E12: Sacha Lord's Diary - The King of Nightlife

In this chapter I invite Sacha Lord onto the podcast to share his diary. From the halcyon days at Manchester's famed Hacienda, to building the iconic Warehouse Project & Parklife, Sacha is a true party mastermind, and as you can imagine, he's got a lot of stories to tell from along the way.. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Steven Bartlett?

  Hello. In chapter 11, I promised you one hell of a guest for chapter 12, and I have delivered. This week, I sit down with the infamous Sasha Lord. He is the man behind some of the biggest events in Manchester and beyond. He's created era-defining events such as Warehouse Project, the UK's biggest metropolitan festival in Parklife, and other European events like Croatia's famed Hideout Festival. He is the king of nightlife. He started out putting on his first events at Manchester's famous Tassier Enda before moving to reopen Sankies. After throwing a few warehouse parties, he and his business partner Sam decided to put everything on the line and launch the world-famous Warehouse Project.

• 0:41Steven Bartlett?

  That first season, they sold 100,000 tickets, and the rest is history. A born entrepreneur, a party mastermind, and a man of the people. Without further ado, this is chapter 12. I'm Steve Bartlett, and this is the Diary of a CEO. I hope nobody is listening, but if you are, then please keep this to yourself.

• 1:14Steven Bartlett?

  Thank you so much for joining me, Sasha. It's honestly a bit of an honour. I think round our office, you're a little bit of a celebrity as well, because this crowd here, they go to all of your events. I've also attended many of your events. I've been to Parklife probably about three times since I've lived, in the five years that I've lived here. I've been to Warehouse Project on multiple occasions as well. Warehouse Project was my first-ever experience of a proper, good rave, I'd say. Yeah. I don't know if that's a sort of a negative word, but it was my first immersive party experience I had in my life, so I thank you for that. What I want to do, and what I often do when I first meet someone, in order to help sort

• 1:58Steven Bartlett?

  of hit those key moments and understand your story, is set you a bit of a challenge. And that's, what I want to do is give you 30 seconds Oh, God. ...to introduce yourself and to tell your life story. And what I've found useful about this challenge is it helps to hit key moments in your life that you think are sort of poignant as such. Okay. Are you up for it? Yep. Cool. So let me just put my timer on. 30 seconds.

• 2:24Steven Bartlett?

  Right. Ready when you are.

• 2:27Speaker 01

  Okay, go. So, born in Manchester, went to a good school, did well at my GCSEs, discovered the hacienda, fucked up big time on my A-levels because I was partying. Then I realised, actually, that's what I wanted to do for a living, had no qualifications. Put a few student nights on, that built up into nightclub course, thank you so, which became warehouse project, which came part-life, and then the rest is history.

• 2:51Steven Bartlett?

  Amazing, you did that in 23 seconds.

• 2:53Speaker 01

  That's good.

• 2:54Steven Bartlett?

  So, you touched on your early years there.

• 2:56Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 2:56Steven Bartlett?

  And your school years. So you were a good student that turned bad.

• 3:00Speaker 01

  I was, I was, I was a model geek.

• 3:02Steven Bartlett?

  Really?

• 3:03Speaker 01

  So, I was born in Old Chingham, went to Old Chingham Prep. Um, everybody that went to, it was like a sausage factory, everyone that went to Old Chingham Prep was supposed to go to Manchester Grammar.

• 3:12Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 3:13Speaker 01

  Um, so, you know, I was forced through the education system, quite rightly by my parents, they wanted me to have a good education. Um, but that's where we differed, because I didn't enjoy education. You know, I did it, did really well at my GCSEs, but I never, it's really weird, and I was asked this question actually last week, when I was at school, I knew, and this isn't cocky or arrogant, but I knew I was going to do alright for myself, but I didn't know how I was going to do it.

• 3:45Steven Bartlett?

  It's really interesting.

• 3:46Speaker 01

  So, everybody in my class at Manchester Grammar who wanted to go to Oxford or Cambridge and become doctors, or accountants, or lawyers, and they succeeded in that, I had absolutely no interest whatsoever in doing that. And I didn't know, I had, I had passions. I was very fortunate to be growing up around the whole Manchester explosion, so that's the period of like the Roses and the Mondays and New Order and all those bands. So, there was, there was a lot of music happenings at the time in Manchester. And I think I just got on the crest of a wave and went with that. But there was no, I didn't know what I was going to do, I used to panic about it.

