Stockport · Manchester · London · Box · Ibiza · 1981–1989

New OrderPick a pull. Go there.

Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris, Gillian Gilbert and Peter Hook in 1985, and three of their places.

They paid for a club and named it after a line from a 1950s Situationist text. Follow them the way that text liked to move through a city: by the pull of each place.

Twelve places · any order

Drift. Follow the pull.

Guy Debord coined the word psychogeography in 1955: the effect a place has on how people feel and behave. The club’s name came from a slogan, The Hacienda Must Be Built, written by Ivan Chtcheglov in Formulary for a New Urbanism. So there is no timeline here. Start in Stockport and choose where the place pulls you.

Psychogeography

Tate: Art term, psychogeography

A red-brick corner building on a Stockport street — The old Strawberry Studios, 3 Waterloo Road, Stockport, 2019. Matt Harrop · CC BY-SA 2.0

24 April to 4 May 1981 · 3 Waterloo Road, Stockport

Strawberry Studios

New Order made Movement here with Martin Hannett, from 24 April to 4 May 1981. Factory released it on 11 November 1981.

Hannett also produced the singles Procession and Everything’s Gone Green here; the second was their first deliberate move towards electro-disco.

The studio closed in 1993 and the building is offices. Stockport Heritage Trust’s blue plaque went up on 2 May 2007.

Offices now. See the front and the blue plaque from Waterloo Road; there is no way in. Stockport station is a short walk.

Sources

You are in Stockport, spring 1981. Pick a pull.

Factory, 1978 to 1992

Everything gets a number

The Haçienda, with its cedilla.

Tony Wilson added the cedilla so that the çi in Haçienda would look like 51, its Factory catalogue number. Everything at Factory got a number.

The name

Far Out: Where did the Haçienda get its name from?

FAC 51The HaçiendaThe Haçienda · Whitworth Street West, Manchester
FAC 61Martin Hannett’s lawsuit against FactoryFactory’s office · Palatine Road, Didsbury, Manchester
FAC 73Blue MondayBritannia Row · Britannia Row, Islington, London N1
FAC 104The Tube at the HaçiendaThe Haçienda · Whitworth Street West, Manchester
FAC 151The Festival of the Tenth SummerG-Mex · Windmill Street, Manchester
FAC 201DryDry · 28–30 Oldham Street, Northern Quarter, Manchester

A floor sign that says you have just walked through the original FAC51 Haçienda doors — A floor sign beside doors from the club, at an exhibition in Manchester, August 2007. a_marga · CC BY-SA 2.0

Three black-and-white striped bollards with red reflectors — Bollards from the club, shown at an exhibition in Manchester, August 2007. a_marga · CC BY-SA 2.0

Factory went into receivership in November 1992, £2 million in debt. New Order kept their own catalogue.

Factory

Science Museum Group Collection: Factory Communications Limited

Sources

Britannia Row · 7 March 1983 · FAC 73

One rest too many

Gillian Gilbert wrote the sequence out by hand on sheets of A4 taped together. She put in one sixteenth rest too many, so one synth part runs slightly out of time. They kept it: it gave the track a lift.

Drums and synth start together, in time.

They wrote and programmed most of Blue Monday in their own rehearsal room before taking it to Britannia Row. An Oberheim DMX drum machine, a Prophet, a Moog Source on the bass line, and a sequencer so primitive the sequence went in as code.

The bass drum was recorded by putting a microphone in front of a big studio monitor in the games room.

Since 1994 the charts have counted 1,202,345 sales. The original was in the Top 75 for 38 weeks in 1983 and reached No. 9 in October.

Peter Saville picked a floppy disk off a table in their rehearsal room, and by the end of the M1 knew it would be the sleeve. The story that Factory lost money on every copy because of the sleeve is old; Saville thinks it was exaggerated, and Stephen Morris dismisses it.

Blue Monday

Music Week: The story behind New Order’s Blue Monday

The sleeve

Radio X: Did New Order really lose money on the Blue Monday 12" sleeve?

FAC 73

MusicBrainz: New Order, Blue Monday, Factory FAC 73

Sources

Top of the Pops · London · 1983

On Top of the Pops in 1983 they played Blue Monday live instead of miming.

One take. Press once.

