The story behind New Century is a unique fable for Manchester and Manchester alone. Originally christened New Century Hall, this huge theatre and performance space was built in 1963 within the Co-Operative’s CIS Tower complex, and quickly became an icon of the city’s music scene, with names like Jimi Hendrix, The Kinks, The Who and Jerry Lee Lewis gracing the stage. Subsequently lost to time — save for a few special events including one of the most memorable ‘found space’ concepts at Manchester International Festival (MIF) — after a huge investment the venue reopened in summer 2022 to understandable fanfare.
Split over three levels, New Century as we know it today is a bonafide one-stop-shop for indulgence and hedonism. At the ground floor you’ll find an impressive food hall with a number of kitchens representing some of the best independent caterers in town and a few small local chains. The choice can change, but at the time of writing PLY was in charge of the pizza oven, Tallow offered steaks and burgers, and Gujarati street food came courtesy of Spice Yard. Elsewhere, pan-Asian and Japanese are also available. Central to all this, of course, is a huge bar catering to any and all refreshment needs.
While the dining and drinking area also comes with a great soundtrack — DJs are an almost-constant fixture — the real tunes are upstairs in the venue-proper. Boasting an incredible LED ceiling install, which is at once futuristic and retro, New Century comes with the original sprung dance floor still in situ, a state of the art sound system, and programming from one of the UK’s most respected and forward-thinking promoters, Now Wave: the same team behind multi-storied gem YES, just off Oxford Road. A genuine asset to the city and one of the best contemporary spaces you can find for cutting edge live music.