• 4:28Steven Bartlett?

  Really?

• 4:29Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 4:29Steven Bartlett?

  But that's interesting, so you had that self, I refer to it as self-belief, that you sort of knew you were going to be something, you were going to do something good, right? Is that?

• 4:37Speaker 01

  Yeah, I didn't, and again, I don't want to be cocky, but I never envisaged myself. Struggling in later life. I always envisaged myself going on nice holidays and doing what I wanted and it was the opposite was never an option.

• 4:53Steven Bartlett?

  I honestly just got goosebumps because I've in previous chapters of this podcast, I've said the same thing. So I was a kid that

• 5:01Steven Bartlett?

  was I was predicted by Plymouth School to get 12 A stars at GCSE and I was a geek, right? But then by several years down the line, I was in bottom sets for everything and I was failing on everything. But that sixteen year old kid was convinced that he wouldn't need school anyway. And hearing you say that kind of resonated with me because I didn't know how, there was no case study looking forward as to how that was going to play out. But I don't and that's why, you know, that was.

• 5:28Speaker 01

  Well, in the eye, I mean, it sounds very similar. In the eyes of the school, I was most definitely a failure.

• 5:35Speaker 01

  I remember the the yearbook when it had everybody's name and which university they went to and there was just a space next to mine. It was blank.

• 5:42Steven Bartlett?

  Really?

• 5:42Speaker 01

  Almost an embarrassment, but now the school invited me back to give a talk and my face is on the Hall of Fame, which is great.

• 5:50Steven Bartlett?

  Crazy.

• 5:51Speaker 01

  Alongside Ben Kingsley, who played Gandhi. It's just bizarre. Yeah.

• 5:56Steven Bartlett?

  And how did your parents feel when you you started to flunk a little bit in school?

• 6:01Speaker 01

  Well, it actually coincided with them separating, getting divorced. Yeah, so. Which wasn't anything to do with me flunking, by the way. I was I was already on that pathway.

• 6:14Speaker 01

  But yeah, no, I think they were pretty, they never said it, but they must have been pissed off because it wasn't a cheap school to go to.

• 6:22Speaker 01

  You know, I think there were there were times when they found it hard to to pay for the fees to go through the school. So. You know, there's a bit of guilt there, but I think my mum's pretty proud now.

• 6:32Steven Bartlett?

  And you and you cited sort of a hacienda as being one of the reasons, and you have done an interview, is one of the reasons why you, school became sort of a second priority almost, I guess.

• 6:42Speaker 01

  Well, yeah, so my only interest at school was art. That was my only interest. And I think it's because, I think it's for several reasons, I actually did like art, contemporary art. But also it gave me the flexibility because nobody else liked art. They were all too academic. So I was in the art halls by myself, which gave me the flexibility to skive. And it gave him the flexibility to hang around McDonald's driving down the road and hang around the gates at the girls' school there. So that was that was my my niche. Um, and I had an art and at the time I was, I dressed like a geek. You know, if you if I said, if I gave you a pencil and I was even said, draw a school geek.

• 7:26Speaker 01

  That was me, you know, the little box, black briefcase with with those gold, um, you know, the little numbers, the three numbers with the locks on them. So that was it. And I had this teacher called Mr. McGuinness, Stephen McGuinness. And he just said to me, look, you're conforming too much. And I remember the conversation. He said, why are you wearing that stiff jacket? You know, just just get rid of it. Get rid of that briefcase. You know, why are you conforming like the rest of the boys? And then literally overnight I changed because I was thinking about this. I thought, why am I conforming like everyone else? You know, I don't want to be like everybody else. Um, and then it was so bizarre, I caught him in the hacienda.

• 8:08Steven Bartlett?

  You're joking.

• 8:09Speaker 01

  Now, which was must have been the lowest point of his life as a teacher, seeing one of his pupils in the hacienda. But we actually, we had a good laugh that night and it was, you know, it was the start of something.

• 8:22Steven Bartlett?

