Right, is Manchester’s first BYOB club really worth the hype?

With uni somehow already upon us, and deadlines feeling like they’re already fast approaching, nights out are promised to be few and far between, especially for the third year student. This means when you do manage to rally everyone together for a night out it needs to be worth it. (No more 256 Tuesdays or Factory Fridays PLEASE!)

So I went to the launch of XLR’s latest venture, BYOB, to see if it has what it takes to make the weekly club night rotation. From buzz balls and bathroom queues, to the larger conversation around Manchester’s club culture’s evolution, come with me as I venture into the sweaty depths of Withington’s underground nightclub on a top secret investigative mission. Here is everything to expect from this local venue who are redefining what a student night out can look like in 2025.

The build up

First week of all my housemates moving back into Withington for third year and our first night at the pub just so happened to fall on a Wednesday… Wednesday the 24th of September to be exact, which coincidentally happened to also be the first night of XLR’s BYOB relaunch. Sat with a pint at The Vic all but 20 yards away we unanimously agreed that it’d be doing a disservice to ourselves to not go and check it out.

I had been to XLR semi frequently since I arrived in Manchester two years ago and never had much to fault it for.

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First of the location is great, nestled in the heart of Withington high street, no treks into town (or ensuing Uber arguments!) are necessary. The music is solid and varies in genre, from bigger names like Interplanetary Criminal, to smaller student DJ’s. With something for everyone, from dance-y electronica, to house or hip hop, there’s no excuse for your lesser seen housemate to stay holed up in their room!

So, armed with the promise of loud music, dancing and unfortunately long toilet queues we made our way to one of the many corner shops on Withington high street to pick up our booze, before making our way back to join the long but fast moving queue into XLR.

The rules

“No glass bottles, no backpacks and no re-entry”, decidedly reasonable. After a brief deliberation we decided buzz balls made the most sense: Cheap, strong and small enough to fit into a jacket pocket. In an effort to spare no time we had decided against going home and getting changed after the pub so we did unfortunately rock up in jackets and scarves.

We bought our tickets online whilst we waited to get in, £12.50 so a moderate increase from previous years, but nothing extortionate, especially when considering the money saved on alcohol or the convenient location. And before we knew it we were fast approaching, buzz balls confidently in hand.

The arrival

For anyone that has not been before, the entrance to XLR is a small unassuming door guarded by two friendly bouncers, beside a takeaway. To the left of the door is a cordoned off smoking area on the street which, on this day, was filled with people chatting and exchanging drinks and lighters – mostly students. After getting our tickets checked and the rules restated to us we began to descend the stars, leading to a fairly small and darkly painted underground room. To the left is a small entryway to a doorless ‘room’ where the busy toilets and formerly busy bar reside, while the back of the main room houses a large, almost wall to wall, DJ booth.

It kind of felt like we were smuggling in illegal contraband or doing something we shouldn’t be when initially walking down the stairs with alcohol bought from a few doors down, but not something that I couldn’t get used to.

The toilet queue was (unsurprisingly) long, but, apart from that immovable factor, the general vibe in the venue did seem to have changed. It was very busy for a start, more so than usual as more than 30 people on a Wednesday was never guaranteed before, and everyone seemed to be having a great time.

There were no phones in sight- I am aware it might be a reach to put this down to the BYOB rule, but there might be something in the fact that everyone had at least one hand permanently full in the form of a can of some sort that contributed to this. The strobe lights were dominated with blues and purples and the smoke machines were working on overtime, low industrial ceilings and loud dance music – what more could you ask for?

We stayed for a few hours, taking regular smoke breaks to escape the  heat of the crowd- something that was undoubtedly exacerbated by our poor outfit choices (I would not recommend lugging a coat and scarf around the venue) before heading back home for bed.

The verdict:

A great idea and perfect addition to the Manchester student nightlife.

I had wondered if, at the prospect of bringing your own alcohol and therefore avoiding expensive drinks, people would be particularly drunk, but this wasn’t the case at all.

Probably as a result of the rules people weren’t drinking excessively (at least no more than usual) and if anything seemed almost more controlled- something that in hindsight does seem to make sense as getting too silly in a club usually coincides with a regrettably trigger happy use of Apple Pay. Having a fixed number of drinks seems to solve this problem.

I obviously can’t speak for everyone in there, and I have yet to go again since, but at least for me it did feel like a breath of fresh air (not in the literal sense by any means).

I didn’t feel scammed out of money, in fact I was more than happy to pay the slightly higher fee, knowing that it was going towards paying the DJ’s and a venue who’s owner, Chris Hindle, is making an effort to revive clubbing culture, saying he brought in the change in an effort to “alleviate the current hospitality crisis”.