long-running Manchester UK club 42nd Street launches crowdfunding campaign to survive COVID

Manchester, England club 42nd Street has been open since 1990 when local groups The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays were all the rage, and has been a regular stop on the local nightlife scene since. With a new wave of COVID-19 on the way and a new 10 PM curfew in effect, though, it’s having a tough time paying the bills just to make it to when they can reopen. “We have little financial assistance from the government beyond the furlough scheme, which is reducing every month and have, so far, received no rent relief from our landlord,” the club writes. “It breaks our hearts to say this but, without your help, we may be forced to close forever. We need your help to ensure we can strike back and keep the party going.”

42nd Street just launched a crowdfunding campaign to help keep the lights on, hoping to raise £60,000. “In a city like Manchester we’re essential. We’ve helped support music for years,” 42s’ general manager Simon Jackson tells The Manchester Evening News. “I’ve worked at 42s full time for 20 years but I was in here when I was 18, and I remember Ian Brown and the Stone Roses being in here listening to records…Manchester promotes itself through music, through bands like Oasis and the Stone Roses. It’s known internationally for it. You travel anywhere in the world and they know Manchester for two things – football clubs and music.”

You can donate to 42nd Street’s Crowdfunder here and watch a promo for the campaign, set to The Smiths’ “There is a Light That Never Goes Out,” below.