{"id":57730,"date":"2019-03-05T13:02:10","date_gmt":"2019-03-05T13:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=57730"},"modified":"2019-03-05T13:03:58","modified_gmt":"2019-03-05T13:03:58","slug":"the-forgotten-history-of-the-reno-manchesters-original-nightclub-for-mixed-race-youth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=57730","title":{"rendered":"the forgotten history of the reno: manchester\u2019s original nightclub for mixed race youth"},"content":{"rendered":"

the forgotten history of the reno: manchester\u2019s original nightclub for mixed race youth<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

i-D<\/a>
\nVice<\/a>
\n2019-02-21<\/p>\n

Kamila Rymajdo<\/strong><\/a>, Northern correspondent<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\nImage from @excavatingthereno<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n

Thirty years after it closed, Manchester<\/a> nightclub the Reno<\/a> has been excavated by playwright Linda Brogan<\/a> and a team of volunteers — now they\u2019re taking over Whitworth Art Gallery<\/a> to continue telling its story.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe dipped our fingers in the fountain of youth,\u201d is how Jamaican-Irish playwright Linda Brogan<\/a> explains the 2017 archaeological excavation of The Reno<\/a>, Manchester\u2019s<\/a> original nightclub for mixed-race youth. Opened in the early 1960s, and famously visited by Muhammad Ali<\/a>, the funk and soul venue enjoyed a heyday in the 1970s, only to close in 1986, and be demolished a year later. Overgrown by grass in the multi-ethnic neighbourhood of Moss Side<\/a> — where Manchester\u2019s Irish, West Indian and African communities have traditionally lived — it was all but forgotten. Until now.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you got in, it was like you were home,\u201d remembers Barrie George, a retired Manchester City Football Club<\/a> steward, who partook in the club’s excavation.<\/p>\n

Stigmatised by the 1930 \u2018Fletcher Report\u2019<\/a> (a controversial paper that described children of mixed heritage as suffering from inherent physical and mental defects) people such as Barrie and Linda found themselves caught between two different communities. \u201cWhen we\u2019d go to town, white people would say, \u2018black this, black that,\u2019 then we\u2019d go out in Moss Side and the Jamaican people would go, \u2018you mixed race, two nation, people with no countries,\u2019 so it was like we were battling with two,\u201d explains another Reno regular, Steve Cottier, his words echoing around the vast expanse of Whitworth Art Gallery\u2019s<\/a> upper floor. We’re here because, starting on 15 March, the gallery will be the site of a year long residency, during which Linda, and twelve former Reno regulars, will explore the club\u2019s historical context and attempt to strengthen its legacy…<\/p>\n