Sankeys will return in January 2026 in a city centre venue – and no phones will be allowed on the dancefloor

Queues ran down the street outside, condensation dripped off the walls inside, memories were made – and lost – and it all unfolded without a smartphone in sight. For those who remember the Manchester nightclub Sankeys in its heyday 30 years ago, the venue was a clubbing mecca.

“Sweat was dripping off the walls,” said Lee Spence, a promoter and resident DJ at the club from 2002 to 2012, who remembers once double booking Chase & Status and Carl Cox on the same night. “It was an atmosphere like nothing else I’d really seen.”

Sankeys will return in January 2026 in a city centre venue – and no phones will be allowed on the dancefloor

Queues ran down the street outside, condensation dripped off the walls inside, memories were made – and lost – and it all unfolded without a smartphone in sight. For those who remember the Manchester nightclub Sankeys in its heyday 30 years ago, the venue was a clubbing mecca.

“Sweat was dripping off the walls,” said Lee Spence, a promoter and resident DJ at the club from 2002 to 2012, who remembers once double booking Chase & Status and Carl Cox on the same night. “It was an atmosphere like nothing else I’d really seen.”

Sankeys will return in January 2026 in a city centre venue – and no phones will be allowed on the dancefloor

Queues ran down the street outside, condensation dripped off the walls inside, memories were made – and lost – and it all unfolded without a smartphone in sight. For those who remember the Manchester nightclub Sankeys in its heyday 30 years ago, the venue was a clubbing mecca.

“Sweat was dripping off the walls,” said Lee Spence, a promoter and resident DJ at the club from 2002 to 2012, who remembers once double booking Chase & Status and Carl Cox on the same night. “It was an atmosphere like nothing else I’d really seen.”