Sacha Lord to tell Tales from the Dance Floor at our April event
Sacha Lord, the co-founder of The Warehouse Project and Parklife will be the guest at a special TheBusinessDesk.com lunchtime networking event to talk about the publication of his inaugural tell-all book, Tales from the Dance Floor.
The lunch event at Ducie Street Warehouse, Manchester M1 2TP, on 18 April 2024, will feature a Q&A with Sacha Lord, Greater Manchester’s Night Time Economy Adviser, hosted by Michael Taylor, TheBusinessDesk.com editor, where Sacha will speak on the meteoric rise of Manchester and how the city became the capital of nightlife that it is today.
The hotly anticipated book, which includes endorsements from best-selling rapper Aitch, Happy Mondays lead singer Shaun Ryder and Ian Brown, will reveal behind-the-scenes accounts and exposés on Lord’s early promoter years at seminal Manchester clubs like Sankeys, Home, The Haçienda and Paradise Factory.
Speaking about the book, Sacha Lord said: “Like most Mancunians my age, my life is a tale of two cities. Then and now. It has been the very best of times, and there has also been the worst of times – often in the same week, sometimes in the same night! Manchester really has been the making of me, and it has so much to answer for.
“I’ve been shot at in a drive-by shooting, bundled into a car by gangsters and had death threats. I’ve been sued and broke, I’ve had to deal with an army of rats who were high on cocaine, had £130,000 stolen in an armed robbery and been targeted by a Romanian organised crime gang.
“In the past 30 years, my generation has witnessed a musical revolution, as electronic music went from being a niche genre to arguably the biggest music genre in the world. I’ve been lucky to have been in the eye of the storm of this musical and cultural revolution – to have some of the most incredible life-affirming experiences, to meet most of my musical heroes and to have thrown some of the biggest parties this country has ever seen, and I’m excited to reveal all in this book.”
Voice of the sector
But Sacha Lord has also been a staunch defender and advocate for the whole night time economy scene nationally, taking on the government over their lack of support for freelancers and the self-employed during the pandemic and campaigning on issues such as VAT reform.
A spate of closures in early 2024 saw him speak out on behalf of the whole sector in his capacity as the Night Time Economy Adviser of Greater Manchester.
“I am saddened to hear of the string of restaurant closures across the UK this week including Simon Rimmer’s restaurant Greens here in Didsbury, Greater Manchester. We are now seeing the unfortunate damage that the turbulent economic year has caused in real terms,” he said.
“The closure of Greens is a stark example that even in regions of relatively high disposable income, the financial pressures on small businesses are simply no longer viable especially when household budgets are being squeezed more than ever by food price inflation or rising energy costs.
“On countless occasions we have seen policy u-turns due to the lack of understanding of the most pressing issues, or measures which could significantly boost trade being misunderstood or neglected entirely, such as a reduction in VAT for hospitality to match European counterparts or the specific appointment of a minister for hospitality who can better advise on the complexities of the industry.
“It is only by listening to experts and the business owners on the ground that the right policies can be made which not only stimulate economic growth in the long term but help ensure the viability of the UK’s fifth biggest industry for the years ahead.”
Tales from the Dance Floor will be published by HarperNorth, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, on 11 April 2024.