  What is the for anybody that doesn't know, what is the and the hacienda was before my years as well. So I, you know, in my mind, the hacienda is this, it's almost like folklore. I hear about it all the time, but I've never I've never experienced it. What was the hacienda?

• 8:36Speaker 01

  So, um, everybody perceives the hacienda to be a hugely successful club that was packed every single night to open its doors. And in fact, that's not the case at all. It had a very good run for maybe three, four years. That was it. Um, it struggled consistently for money. It had a lot of major errors with with the gangs and things like that. But during that period, um, and the explosion of acid house, the world was looking at the hacienda and something very special went on within those four walls that's.

• 9:09Speaker 01

  None that a small, select number of people understood what was going on there. Um, and you, you've got to remember this was the whole Thatcher period and Manchester was a pretty pissed off, depressed, um, grey city to live in at the time. And then there came this music and with the music came ecstasy. And there was an explosion there. It was almost a release. It was like anarchy under this one roof.

• 9:40Steven Bartlett?

  Wow.

• 9:41Speaker 01

  And, um, I, you know, the police didn't know what was going on. They didn't have a clue. It's like, what? You know, why are 2000 people converging there? Uh, and what is that dance that they're doing? Um, and yeah, it was weird. I mean, the first time I went there was in 89.

• 10:00Steven Bartlett?

  How old were you?

• 10:00Speaker 01

  I was 17.

• 10:01Steven Bartlett?

  Right.

• 10:02Speaker 01

  And I went with a friend of mine called Peter Armstead, who's now a vicar.

• 10:06Steven Bartlett?

  You're joking.

• 10:07Speaker 01

  And, um, we walked in and actually the first time we tried to get in, we got knocked back.

• 10:14Steven Bartlett?

  Right.

• 10:14Speaker 01

  Because I'd heard about the Hasyan and how cool it was. So I borrowed my dad's suit, shirt and tie, thinking that was the look. Got to the door and the door lads were like, listen dickheads, crack on the edge of it, you know? So I revisited the following week in just the T-shirts and jeans, got in. And what we saw blew us away. It was like, what's that dance they're doing? What is that?

• 10:36Steven Bartlett?

  What was the dance?

• 10:37Speaker 01

  Well, there's no point in doing it now because you were literally throwing your arm in the air consistently. It was an acid house dance.

• 10:43Steven Bartlett?

  Got you.

• 10:44Speaker 01

  Um.

• 10:44Steven Bartlett?

  I know, I still see it today, yeah.

• 10:46Speaker 01

  And it was the first time I'd ever seen, all the other clubs in Manchester were playing records that would be introduced by the DJ, who, you know, would say, and now, you know, we're going to play, uh, you know, Happy Mondays track on your track or whatever. And, and then you'd hear it and then he might announce. I don't know, lost orders at the bar.

• 11:06Steven Bartlett?

  He kept interrupting.

• 11:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:07Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 11:08Speaker 01

  And then I walked through the doors and that's this time the customers were praying to the DJ. So the DJ was playing the records, but the DJ was possibly more important than the records. And I'd never seen this before. He was mixing it and it is like, this is something really, really special. Um, and the interaction between the customer and the DJ. Well, we still see it now. Um, but yeah, it was, we didn't realise until six months later that everybody was on ecstasy. You know, we were just two kids from Manchester Grammar walking around thinking this is great. Can't wait till Monday to tell everyone.

• 11:44Steven Bartlett?

  So that, so that, that experience at Hacienda sort of changed your, it distracted you in some ways from the academic side of your life and then?

• 11:52Speaker 01

  Yeah, I, I wanted to be different at that point. Something, something snapped in my head. And I remember even up until that day, it was always cool to, and this is the stupid things that stick in my head. It was always seen as cool to sit on the backseat in the bus.

• 12:08Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 12:08Speaker 01

  I don't know why. I don't know who made that rule up. But actually, when I was getting the school bus after that, I don't, I don't want to be like everybody else who wants to sit on the backseat and think I'm cool. Do you know what? I might stand up for this journey. I did, you know, it was, it just said you can do whatever you want to do and be whatever you want to be.

• 12:27Steven Bartlett?

  So at eighteen, you were in, um, did you go to university?

• 12:30Speaker 01

  No.

