These photos take you back to the 90s and noughties, showing 16 of the most popular nightclubs of the time across the North West.
The much-missed nightspots featured range from vast venues, including one said to be the UK’s biggest at the time, to quirky indie clubs.
Among them is a beloved venue once named the world’s best nightclub, and another club where Take That famously made their TV debut on an iconic 90s show.
Some of these venues are still drawing in the punters, albeit under a different name, while others have been destroyed by fire or flattened to make way for flats and offices.
They may be gone but they are not forgotten, with former regulars remembering them as the ‘place to be’ and telling how they have ‘never danced the same way since’.
These retro photos will take you back to these much-loved clubs during their heyday, when the floors were sticky with spilt alcopops, and the smell of sweat and smoke machines mingled in the air with the aroma of CK One and Joop!
How many of these nightclubs do you remember, and what do you think was the best nightclub of the 90s or noughties?
If these nostalgic images have left you pining for the past, you might enjoy this photo gallery looking back at popular shopping centres in the 70s, 80s and 90s.
1. Cream (Nation)
Cream at Nation, in Liverpool, was one of the best-loved nightclubs of the 90s and early noughties. The club, which ran until 2002, appropriately attracted the cream of the crop, when it came to DJs, including Carl Cox, Paul Oakenfold, Paul Van Dyk and Sasha. One former regular described nights there as the 'best in my life'. Another person told how it was 'massive', with people travelling from around the country, and clubbers often queueing around the block to get in. The venue at Wolstenholme Square was demolished in 2016 to make way for flats and offices. | Google Photo: Google
2. Sankeys
Sankeys became a mainstay of the Manchester nightscene after opening in a former soap factory in Ancoats in 1994. It hosted artists including Daft Punk, the Chemical Brothers and David Guetta. In 2010, DJ Mag declared it to be the world's best club. Sankeys ran for more than 20 years, barring a small break, until 2017, before relaunching earlier this year. | Universal Images Group via Getty Photo: Suzy del Campo/PYMCA/Avalon
3. The Syndicate
The Syndicate, which opened in Blackpool in 2002, was the largest nightclub in the North West and claimed to be the biggest in the UK. Located in the former Hippodrome/ABC theatre, it was spread over three floors, had a capacity of up to 5,000 and even boasted a rotating dancefloor. The Syndicate closed in 2011, and the building was demolished three years later. Pictured here outside the nightclub is manager Matthew Taylor with Alice Beresford, Carrie Collison, Lucy Wharton and Aimee Leighton. | National World
4. Kudos
Kudos nightclub was the place to be in Wigan in the early noughties, even counting the cricket superstar Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff among its regulars. One person described the huge venue as Wigan's first million-pound superclub. They added: "It was a great atmosphere and a great club. I really miss it." | National World Photo: GARY BRUNSKILL