Affleck's Palace is old warehouse-cum-market-traders-haven that I remember from the early 80s. It was a slightly scary, but exciting place, ideal for an early teen keen to know what was happening in Manchester - and by default most of Western Europe at the time.
Every Saturday, grabbing my pocket money, I would head from Warrington station and jump the morning train to Oxford Street, Manchester. Past the arches, the Hacienda, off the train, head for Piccadilly, cutting through the backs, I was there - Affleck's Palace.
Affleck's, as it is known today, was filled with floors and floors of ad hoc traders, performers, posers, and teenage reprobates trying their best to look cool, sniff out rare vinyl and check out the latest in hand-made and second hand fashion. I personally spent weeks waiting to find a Blue Bowie suit that fit me. Unfortunately, I found one.
In the 90s, it became the stomping ground of Oasis, Inspiral Carpets, the Happy Mondays, Stone Roses and Morrissey. Members and fans alike used to hang out in the cafe on the top floor. You could get a bowl cut, baggy flares, T-shirts, glo-sticks and as much psychedelia as you could stomach.
Post 'Madchester', Affleck's Palace was an important meeting and cultural meeting point of many more recent Northern bands such as Elbow, Badly Drawn Boy and the Doves, as well as giving birth to Red or Dead, Vicky Martin, Fat City Records (Andy Votel) and many more.
At this time the traders seemed much more commercial, although the fashion and music scene was regurgitating much of what had happened over the past 20 years, so I guess that's not surprising.
After surviving a bomb blast, fire and the regular onslaught of uniformly applied chrome fittings over the years, it was recently thought we may have seen the last of Affleck's Palace as the former owner's 25 year lease expired this month.
In a bid to save Affleck's, the building has been bought by it's developer-owners and they are looking for a new owner to buy the lease from them.
Fancy leasing the Heart of Manchester?
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