• 12:30Steven Bartlett?

  You didn't, did you? No.

• 12:31Speaker 01

  No.

• 12:31Steven Bartlett?

  Um, um, what was your, upon leaving school, what was your, your sort of first job then?

• 12:37Speaker 01

  First job, I worked in a clothes shop in Old Chingham called Flannels.

• 12:42Steven Bartlett?

  Right. Oh, yeah. Flannels.

• 12:43Speaker 01

  And it was the first store and I've got quite a few flowers now. And then on a, so I did that Monday through to Saturday and on the Sundays through a market in Liverpool called Stanley dot market.

• 12:52Steven Bartlett?

  Right.

• 12:53Speaker 01

  Selling leather jackets.

• 12:54Steven Bartlett?

  And at your GCSEs, um, or equivalent, what, what was your, how did you do?

• 12:59Speaker 01

  Very well.

• 13:00Steven Bartlett?

  Very well.

• 13:00Speaker 01

  Yeah, straight A's.

• 13:01Steven Bartlett?

  And then what exams came after that? Was it?

• 13:03Speaker 01

  A levels.

• 13:04Steven Bartlett?

  A levels?

• 13:04Speaker 01

  Yeah, and um I originally wanted to do art, English and politics.

• 13:11Steven Bartlett?

  Right.

• 13:11Speaker 01

  Um after four months, the um politics teacher said, listen, just forget this, you don't know what you're doing. So I was like, all right, and I went down to two A levels, really didn't enjoy English at all. Um and actually, although I loved art, I only got a U at art because I didn't do the coursework.

• 13:29Steven Bartlett?

  Right, got you.

• 13:30Speaker 01

  I loved the painting.

• 13:31Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah, but just.

• 13:32Speaker 01

  I didn't like the write-up.

• 13:33Steven Bartlett?

  Hmm.

• 13:33Speaker 01

  Um no, I'd love reading about Matisse or Van Gogh or anyone like that, but I don't want to start writing books about them.

• 13:40Steven Bartlett?

  Right, and and so you you leave your A levels with bad grades, terrible grades.

• 13:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 13:45Steven Bartlett?

  Um you go and do normal um normal jobs in the market stores in Eltrington locally. Um how did that go from there to getting involved in the sort of ni- life entertainment scene?

• 13:59Speaker 01

  Well, this was another thing, so a- another possible life-changing moment. The people who I was serving at Flannels were all very successful people. Um and I remember clearly they used to turn up outside the shop that had a glass frontage in in Ferraris or Bentleys. And I used to, I'd be sat there measuring the trousers, I can do turn-ups on trousers, by the way. So or your inside leg, and I'd be sat there measuring them, thinking to myself. And you know, bear in mind, we're talking about nineteen ninety, so it'd be a lot more expensive now. But I'd be thinking, how on earth can somebody not battering eyelids, spending three hundred pounds on a suit?

• 14:44Speaker 01

  You know, I was just, I was earning a hundred and twenty pounds a week at the time, and I was thinking, how is that physically possible? And then I was thinking to myself, do you know what, if I had that money, I'd be really sensible and I wouldn't spend three hundred pounds on a suit. Actually, that's a lot of rubber.

• 15:02Steven Bartlett?

  It tends to be the way.

• 15:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, but um.

• 15:06Speaker 01

  So yeah, again, it made me quite um.

• 15:10Steven Bartlett?

  Did it make you want nice things?

• 15:11Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 15:12Steven Bartlett?

  And have you always wanted nice things?

• 15:13Speaker 01

  Always.

• 15:14Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 15:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 15:14Steven Bartlett?

  And um now that you have money, was there any sort of, how did it feel to get money? From from being a young guy just like me that didn't have it to then getting it, how did that feel? And what what does what role does money play in your life?

• 15:30Speaker 01

  So I think um.

• 15:33Speaker 01

  Well, first I went through when I when I started my student nights off. I went through a terrible period of um, you know, I'd earn a thousand pounds a week or something. But then I'd spend the eleven hundred pounds a week. And then um I went through a period of two years when I was starting off. Where I wasn't paying my credit cards, I wasn't paying my water bills, I wasn't paying my heating bills. Bailey's used to turn up and it was a nightmare and you know, I'd have to move. I was renting at the time, so I'd moved and he couldn't find me and there was all this dodging the bullets and stuff. And then there was a moment where I thought, right, well, it's time to grow up.

