\u200bAfter 10 years of avant garde mayhem, the rough-diamond Salford venue is set to close. Its founders look back on their artistic free-for-all and explain how its spirit will continue<\/p>\n
\u2018The White Hotel is similar to the Highlander and Keith Richards. It\u2019s immortal,\u201d declares Austin Collings. Collings is the artistic director of the Salford venue \u2013 housed in a former MOT garage \u2013 that over the past decade has become a generator for underground culture in the north-west. A programme that has spanned classical music ensemble the Manchester Collective, a celebration of Bertolt Brecht and Andy Weatherall\u2019s last ever DJ set is testament to its scope. Collings, Ben Ward \u2013 the Hotel\u2019s \u201ccaretaker\u201d \u2013 and a tight-knit crew of friends and collaborators have built an experimental arts venue that doubles as the north\u2019s most notorious underground nightclub.<\/p>\n
But despite continuing to draw full houses, the White Hotel will shut up shop in January. Always on administratively shaky ground, they\u2019re now drowning \u2013 literally. According to Salford city council\u2019s Strategic Regeneration Framework, the White Hotel is in a flood-risk zone. \u201cBasically,\u201d says Ward, \u201cit\u2019s a swamp.\u201d In theory, they could have hung on for a few years, but decided it was better \u201cto go out on our own terms, long before we became a museum\u201d.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/9cfcca6532b35ebc596e3057fbfc901dbcdbaff0\/204_0_4186_3350\/master\/4186.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=6e5fa74035aee67939f84de631e54925\" "\\"Raves,")
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