilities, as well as commercial, retail and leisure space and more than 1,500 new homes.
But, as part of the plans, Retro Bar is to be torn down as part of the four million square foot development, which is set to begin in August. The bar, led by owner Mark Armor, is said to host over 200 gigs and club nights a year that are attended by more than 20,000 people.
Employing a team of 20 staff, the bar – which started life as the Swinging Sporran before being renamed to Retro Bar in 2016 – is said to be ‘the sole business displaced’ by the Sister Masterplan project, with Mark saying he feels like the building has been treated as an ‘afterthought’ and ‘collateral loss’ by developers.
He said they had been offered two alternative sites to relocate the business to, but described them as ‘wholly unsuitable’ and would struggle to recoup any losses made during the transition period. Developers said they have 'strived to work with the owners' of the venue, and has already extended their tenure, having originally been due to vacate in May.
In a statement, owner Mark said: “In August, developers will demolish our premises. We cannot trade past July 2025. Despite this proposed scheme expecting to generate billions of pounds, we feel like an afterthought.
“The two sites offered by our landlords as alternatives were both wholly unsuitable. We have only been offered a small financial contribution, which will aid in winding down our business with staff redundancies. It is a fraction of the cost we face to move site, recover lost business and keep staff employed.
“It feels wrong that we have essentially only been offered basic "business funeral costs" when we are still very much alive and ready to continue doing what we love. This mentality completely ignores everything we have built up over the past seven years under my stewardship.”
He added: “Throughout this process we’ve been led to believe that there would be a fair outcome presented where we didn’t face the total loss of our business; but our future has now been thrown into complete uncertainty. The current reality is business extinguishment. Retro Bar (an integral Grassroots Music Venue) should not be collateral loss in the wake of this development.”
Support for the bar has been backed by the Music Venue Trust, which was formed to protect independent and grassroot music venues in the UK. The organisation recently helped support the campaign to future-proof The Star & Garter, and also purchased the freehold of The Snug in Atherton, Wigan giving the iconic music venue permanent protected status.
In a statement, Music Venue Trust said it was ‘shocked by the impending closure of Retro Bar’. The organisation said: “It’s not surprising that this Mancunian cultural mainstay has built a dedicated community around it.
“Sadly, despite the venue being the sole business displaced by this extensive development, Retro has not factored into the Sister Masterplan in any meaningful way, and faces the very real prospect of permanent closure this July.
“Protection for Grassroots Music Venues is being called for by Music Venue Trust and the sector, it sits within Manchester’s impressive cultural and placemaking strategies and recommendations made in last years’ CMS Select Committee Report on Grassroots Music. In the recent Music Fans’ Voice survey, an unambiguous 93.8% of Mancunian respondents agreed that “Culturally significant Music Venues and Nightclubs should have a form of protected status.
“The redevelopment of Greater Manchester, and all towns and cities, must include recognition and significant support for existing cultural businesses, it’s just not good enough to dismiss the extraordinary value these organisations bring to their communities, the cultural ecosystem and the night time economy.”
The organisation said it was in ‘ongoing dialogue’ with the Retro Bar team, and has been providing Mark with advice and support. They are also continuing to discuss things alongside the developers, Manchester City Council and Greater Manchester Combined Authority to ‘work towards a solution that secures the future of Retro’.
For its part, the bar has now launched a fundraising campaign to help support some of the costs it will take to find and secure an alternative site in order to 'keep the music alive'. The campaign has already been backed by musician Frank Turner, who described it as a ‘classic independent grassroots music venue’.
In a statement, he said: "The Retro is where I played my first solo show in Manchester (show #20, 20th November 2005!). Without venues like this, I would never have been able to build my career up to the point of headlining the Academy earlier this month.”
He added: “It is common sense that Retro should be relocated as its rich musical history and cultural output speaks for itself."
Manchester band Everything Everything also backed the campaign, saying they played ‘two of our very earliest gigs’ at the venue. The band said: “There are fewer and fewer of these essential resources nationwide, and Manchester must protect Retro Bar and her ilk, if we want to remain the music city we are celebrated as globally.”
Since launching earlier this week, the fundraiser has already surpassed £2,700, but has 54 days left to secure its £50,000 target. In a video message, owner Mark said he has been ‘mind-blown’ by the ‘generosity and support’ for the campaign.
He said: “I've got to say the last 24 hours have been one of the most special moments of my life – to get the recognition that we have and all the messages of our support for our campaign to help protect our venue to be relocated in another city centre venue.”
Adding to the Manchester Evening News, Mark added: "We've been trying to do everything we can to ensure that we can take our team to a new space. I was very reluctant to make the news public and ask for help from the music industry, but I feel like we had exhausted all options in terms of trying to find a solution.
"This place has got history, there's a rich kind of musical heritage at Retro Bar. We are a musical city and I do feel that we should remember that.
You can donate to Retro Bar's fundraising campaign here.
Retro Bar is situated on land that forms part of the University of Manchester campus, with the £1.7 billion ‘Sister Masterplan’ development forming part of a joint venture with Bruntwood SciTech.
A spokesperson for Sister said: "Throughout this process we have strived to work with the owners of Retro Bar to support them during this transition. Last year, under the previous landlord, Retro Bar had agreed a new short-term lease which would have seen them vacate the site in May 2025.
"Since acquiring the lease from their previous landlord, Sister has since extended their tenure to June 2025 in order to give them more time to manage their transition. Additionally, we have assisted them with their own search for alternative premises and explored two existing night time venues within our portfolio, which they unfortunately deemed unsuitable.
"We remain open to accommodating them in other premises and will continue to explore options available in our portfolio. We hope to maintain an open dialogue with them on this beyond the end of their tenancy.”
Manchester Council is not involved in the development project, nor does it own the land the future scheme or Retro Bar is situated on, but it has expressed the 'importance of such venues' and how they can form vital roles in cities like Manchester.
A Manchester City Council spokesperson said: "Manchester City Council is proud of our musical heritage and we absolutely recognise that the city's grassroots venues are a vital part of Manchester's renowned musical ecosystem and the contribution they make to the city's cultural cache and local economy.
"Retro Bar is a good example of the importance of such venues – one that has supported many musicians through their early careers for more than three decades. So it's important that we look to carefully balance vital investment and economic growth in the city with protecting the ongoing success of our venues and wider culture sector.
"And as such, the Council is keen to work constructively with all parties to attempt to find an agreeable solution and help protect the legacy of venues like Retro Bar."
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Top city centre music venue to be demolished to make way for huge development – Manchester Evening News