• 16:11Steven Bartlett?

  Right.

• 16:11Speaker 01

  Um, but I think when you become successful and you reach that point where you no longer have to worry about how much, you know, I don't have to, when I go to a restaurant, I don't have to have a look at the the prices on the menu. Or I'm fortunate enough if I see clothes and I don't have to look at the the price of the clothes and um. Holidays, I can go where I want. So but there's always annoyingly, when you think you've got to the top of the mountain, you never are. There's always something much higher and there's always some, you know, there's always something to strive for and achieve for. And I think

• 16:51Speaker 01

  I think um when you do succeed, you notice a change in friends as well, which isn't particularly very nice.

• 16:58Steven Bartlett?

  What what's the change you've noticed in friends? So you're talking about friends that were there when you were?

• 17:02Speaker 01

  The friend, the people who were there at the outset.

• 17:05Steven Bartlett?

  Okay.

• 17:05Speaker 01

  Are my true friends, you know, they're my they're my real friends and they don't care if I've got. Five P to my name, they don't care if I've got five millions to my name, they're my friends. But when people now see what you do, or they've heard your name, or they see what you drive, you get these these people, these hangars on and it's just, I reached a point last year where I said, do you know what? I'm getting rid of it, I'm getting rid of everybody, I'm cutting them off. I changed my number at home. And I must, I think I've got six friends, maybe seven. Who are my true friends and they're the people I'll speak to at home, on the home phone.

• 17:45Steven Bartlett?

  Do you think what you do is quite, and being an entrepreneur in general is quite a lonely pursuit?

• 17:52Speaker 01

  Very lonely.

• 17:52Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah, and and why is that? And talk to me about the sort of loneliness, the lonely side of it.

• 17:59Speaker 01

  It comes, it comes with a lot of pressure. You know, and I walks, you've you've kind of just shown me around your offices here and I've seen how many staff you've got and it's a phenomenal success.

• 18:12Speaker 01

  And anybody, the normal person on the street will walk in and go, wow, Stephen, you're doing so well, this is incredible. But actually, I know, although you may not admit it, that you have this overhead at the back of your mind and you feel responsible to pay all these people's wages. And if you don't pay all these people's wages, they can't eat or they can't pay their rent. So, you know, the more you succeed, the more pressure does come on your shoulders.

• 18:38Steven Bartlett?

  And how have you been dealing with that pressure? Because so just gonna jump back a sec. So you're you're this young guy seeing these Ferraris pull up at this clothing shop. You've now, if we go forward to the point where you're starting to to run these, you know, big, big events, the the events you throw in this city and across the country, to be completely honest, and you know, in parts of Europe as well, are tremendous events that when I look at what park life is, I I was saying it earlier on to one of one of my members of the team. I just can't imagine the amount of like logistics and the amount of people involved in that and the amount of people that have to be paid. And you have to make sure people arrive there, all of those things. And throwing little events is a fucking headache for me.

• 19:23Steven Bartlett?

  So throwing an event of that scale, for me, is just something I would never like want to do. Because of the, just the moving parts and you know, the pressure. So how is, how is that for you, throwing a? World renowned event like sort of Parklife in terms of pressure.

• 19:43Speaker 01

  Well, you know, I I've got a great business partner, Sam.

• 19:47Steven Bartlett?

  Sam, yeah.

• 19:48Speaker 01

  And, you know, we bounce off each other. We're chalk and cheese. You know, Sam and I will probably find it hard to sit and have a pint and have a full conversation because we're, you know, we are chalk and cheese, but it works.

• 20:03Speaker 01

  Sam deals with the more the creative and obviously the artist booking and I'm more logistics. Dealing with the council, the authorities. So it goes, it goes hand in hand, but the, I mean, the pressure is unbearable.

• 20:20Steven Bartlett?

  Is it?

• 20:21Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 20:21Steven Bartlett?

  No one ever sees that, no?

• 20:23Speaker 01

  No one ever sees that.

• 20:24Steven Bartlett?

