Inside, the music at Middleton Hippodrome was a match for anything the UK's rave scene had to offer. Outside, however, it was a different matter.
Carl Cox, The Prodigy, Kevin Saunderson, The Orb, 808 State, Grooverider, Richie Hawtin and Laurent Garnier all did a stint behind the decks, as, for a brief, heady period in the early 90s, Middleton became a dance music mecca. For a few hours every weekend, 2,000 ravers from across the country packed into the converted picture house as acid house and ecstasy took over this small town in north Manchester.
But, if you were unlucky enough not to get in, as hundreds regularly were, your night had a very different soundtrack. Speakers rigged up outside Hippos, as it was known, piped easy listening hits from crooners such as Des O'Connor and Max Bygraves into the night air.
