The Night and Day Café

The Night & Day Café is a café bar and live music venue in Manchester, England.[1]

The Night and Day Café, 2011.

Location

It is located in the city's Northern Quarter on Oldham Street, opposite Piccadilly Records and between Magma bookstore and Dry Bar. It is near the Afflecks palace shopping arcade and a few minutes' walk from the Market Street/Arndale Centre shopping areas.[2]

History

The Night & Day opened in 1991 as a chip shop in what was (at the time) one of the rougher parts of town. Owned by Jan Oldenburg, it slowly developed into a music venue and gained a reputation for pioneering live music and supporting alternative bands.[3] When the venue faced the threat of closure Elbow’s Guy Garvey told radio station XFM that the venue had been crucial to his band's career and that it deserved protected status and a blue plaque.[4]

Live music

The café has played an important role in the Manchester music scene with many successful bands playing early gigs there. Elbow played at the venue before it had a proper stage and lead singer Garvey claims he used to give out Night & Day's phone number as a contact number because members of the band were so often in the venue.[4]

Other artists who have played at the venue include Kasabian, Jessie J, Paulo Nutini,[5] the Arctic Monkeys and the Manic Street Preachers.[6] It was also used as the filming location for the music video which accompanied Johnny Marr's single "Dynamo".[6]

Bookings in 2019 have included the likes of popular Manchester promoters such as Me Gusta Musica and Not Bad For A Girl.

Threat of closure

In January 2014 the Night & Day was threatened with permanent closure after a resident in the neighbouring flats complained about noise and Manchester Council issued a nuisance notice. Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, the Night & Day's promoter and booker Gareth Butterworth said that having to turn noise levels down would discourage bands from playing and that a fine would ruin the venue.[7] Musicians including Johnny Marr, Frank Turner and Tim Burgess stepped in to show their support for the venue[8] and a petition was set up which gained thousands of signatures. However, the fight quickly became inflamed with owner Jan Oldenburg saying that he felt he was being portrayed as uncooperative and the complainant revealing that he had received death threats.[9]

In May 2014 it was reported that the Music Venue Trust had lent their support to the Night & Day's campaign with a national petition which called for an urgent review of noise abatement legislation for bars and venues in the UK[10] and in September of the same year it was reported that the Night & Day would be able to keep its licence if staff agreed to regularly meet with residents to discuss any issues.[11]

The venue was mentioned in the hit American TV drama Lost in the season three episode 21 "Greatest Hits" as the place where Mancunian character Charlie's band DriveShaft played their first gig.[12]

In 2018, the venue doubled as "Heaven", a bar in the Michael C. Hall Netflix drama Safe.[13]

References
  1. "The Night and Day Cafe: Contact". Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  2. "Manchester Bars:Pubs & Bars in the Northern Quarter Manchester". Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  3. Thorp, John (15 October 2014). "Time Out Manchester: The Night and Day". Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  4. "XFM: Guy Garvey – Night and Day Café should get a blue plaque". 24 January 2014. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  5. Moyo, Lynda (16 January 2014). "Manchester Evening News: Night and Day Cafe's most memorable gigs". Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  6. Wood, Grace (7 November 2014). "Mancunian Matters: Made in Manchester". Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  7. Thompson, Dan (16 January 2014). "Manchester Evening News: Gig venue Night and Day Cafe threatened with closure after neighbour complains about noise". Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  8. "NME: Johnny Marr and Frank Turner back campaign to save Manchester's Night And Day Café". 16 January 2014. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  9. Spence, Niamh (21 January 2014). "Manchester Confidential: Night and Day – The Other Side". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  10. Hill, Louise (31 May 2014). "Mancunian Matters: National petition to protect music venues wades into noise row over Manchester's Night and Day Café". Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  11. "BBC News: Manchester's Night & Day cafe keeps licence after noise row". 29 September 2014. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  12. Porter, Lynette; Lavery, David (2010). Lost's Buried Treasures: The Unofficial Guide to Everything Lost Fans Need to Know. Sourcebooks Inc. p. 214. ISBN 978-1402222818. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  13. Bourne, Dianne (10 May 2018). "The Manchester locations in new Netflix drama Safe starring Michael C Hall". men. Retrieved 27 November 2019.

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