  From, from the outside looking in, it looks like you guys just have an idea and then it happens. That's the perception, right? Even when I read your story and the interviews I've read, it was you had an idea to reopen Sankey Soap and, and it happened. You had the idea for Parklife and it happened. That's the only story I read. So what, what I'm interested in is, I know those things don't just happen.

• 20:48Speaker 01

  Well, I mean, you read that I had an idea to reopen Sankey Soap and it did, it did reopen, but what you don't read is the night before the Salford gangs petrol bombed the nightclub.

• 21:02Steven Bartlett?

  Really?

• 21:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, you know, it was, it was bad times then, but I think we come up, we do come up with these ideas. We've got, we've got a phenomenal team around us that we've created as we've, as we've grown and they've also grown.

• 21:18Speaker 01

  So, you know, we can say, right, we want to do this. And then sometimes it's, it's an impossible idea that we come up with, but the team managed to resolve it. And I think certainly, you know.

• 21:33Speaker 01

  When things are amazing, when you put an, when you put an event on. And it's an incredible event.

• 21:38Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 21:39Speaker 01

  And the press all brown nosing you. There's nothing better.

• 21:42Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 21:43Speaker 01

  Forget the money side, it's, you know, it's, it's incredible. But then there's the other side, that when something goes tits up. And all of a sudden, for a two, three week period, you missed a bad guy. Then that's a pretty lonely period.

• 21:58Steven Bartlett?

  Talk to me about tits up.

• 22:00Speaker 01

  Well, two thousand and thirteen, we had, um, a guy called Nick Bonney. Who came to Warehouse Project when he was at Victoria Warehouse. And, um, we didn't know at the time, but he'd been taking drugs all day long. And he became very poorly at the Warehouse Project and, uh, our ambulance took him to hospital. And he didn't make it. Um, he didn't survive sadly, so, um, normal promoters, because it, it's not a common occurrence, but it happens in every single city. Um, but I wanted to take the bull by the horns and I wanted to educate my customers and other customers to say, look.

• 22:38Speaker 01

  I know you're gonna party, but don't act reckless, um, because you don't really know what you're doing or what you're taking. And this can happen. So I called a press conference, against the advice of our PR company, called a press conference, hell, it's at the Malmezon. And Sam and I were sat there with all these cameras pointing at us and, and all the radio stations had the little mobile phones in front of us. And my opening gambit was, now, I thanked people for coming, um, and I just wanted them to help me spread the word. Whether it's on the TV, whether it's on the radio, whether it was in print and try and educate, um, the clubbers who, who are going out these days. And of course, that didn't happen.

• 23:19Steven Bartlett?

  Of course.

• 23:20Speaker 01

  They completely demonized us. Um, and I remember the front page of the Manchester Dream News the day afterwards, um. What was it now? Super club death boss speaks out or something like that or death club super boss speaks out. And it was on all those sandwich boards around town. And I just, people didn't realise that when you go through something like that, it actually affects you really badly.

• 23:48Speaker 01

  You know, you do question, well, and Sam and I questioned, we debated whether to carry on the warehouse project season that season because somebody who came to our events didn't make it. And if we hadn't put that event on, would he, would Nick still be alive to this day? The answer that I came up with was no, because he would have gone to another party anyway. Where perhaps at least he had a fighting chance with us because we had paramedics and we had the ambulance. Whereas if he had been somewhere else, then you know, he would, at least he wouldn't have been given that, that chance. So yeah, negatives do happen.

• 24:25Steven Bartlett?

  Did you, did you get a chance to speak to his family or to anybody close to him at all?

• 24:28Speaker 01

  No, um, no, I didn't do. When, um, through the press we spoke, but that was it. But there was nothing negative from his family at all.

• 24:42Speaker 01

  In fact, from memory, I think his mum was a drugs worker, so she, she understood.

• 24:48Speaker 01

  But yeah, not so pleasant, not a pleasant few weeks.

• 24:52Steven Bartlett?

  I can imagine, I can't even imagine the, what that's like to, to deal with. And I guess it's that, as you, I can see there, you've, you've, you've done a little bit of soul searching to figure out whether, whether I guess you, I guess the question I'd ask myself is like, could I have done more? Is there, um, is it exactly the same? Like, is it worth continuing? But, you know, as you said, these things, these things happen in a, in a world where people party and it's.

