Madchester | Heather Burnside Author

I am due to release my second novel, “A Gangster’s Grip”, in the next few months, and it is currently with my beta readers. It will be the second part in “The Gunchester Trilogy”; Slur is the first part. All three books are set during the Gunchester era, an infamous period in Manchester’s recent history when gang-related gun crime escalated. This was, in fact, the reason why the press dubbed Manchester, “Gunchester” during the 1990s.

Slur features many of the same characters as the following two books and takes place at the beginning of the Gunchester era, in the 1980s. However, the 80s was the prelude to what was to become one of the most dangerous periods in Manchester’s recent history. It was during the 90s when things really got out of control. My second book, “A Gangster’s Grip”, is set at the height of the Gunchester period and I will be giving more details about the novel in a future blog post. Firstly, though, I would like to tell you about the Gunchester era, which provides the backdrop for “A Gangster’s Grip”.

Manchester, like any major city, has always had its share of crime and organized violence. Even in the 19^th century there were gangs such as the Scuttlers and the Bengal Tigers who would be involved in fatal knife battles.

Since the 1970s, Moss Side, an inner city area of Manchester, has been known as a place to purchase illegal drugs such as cannabis. The drug scene changed during the 80s though when heroin started to arrive on the streets of Manchester. At the beginning of the same decade, the police received reports of a gang war between rival gangs from Moss Side and Cheetham Hill. Up until that point the gangs had maintained good relations but something had caused a major rift.

At the start of the hostilities the weapon of choice had been the machete. Gang members also used knives to settle disputes. However, as time went on guns were increasingly being used in gang violence. The incidents of gun related crime soon escalated, reaching a peak in the 1990s. During a five year period when gun violence was at its worst there were 27 gang-related deaths and 250 injuries.

Apart from the rivalry between Moss Side and Cheetham Hill, there was also rivalry between two Moss Side gangs whose members lived in close proximity to each other. Youths as young as 15 became victims of the violence and, as well as the nickname of “Gunchester”, Moss Side was also dubbed “The Bronx of Britain”.

In an attempt to rid the area of gangs, the authorities redeveloped the estate in Moss Side where the two local gangs were based. However, as a result, some of the gang members moved to other areas where they formed new gangs in places such as Longsight and Rusholme.

At the same time the city was experiencing problems with gangs from other parts of the city, mainly Salford, which controlled nightclub security in the city centre, and demanded a percentage of the income from nightclubs. At one point no nightclub was safe, and gangs loaded up with weapons would move in as soon as they heard about a new nightclub opening.

Eventually the police managed to bring the problems under control by carrying out ‘stop and search’ operations on cars entering the city centre on Friday and Saturday nights, and confiscating weapons. Manchester also set up a multi-agency task force to tackle gang-related problems. Nowadays, there is still gang related violence but the number of casualties has been vastly reduced since the figures reached their peak at the height of the Gunchester period.

“A Gangster’s Grip” features three rival gangs. Although I have set the book during the Gunchester era, and based the gangs in Moss Side, Cheetham Hill and Longsight, the gangs featured in the novel are fictitious, as are the pubs that are mentioned. The book is scheduled for launch around September/October and I will be including further details on this blog in the lead-up to the launch.

——————-

To get a feel for what 80s Manchester would have been like for the lead characters in “Slur”, here are a few of my own recollections.

The Music
I can remember that it was a time of big change on the music scene. On the one hand you had clubs that played mainly soul and disco music, and then were those that catered to the alternative music scene. My preferences were mainly soul and disco with Luther Vandross, George Benson and Whitney Houston amongst my favourites. However, I also remember listening to 80s Bowie, the Human League, Brian Ferry and the 12” version of Tainted Love in my friend’s house or mine while we experimented with make-up. We found some shiny purple eye shadow that my mother had discarded years previously and adopted it as lipstick. Bang on trend!

As we got towards the end of the 80s and into the 90s, Manchester started to develop its own music scene, known as Madchester. The emergence of groups like the Stone Roses, the Happy Mondays and the Inspiral Carpets are linked to the Hacienda nightclub. At one point ‘Stone Roses’ was scrawled on virtually every wall in the city centre.

The Clubs
As for the clubs I used to frequent, I started in my late teens with Rotters, a converted cinema with a beautiful interior, and occasionally Tiffanys, which later became the Tropicana. At that time Pips and Placemate 7 were the places where the cool kids went. Placemate 7 was so called because of the 7 different dance floors, with each dedicated to a different style of music, so you got a real mix of people including New Romantics and Punk Rockers. In my 20s I moved onto Saturdays, Fridays and Sachas.

Out of all the clubs, Rotters and Saturdays were my favourites, mainly because they played a good mix of music – usually soul and disco but with some other genres thrown in, which suited my eclectic tastes. Another club I enjoyed was Legends. This was one that my brothers introduced me to and we were fascinated by the laser beams and strobe lighting. Occasionally we also went to the Ritz in the 80s and 90s. It had a bit of a bad reputation and the dance floor used to bounce if there was any particularly energetic dancing taking place.

One of the alternative venues I visited was Corbieres. This was a wine bar that hosted live bands and I went there with someone I was seeing who was into alternative music and dress. In an attempt to fit in I wore the trendiest outfit I could find. Acid Brights were really big that season so I turned up in my bright orange dress complete with matching white accessories. I was mortified when I descended into a dark cellar full of people dressed in black. I also went to The Venue, which I found a bit weird, and the famous Hacienda. The Hacienda was quite casual and full of student types who tended to dress down.

The Fashions
There were so many fashions that came and went throughout the 80s and often what you wore would be linked to the type of music you preferred. I can remember feeling really daring going out dressed in mini-skirts and white stilettos. It seems that the mini-skirt re-emerges every decade. And yes, I did wear leggings the first time round; the original ones didn’t even have Lycra and they used to sag around the knees and bum by the end of the day. We also used to dance around our handbags in nightclubs – cringe!

Manchester also had its fair share of drugs and violence, as many major cities still do today. These are both evident in my book. In fact, it was due to drug problems that the popular Hacienda had to shut down. Because of this connection I have chosen to feature it in my novel.

The 80s were a great time for me as it was the time of my youth and I can honestly say that I never witnessed any of the crime that is featured in my book. I once saw a handbag snatched and I’ve seen a few nightclub brawls, but I’ve never witnessed a murder. I could go on reminiscing but that alone wouldn’t make a good novel. That’s why I decided to write a crime thriller. I’m hoping that readers will, like me, prefer something gritty and hard-hitting. I’ll be following up with an excerpt chapter from the novel in the coming weeks.

If you remember the 80s please feel free to share your memories in the comments box below. If you’re too young to remember the 80s, I hope you’ve been entertained by the reminiscences of an old dinosaur.

——————