The Salford building that houses the much-loved nightclub The White Hotel is set to reopen as a new venue under new ownership next year. The new club will be called BASTION.
BASTION will be run by the team behind neighboring venue The Bag Factory, with support from the newly formed nonprofit Strange Art Collective CIC. The change of tenants was confirmed in an Instagram post from The Bag Factory team, which described the underground club scene as gaining "a new stronghold" and said "gates will be open in 2027." Full details of the new venue's music programming and opening date have not yet been announced.
The White Hotel's current operators, co-founders Austin Collings and Ben Ward, announced in May that the space would close in January 2027, ending almost 12 years of parties in the Dickinson Street garage building. They cited administrative pressure alongside the site's location in a flood-risk zone under Salford City Council's Strategic Regeneration Framework as reasons for the move.
The Bag Factory, a small-scale studio and events space within the same complex, is run by promoter Acid Rain, which applied earlier this month for a late license to bring "top tier music talent" to its 60-capacity room, part of a wider push by grassroots UK promoters to expand licensed programming, following Beatport's recent ban on AI-generated tracks as another sign of the underground scene setting its own rules. Founder Francesca Melia has said the business works "collaboratively with its neighbours" and is "created, decorated, and run by the grassroots music community."
The White Hotel became a fixture of Manchester's underground electronic scene over its 12-year run, and BASTION's arrival suggests the Dickinson Street building will keep that role even as its name and operators change. It follows other recent UK venue transformations, including Leeds' TESTBED reopening under new management and the continued expansion of DJ education programs like Your Shot's US academy. Representatives for both The White Hotel and The Bag Factory have yet to respond to requests for further comment.
The facts
- Building reopens as BASTION under new ownership in 2027
- Run by the team behind neighboring venue The Bag Factory
- Supported by nonprofit Strange Art Collective CIC
- The White Hotel closes in January 2027 after almost 12 years
- Closure tied to the site's location in a flood-risk zone
How this checks out
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