Top of the Pops

Ultimate Classic Rock: New Order on Top of the Pops

The TOTP film

New Order: Power, Corruption & Lies, Definitive Edition

Four black-and-white portraits of the band in hard side light — New Order in 1985, publicity portraits for Low-Life. Clockwise from top left: Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris, Peter Hook, Gillian Gilbert. Trevor Key, Peter Saville; distributed by Qwest Records · Public domain

1981 to 1988 · five rooms

Who is in the chair?

After Ian Curtis’s death the other three went on as New Order, joined by Gillian Gilbert on keyboards. Movement, in 1981, was their first album. Their next single, Temptation, issued in May 1982, they recorded themselves.

Hannett and after

LTM Recordings: Martin Hannett, recording history

Pick a producer.

The old Strawberry Studios, 3 Waterloo Road, Stockport, 2019. Matt Harrop · CC BY-SA 2.0
24 April to 4 May 1981
Strawberry Studios
New Order made Movement here with Martin Hannett, from 24 April to 4 May 1981. Factory released it on 11 November 1981.
Hannett also produced the singles Procession and Everything’s Gone Green here; the second was their first deliberate move towards electro-disco.
Offices now. See the front and the blue plaque from Waterloo Road; there is no way in. Stockport station is a short walk.
Sources
Britannia Row, Islington, 2012. Stephen McKay · CC BY-SA 2.0
1982 · 7 March 1983 · 1984
Britannia Row
Power, Corruption & Lies was recorded here in 1982 and produced by New Order.
Blue Monday was recorded here too, after the band had written and programmed most of it in their own rehearsal room.
You can walk along Britannia Row; there is no studio to visit. Angel is the nearest station.
Sources
Gosfield Street at New Cavendish Street, Fitzrovia, 2016. Advision was at No. 23. Philafrenzy · CC BY-SA 4.0
1987
Advision Studios
True Faith was made in Advision’s Studio One with Stephen Hague and the engineer David Jacob. They had exactly ten days to write, record and mix two tracks.
The band rented a flat on Cleveland Terrace, near Paddington, for the job. Gillian Gilbert came with her keyboard parts fully formed and played them by hand.
A working studio now, not open to visit. See the old school building from Gosfield Street.
Sources
The bay at Sant Antoni de Portmany, Ibiza, 2012. We could not place the studio on the island. JanManu · CC BY-SA 3.0
April 1988
A studio in Ibiza
The band flew to Ibiza in April 1988 to start Technique, and stayed about four months.
Sumner remembered the studio as geared towards heavy metal. It did have its own swimming pool.
We could not place the studio on the island, so it is named here and not mapped.
Sources
Real World Studios, Box, Wiltshire, around 1990. Rodhullandemu · CC BY-SA 3.0
1988
Real World Studios
The label had booked Real World at Box, near Bath, for Technique. The band went to Ibiza first.
They came back and spent seven weeks here finishing the album. Technique came out on 30 January 1989 and was their first UK No. 1 album.
A working residential studio, not open to drop in. Mill Lane runs past it in Box.
Sources

A young man with short fair hair in a dark jumper, backstage — Bernard Sumner backstage after New Order’s show at the Greek Theatre, Berkeley, September 1987. Andwhatsnext (Nancy J Price) · CC BY-SA 3.0

Bernard Sumner backstage at Berkeley in September 1987, the year of True Faith.

A painting of pale roses in a wicker basket on a dark ground — Henri Fantin-Latour, A Basket of Roses, 1890. National Gallery, London (NG3726). Henri Fantin-Latour · Public domain

Britannia Row, 1982 · a store room in London

A painting not on display

The front of the Power, Corruption & Lies sleeve shows Henri Fantin-Latour’s painting A Basket of Roses.

The front: roses in a basket, 1890.

The sleeve

V&A Collections: Power, Corruption and Lies, record sleeve, Peter Saville

The painting

The National Gallery: Fantin-Latour, A Basket of Roses, 1890 (NG3726)

A tall modern apartment block of brick and glass on a city corner — The Haçienda Apartments on the club’s site, Whitworth Street West, Manchester, 2010. The flats kept the name. Hassocks5489 · CC0

Whitworth Street West · May 1982 to 1988

Empty, then full

It opened in May 1982, seven nights a week. It cost in the region of half a million pounds, paid roughly equally by New Order and Factory.