• 25:18Speaker 01

  Correct. And do you know, the, the not annoying thing, because it has to be acknowledged, it happens. But because it was all over the press, worldwide, by the way, not locally.

• 25:31Speaker 01

  Warehouse project now has this stigma attached to it, to the average, but not our clubbers, but the average Joe on the streets.

• 25:38Steven Bartlett?

  That doesn't come, yeah.

• 25:40Speaker 01

  Yeah, that doesn't come. They think a warehouse project, you know, it's just full of people that take loads of drugs and I'm not going to say there aren't drugs in there, um, because there are in every single dance venue in the country, but. You've been yourself, you know, it's a very happy experience in there.

• 25:55Steven Bartlett?

  Um, no, it was amazing. Honestly, it was amazing. And it was, it honestly, I, I remember being there and genuinely having the thought that I didn't know places like this existed. I didn't know you could have an experience like this. Um, and I went back several, several times and I still go now. Um, uh, and it's moved over, it's moved over.

• 26:16Speaker 01

  Back at Store Street now.

• 26:17Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 26:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 26:17Steven Bartlett?

  Um, oh, yes. So it's gone back into the tunnel, isn't it?

• 26:20Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 26:21Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah. When I first went, it was over by Old Trafford.

• 26:23Speaker 01

  Which was the venue I just spoke about then. So that must have been 2012 slash 13.

• 26:28Steven Bartlett?

  And so dealing with, dealing with that, that tragedy, um, how does, how do you carry on from there? Was, did Warehouse take some time out or did it?

• 26:36Speaker 01

  No, it didn't take any time out. In fact, um, I, I went on a mission and I, and I still do now. So, um, we do random drugs tests, um, back of house at Warehouse Project.

• 26:50Steven Bartlett?

  Right.

• 26:50Speaker 01

  Um, I work very closely with the Loop Charity and, you know, we, we've got hundreds of thousands, which sounds pathetic when I've looked at the figures that you just showed me on your social media channels now, but we have, we have the ears of the 18 to 30, 18 to 23 clubbers in the, in the UK. And you look at what Warehouse Project does. So if I can feed a message out to say, I don't know, in Liverpool, there'd be these red tablets with a handbag on the front of them, they're lethal, avoid them. We do that. I'm not scared of doing that. I know other promoters or club owners who think, well, if you put a message out like that, you're selling these drugs in your venue and the authorities won't like it. That is, that's not the case actually. The authorities appreciate you doing that.

• 27:32Steven Bartlett?

  Um, so talk about those moments and you, you referenced loneliness following those moments. Um, how do you, how do you, have you dealt with those tough moments in a personal way? What, what's your support system like? Is there an internal dialogue? Have you had therapy? Do you go and speak to somebody? Is it your family? What's the?

• 27:54Speaker 01

  I, I'm, um, No, I'm supposedly a bit like a hedgehog.

• 27:58Steven Bartlett?

  Right.

• 27:59Speaker 01

  I just had to think it through myself.

• 28:00Steven Bartlett?

  Mm hmm.

• 28:01Speaker 01

  Um, the gym helps me a lot.

• 28:03Steven Bartlett?

  Mm hmm.

• 28:04Speaker 01

  So I'd, you know, I'd probably go five, six times a week.

• 28:07Steven Bartlett?

  Right.

• 28:08Speaker 01

  You wouldn't think it looking at me.

• 28:09Steven Bartlett?

  No, I do. I actually, you do actually look like you're a really good jogger.

• 28:12Speaker 01

  That to me is a period where, um, if you have a lot of tension.

• 28:16Steven Bartlett?

  Mm.

• 28:17Speaker 01

  Go and punch a punch bag for thirty minutes.

• 28:19Steven Bartlett?

  Mm hmm.

• 28:19Speaker 01

  You do feel better. If you jog, it's a good time to think.

• 28:24Steven Bartlett?

  Your internal dialogue must be pretty good, though. So the, the voice that's talking back to you when you're thinking things through must be very, very good at sort of rationalizing things and not, not like self blaming or beating yourself up or worri- like worrying too much.

