Sankeys first opened its doors in Manchester as Sankeys Soap in June 1994. It was so-called Sankeys Soap due to its residence inside Beehive Mill, Ancoats that was once used to manufacture soap.
After nearly going bankrupt just 6 months after opening, things started to take shape, BuggedOut! was born, and became the regular Friday night. Golden was every Saturday, but one particular weekend stood out as the real turning point. Carl Cox came and spent the weekend at Sankeys Soap.The club was sold-out the whole weekend, and everyone started talking. During this first golden period at the club, it not only saw debut performances from the likes of Daft Punk and The Chemical Brothers, but also live shows from luminaries such as Bjork, Gill Scott Heron, Jurassic 5 and Moby.
Due to dance music’s much publicized problems, in 1998 Sankeys Soap closed and customers assumed that it was the way it was going to stay. Between 1998 and 2000, several people tried to re-open Sankeys Soap, but to no avail. David Vincent came along in 2000 to try to re-kindle the Sankeys magic and managed to reopen Sankeys Soap. Tribal Sessions, the new Friday night slowly created a completely new scene in the city. The dance scene was rather neglected since the big clubs had closed, and there was a whole generation of music lovers gagging to get involved.
Slowly through the weekly Tribal Sessions, the community at the club was growing strong and the Sankeys Soap crowd was the most passionate anywhere. In 2001, David Vincent decided to bring back Tribal Gathering, another name that many thought had been in the history books. Tribal Gathering was a massive warehouse party for 11.000 people in two colossal adjoining warehouses situated just 100 yards from Sankeys Soap. This was seen by many, as the best UK event in over a decade, it won countless awards and won Event of the Year 2003, and the next year was heralded by Mixmag as the second best dance event of all time.
In 2004 Sankeys Soap celebrated its 10th Anniversary with 10 weeks of parties plus the release of their one and only ever Sankeys Soap compilation to celebrate the occasion. At the same time, Sankeys Soap wins best UK Mixmag club. A rift between management in 2005 causes David Vincent to leave Sankeys Soap. With dwindling numbers and a dying club, David Vincent is asked by management to come back to help the club out, but it is too late. A deal is struck for David to take full control of Sankeys Soap. In May 2006, David announces Sankeys Soap will close once and for all.
Later that summer David Vincent decides to open a new space in the Beehive Mill on Radium Street. David drops the word soap and re-opens the space as Sankeys as they use the Soap to clean up the club. The space gets a completely stripped out and starts from scratch again.
The new Sankeys takes a whole new look taking inspiration from some of the best clubs around the world. Brand new LED lighting techniques, the Basement, a white inspired Boutique and a Peruvian inspired Terrace.
Following the success of 2010, David Vincent announced the “Seven Sankeys of the World” project. He is planning to create one Sankeys in each one of the 7 cities that inspired the original Sankeys. Along with major digital advertising promotions and campaigns, David has managed to make this plan take life. The first step is already been made with Sankeys Ibiza and the second step is ready to be announced officially with Sankeys Ney York. What more could anyone expect…?
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