Two of Manchester's much-loved nightclubs will close on Wednesday evening to support students boycotting nightlife venues in a bid to get drink spikings taken more seriously.
Both 42nd Street, known to many as 42s, and indie club The Venue will close their doors for the night in support of the boycott, set up by members of the Student's Union at the University of Manchester.
Nightlife staple 42s, on Bootle Street, has confirmed it will pay staff in full for their work that evening, despite remaining closed.
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A post on the club's social media pages read: "After careful consideration, we have decided we are going to close next Wednesday 27th October.
"This is not a decision we have taken lightly, particularly as we have a lot of staff who rely on their income from 42s. As such, we will still be paying our staff for the night, despite being closed.
"Everyone has the right to feel safe on a night out, it is important our staff and customers know that we take their safety very seriously.
"This is not a knee jerk reaction, we have consistently put our customers and staff at the forefront of our identity.
"We support the “girlsnightinmanc” initiative to improve the safety of people on a night out."
The Venue has confirmed that all ticket holders for Wednesday's event will be automatically refunded, and that the club is in discussions with the licensing team from Manchester City Council to come up with a solution.
A post on the club's Facebook page on Thursday afternoon read: "We have taken the decision to close on Wednesday 27th October in support of the protest taking place requesting nightclubs to take more action on protecting people from harm.
"Whilst we have taken a number of steps ourselves, nobody should ever feel unsafe whilst on a night out. We are in constant dialogue with Manchester Licensing, our Security Team, and our Staff to do more to stop what is an increasingly concerning issue.
"As a Nightlife Operator, our customers safety has always been, and will remain, our number one priority.
"Since increasing reports emerged of these issues, we have already implemented a number of procedures in place to ensure a safe environment, such as increased search policies, welfare policies, promoting awareness to customers and creating an environment where customers feel they are able to report their concerns to staff whilst in The Venue.
"We will continue to welcome all feedback on what we as a Nightclub can do to make you feel safer.
"We stand alongside everyone protesting that this issue must be given focus and eradicated from the Nightlife sector."
The Girls Night In initiative will see protests up and down the country, with people being asked to boycott nightclubs to encourage leaders to take action against the recent spate of spiking incidents.
In Manchester, police are investigating after three girls fell ill at Ark nightclub on Deansgate Locks last month, with a string of young women coming forward to say their drinks had been spiked in Fallowfield and the city centre.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, one of the boycott leaders, 19-year-old Emily Bennett, said: “Obviously, we’re concerned by the rise of spiking."
The Liberation and Access Officer at the University of Manchester’s Students’ Union added: “People need to feel safe going out and people doing the spikings need to know they can’t, that venues won’t accept it.
“The number of emails we’ve had from students saying ‘we don’t feel safe’ and don’t feel safe to go out.
“We’d like a response from Manchester Combined Authority, from Andy Burnham and Sacha Lord. We want to see them put measures in place.
“We want to see them funding anti-spiking devices, making it really clear that they don’t accept spiking. We want clear policies in place.
“To have policies and procedures and try their best to catch the people spiking, and to know that there is support for those spiked.”
Burnham: 'Words completely fail me'
Speaking to Mike Sweeney on BBC Radio Manchester this week, Andy Burnham discussed the issue of drinks being spiked.
He said: “It’s just completely off the scale.
“This thing is about again women and girl’s safety, you know, I’ve said before Mike, my daughters tell me some of the things that happen when they’re on nights out and it’s just it’s ridiculous.
“We thankfully, I’ve checked with GMP, haven’t had many reports of this. Although there were some in the Fallowfield area at the time when the students were coming back to university.
“There was about five reports of drinks being spiked and we have looked into that."
The Mayor of Greater Manchester then spoke passionately about how this issue is 'one for the men'.
He said: “If you are aware of any mate of yours, or so called mate who does that, you should call them out immediately and if they won’t stop it you go to the police. It’s simple as that.
“I am aware of it having happened in my own sort of circles and it’s not right. I mean what kind of bloke in their right mind sees that behaviour kind of going on and thinks ‘oh well I’ll just turn a blind eye to that’.
“If you’re aware that someone you knows takes a syringe out with them… words completely fail me.
“This one’s for the men. This one’s for the boys. Get a grip, sort this out, don’t tolerate it. You know, we’ve all got mums, we’ve all got sisters, we’ve all got daughters. This, this is on us this one. Not on women, this is on us.
“Clubs do have to do more, so do men and boys.”
