Manchester Venues Deaf Institute and Gorilla Purchased, Saved From Closure

Last week, Mission Mars—the parent company of Manchester music venues The Deaf Institute and Gorilla—announced that both spaces would shutter permanently due to financial stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, both clubs have been purchased by venue group Tokyo Industries and saved from closure, as the BBC and the Manchester Evening News report.

Tokyo Industries owns clubs and bars across the UK such as Impossible, The Factory, and South. According to the BBC and Manchester Evening News, staff at both The Deaf Institute and Gorilla will keep their jobs, and the venues will continue to operate in a similar fashion to their original manner of operation. Event promoters SSD Concerts and the Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess are also reportedly getting involved to save the venues and continue their “existing operating style in a post COVID world,” as Burgess tweeted.

Read “How Independent Music Venues Are Fighting for Their Existence” over on the Pitch.

Originally Appeared on Pitchfork