‘You can feel the history in there’: the return of New Century Hall

It played host to Hendrix and the Stones and was a haven for acid-house parties. After lying dormant for years, Manchester's iconic concert hall is back

I was standing in line late 1966 with a lot of people to see the Jimi Hendrix Experience," says John Cooper Clarke. I noticed that everyone in the queue except me was wearing a tie." The renowned punk poet, speaking over the phone on the way to a gig in Kidderminster, hastens to add that he still looked dapper, wearing a Fred Perry (You can't wear a Fred Perry and a tie, you'd look like a schnorrer!") and a striped sports coat. I couldn't get in," he says, mimicking the doorman: No tie!"

The venue was Manchester's New Century Hall, a 1,000-capacity space adjacent to New Century House. Designed by Gordon Tait for the Co-Operative Insurance Society in 1962, it played host to major acts such as Hendrix, the Stones, Tina Turner and the Kinks, before becoming an unexpected haven for acid-house parties thrown by local producers A Guy Called Gerald and 808 State.