We Love Wednesdays

music venue (Academy Music Group)

O2 Ritz Manchester

Manchester · Whitworth Street West, Manchester M1 5NQ, UK

The Ritz on Whitworth Street West was designed by Cruickshank and Seward and opened as a dance hall with a sprung dance floor and a revolving stage; the venue gives 1928 as its build date, while Wikipedia gives 1927. Phillip Moss, its bandmaster for 17 years, ran the Dancing In The Dark night there through the 1950s and 1960s, and the building was Grade II listed on 5 June 1994. HMV took it over in 2011 and refurbished it while keeping its Art Deco features, and Live Nation acquired it in 2015 and renamed it O2 Ritz Manchester. The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, The Smiths, Happy Mondays, R.E.M. and The Stone Roses have all played there.