A disused yacht showroom on Whitworth Street became the club. Its Factory catalogue number was FAC 51, and Ben Kelly designed the inside.

Madonna made her first appearance on British television here, on The Tube, on Friday 27 January 1984. The broadcast had its own Factory number, FAC 104.

Upstairs were a stage, a dance floor, a balcony and a DJ booth; downstairs, cocktail bars named after spies. It closed in 1997 and was knocked down in 2002. The flats on the site kept the name, and a plaque tells passers-by its story.

Sources

Straight to the club.

Broadcasting House from Portland Place, London, 2021. No Swan So Fine · CC BY-SA 4.0
25 August 1984
Broadcasting House
On Saturday 25 August 1984 New Order played a live session in a cramped basement studio here, broadcast on Radio 1 and BBC2 at the same time.
They were late and there was very little rehearsal. Sumner called it awful afterwards; Hook said nothing was working.
The BBC’s headquarters. See the curved front from Portland Place; Oxford Circus is close.
Sources
Manchester Central, the old Central Station and G-Mex, 2021. Gerald England · CC BY-SA 2.0
19 July 1986
G-Mex
New Order played the G-Mex on 19 July 1986. The night was filmed and is in the Brotherhood box set.
It was the main venue of Factory’s Festival of the Tenth Summer; the tenth event had New Order, the Smiths and the Fall.
A conference and events centre now, called Manchester Central. See the great arched train shed from Windmill Street.
Sources
Brixton Academy, Stockwell Road, 2019. Drew de F Fawkes · CC BY 2.0
1987
Brixton Academy
New Order’s 1987 show at the Academy in Brixton was filmed; it is in the Brotherhood box set.
It opened on 19 August 1929 as the Astoria, the first fully fledged atmospheric theatre in Britain, and reopened as the Academy on 7 October 1983.
Still a music venue at 211 Stockwell Road. Go in with a ticket.
Sources

Academy Music Group

A gig at Brixton Academy

Brixton, London

The old Astoria where New Order were filmed in 1987 still has gigs most weeks; Arlo Parks plays on 20 October 2026, Melanie C on 23 October.

See listings

Visit

Where it is now

10 places you can visit. Factory’s office on Palatine Road is a private home, and we could not place the Ibiza studio, so both are named here and not mapped.

Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.

General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The club has gone. The Haçienda Apartments stand on the site, on the corner of Whitworth Street West; read the plaque from the pavement.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A conference and events centre now, called Manchester Central. See the great arched train shed from Windmill Street.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. See the front on Oldham Street in the Northern Quarter. The bar has closed.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Aviva Studios stands on the site now; go in with a ticket for a show.

The Haçienda Apartments on the club’s site, Whitworth Street West, Manchester, 2010. The flats kept the name. Hassocks5489 · CC0
Whitworth Street West, Manchester
The Haçienda
A disused yacht showroom on Whitworth Street became the club. Its Factory catalogue number was FAC 51, and Ben Kelly designed the inside.
The club has gone. The Haçienda Apartments stand on the site, on the corner of Whitworth Street West; read the plaque from the pavement.
Sources
Manchester Central, the old Central Station and G-Mex, 2021. Gerald England · CC BY-SA 2.0
Windmill Street, Manchester
G-Mex
New Order played the G-Mex on 19 July 1986. The night was filmed and is in the Brotherhood box set.
A conference and events centre now, called Manchester Central. See the great arched train shed from Windmill Street.
Sources
Oldham Street in the Northern Quarter, Manchester, 2023. Dry stood at 28–30. Anthony Parkes · CC BY-SA 2.0
28–30 Oldham Street, Northern Quarter, Manchester
Dry
Ben Kelly Design made Dry 201 for Factory Records and New Order in 1989, across the ground floor and basement, with a 24-metre slate and steel bar, the longest in Manchester then.
See the front on Oldham Street in the Northern Quarter. The bar has closed.
Sources
Old Granada Studios, Quay Street, Manchester, 2017. Gerald England · CC BY-SA 2.0
Quay Street and Water Street, Manchester
Old Granada Studios
In 2017 New Order and Liam Gillick staged intimate Manchester International Festival shows at the old Granada studios, where Joy Division had been on television.
Aviva Studios stands on the site now; go in with a ticket for a show.
Sources

A leafy suburban road with trees and parked cars — Palatine Road, West Didsbury, 2011: the street, not the house. Stephen Armstrong · CC BY-SA 2.0

Not on the map · 1978 to 1990

Factory’s office

Factory set up its headquarters in Alan Erasmus’s flat on Palatine Road, Didsbury, and stayed there until 1990.

