Dry Bar is a Northern Quarter institution that was originally owned by Factory Records and kitted out with a Ben Kelly interior. Over the years this has been bastardised as the venue is refit, but the frontage still reflects the stark industrial design that he put together.

The bar has always put on independent club nights, some of which have outgrown it and moved on to new homes, and the unselective door policy means that you get a huge cross section of society drinking in here.

The bar became infamous when (apparently) Shaun Ryder of the Happy Mondays gave a blank cassette tape to an unknowing Factory Records boss Tony Wilson for a large sum of cash. The tape was supposed to contain the Happy Mondays latest album after they has spent months abroad, and huge sums of money, perfecting their sounds. In actual fact they had taken large quantities of drugs, sold the studio equipment to buy more drugs, then sold Wilson a black tape to (you guessed it) get more drugs. This encounter is parodied in the 24hr Part People Movie.


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