Plans in the works for 223 homes on site of former legendary nightclub

New homes are eyed for the former Reno Club, on Barnhill Street. In its 1970s heyday, the basement club was home to nights filled with rare funk and soul records, imported from America. 

The Reno was even rumoured to have hosted Muhammad Ali and Bob Marley. However, it closed in 1986 and the building was later demolished.

Since then, it has been a patch of grass opposite the Heineken brewery next to Princess Road. Plans have been in the works for years to develop the land into flats.

Should they become a reality, 223 new apartments would be built by Mossacre St Vincent’s (MSV). All would be affordable, according to the housing association.

“The demand for new homes in Moss Side is urgent,” said MSV boss Charlie Norman. “The population has grown by more than 20 percent in the last decade, but the number of homes, particularly those that local people can afford has not kept pace.”

Now, Manchester council has been given a £4.1 million government grant to ‘prepare brownfield land for housebuilding’. Around £2.8m of this will go to the Reno redevelopment, with smaller sums going to projects in Miles Platting, Clayton, and Chorlton.

Salford council also received £1.6m from the same fund to ‘transform a former school site into 96 new homes’. That takes Greater Manchester’s total to £5.7m of the £68m national pot designed to ‘cover the cost of decontamination, clearing disused buildings or improving infrastructure such as internet, water and power’.

Gavin White, Manchester’s executive councillor for housing, said sites like the Reno will help build more affordable homes. He explained: “Brownfield sites — like that at the Reno in Moss Side — represent a significant part of our affordable housing investment pipeline into the future. 

“These underused parcels of land hold great potential to help us meet our ambitious housing strategy targets. But quite often a key challenge is to clean and clear these sites — which are often contaminated — to allow new homes to be built.”