The Hacienda - Peter Hook

The Hacienda Club in Manchester was largely the brainchild of Tony Wilson, a Granada TV presenter who came to prominence as compere of the music show 'So It Goes'. Also in the frame was Factory Records, the locally-based alternative record label he helped to found, and their main act, the post-punk band Joy Division. After their vocalist Ian Curtis killed himself in 1980, the band recruited another member and continued as New Order. Between them and their manager Rob Gretton, they decided to establish and run their own club, taking its name from the slogan of a radical group earlier in the ... more

This review is of the book "The Hacienda - How Not to Run a Club" by Peter Hook, who was better known as the co-founder of Joy Divison and New Order. The author calls the book, "a story of how Hacienda changed the shape of clubbing in England, and where it all went wrong". I read this book after watching the film "24 Hour Party People" produced by Michael Winterbottom and starring Steve Coogan. The film, like this book, showed the story of the Manchester club, The Hacienda, and its ups and downs, although most of them were often downs, until its closure. In summary, the club was a commercial ... more