Martin Hannett’s 1982 lawsuit against the label got a number too: FAC 61. It was settled in January 1984.

A private home. It is named here and not mapped; the photograph is the road, not the house.

Sources

A blue bay with white buildings along its shore — The bay at Sant Antoni de Portmany, Ibiza, 2012. We could not place the studio on the island. JanManu · CC BY-SA 3.0

Not on the map · April 1988

A studio in Ibiza

The band flew to Ibiza in April 1988 to start Technique, and stayed about four months.

Sumner remembered the studio as geared towards heavy metal. It did have its own swimming pool.

Fine Time, the album’s first single, took its title from a parking fine Stephen Morris had to pay. It reached No. 11.

We could not place the studio on the island, so it is named here and not mapped.

Sources

Stay

Sleep by the old G-Mex.

A listed hotel on Peter Street, a walk from Whitworth Street West and Oldham Street.

The Midland Hotel

The Midland, Manchester

Peter Street, Manchester

A Grade II listed hotel on Peter Street, beside Manchester Central (the old G-Mex), with 312 rooms and suites and Adam Reid at The French. The Haçienda site and Oldham Street are both in walking reach.

See the hotel

Go there

A gig, and walks.

Brixton Academy still has bands most weeks; music walks in Manchester and London, and tours in Ibiza, on the marketplace.

Academy Music Group

Ibiza

Live marketplace results for tours on the island where Technique was started.

Live marketplace results · itineraries change

Compare tours

What’s on

New Order, on the road.

Six South American dates in November and December 2026, from the band’s own tour page.

Checking current event dates…

Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.

Search all places and Moments Current state Sort

12 of 12 places · 16 of 16 Moments

Strawberry Studios
3 Waterloo Road, Stockport
- Movement
  New Order make their first album, Movement, with Martin Hannett at Strawberry.
The Haçienda
Whitworth Street West, Manchester
- FAC 51
  The Haçienda opens in an old yacht showroom on Whitworth Street.
- The Tube
  The Tube broadcasts from the Haçienda; Madonna’s first British television appearance.
- Full
  The Haçienda is the biggest club in Britain.
Britannia Row
Britannia Row, Islington, London N1
- Power, Corruption & Lies
  The band record and produce Power, Corruption & Lies at Britannia Row.
- Blue Monday
  Blue Monday, programmed in the rehearsal room, is recorded at Britannia Row and released as FAC 73.
- Low-Life
  Low-Life recorded at Jam and Britannia Row, produced by the band.
Broadcasting House
Portland Place, London W1
- Live from the basement
  A live session in a basement studio at Broadcasting House, on Radio 1 and BBC2 at once.
G-Mex
Windmill Street, Manchester
- The Tenth Summer
  New Order, the Smiths and the Fall at the G-Mex for the Festival of the Tenth Summer.
Brixton Academy
211 Stockwell Road, London SW9
- Brixton
  New Order play the Academy in Brixton; the show is filmed.
Advision Studios
23 Gosfield Street, Fitzrovia, London W1
- Ten days
  True Faith written, recorded and mixed with Stephen Hague at Advision.
A studio in Ibiza
Ibiza, Spain
- An island
  The band start Technique in Ibiza.
Real World Studios
Mill Lane, Box, Wiltshire
- Seven weeks
  Technique finished in seven weeks at Real World, Box.
Dry
28–30 Oldham Street, Northern Quarter, Manchester
- FAC 201
  Dry opens on Oldham Street, a place to meet before the club.
Factory’s office
Palatine Road, Didsbury, Manchester
- The flat
  Factory runs from Alan Erasmus’s flat on Palatine Road.
Old Granada Studios
Quay Street and Water Street, Manchester
- So It Goes
  New Order and Liam Gillick play the old Granada studios for MIF17.

New OrderPick a pull. Go there.