• 28:38Speaker 01

  Well, I write a lot of lists.

• 28:40Steven Bartlett?

  Right.

• 28:40Speaker 01

  Um, there's nothing better than, if you think about things in your mind.

• 28:45Steven Bartlett?

  Mm hmm.

• 28:45Speaker 01

  You'll start forgetting things, but if it's written down with a pencil in front of you.

• 28:49Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 28:50Speaker 01

  Let's say you have five or six challenges to get through. You know, I go through it and then I cross those challenges off.

• 28:57Steven Bartlett?

  Right.

• 28:57Speaker 01

  Um, and that's, that's the way I do it. I just look at everything on paper and try and, try and work it out.

• 29:04Steven Bartlett?

  Right. And have, have, are you in a relationship?

• 29:06Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 29:07Steven Bartlett?

  Married, single?

• 29:08Speaker 01

  No.

• 29:10Speaker 01

  I'm in, I'm in a, I've got a girlfriend.

• 29:12Steven Bartlett?

  Oh, okay, okay. And how is, how is she found? Um, one of the things I always find really interesting, and this is again me soul searching for myself because I continually fail in relationships. I've gone from one failed relationship to another, to another, to another, to another. And I was, I was almost at one point thinking that um, it's impossible for me to have a good relationship whilst running a business. How have you found that process of being incredibly busy but trying to compromise when you have to?

• 29:36Speaker 01

  Well, I think it's, it's, um, I said this last week, actually. I, I am adamant. And there are many entrepreneurs who disagree with me, but I don't believe what they're telling me. Because you'd never know what goes on behind people's doors of the homes. But I think it is impossible. To throw your life into your work and at the same time, hand in hand, have a very successful personal relationship. I don't think that's possible.

• 30:03Steven Bartlett?

  Hmm.

• 30:03Speaker 01

  I think you either decide to put all your efforts and time into one.

• 30:07Steven Bartlett?

  Hmm.

• 30:07Speaker 01

  Or the other. You can't do two. You can't spin both plates. Um, and you know, I've been um seeing Sonal for eight months.

• 30:16Steven Bartlett?

  Right.

• 30:17Speaker 01

  Um, and I think she kind of likes what I do for a living and I try and share um. You know, it's quite ex- people find, people from the outside find it exciting what I do. Obviously, I'm in it.

• 30:28Steven Bartlett?

  But but the.

• 30:29Speaker 01

  It's a fucking nightmare.

• 30:30Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah, that's what I.

• 30:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 30:32Steven Bartlett?

  That's what I mean, though, that they're finding it exciting, you're a successful guy, you go to the gym, very appealing proposition. But then when you become part of it, it's a different story because you're, you must be tremendously, you know, focused at times. You must have a lot on your mind. You must be quite distant, even when you're in the room with this person. Um, so the experience can't be as exciting and wonderful, right? Or am I wrong?

• 30:54Speaker 01

  No, um, so my breathing space is my holiday.

• 30:59Steven Bartlett?

  Right.

• 30:59Speaker 01

  So we had an amazing holiday back in January, ten days, um, where I literally just switched off. That's it.

• 31:05Steven Bartlett?

  Hmm.

• 31:05Speaker 01

  And I managed to do that for the first time in quite a long time. Um, and there's a couple of other holidays booked, you know, coming up. Um, but no, she, she understands that my laptop always has to be open. And if I'm being completely frank, hers is always open as well and she's always looking at when it's misguided or pretty little thing or Zara. And apparently, I, I don't understand why she's looking at the same websites every day, but apparently the clothing changes every day. And then tomorrow, ten, ten bags of clothes will arrive and then eleven go back. I don't get, I don't understand it. I'm old fashioned.

• 31:41Steven Bartlett?

  And, and what is it about you that made you get here and other people that desire to have the life that you have? And this is a bit of a sort of a self diagnosis, I guess. What is it about Sasha that's made Sasha sit here being the success that he is? Versus someone else that has the desire but isn't sat where you are?

• 32:03Speaker 01

  Well, I think most definitely luck has played a massive part in um.

• 32:10Speaker 01

  You know where I am now, I think being in the right place at the right time. I always think as well.

• 32:16Steven Bartlett?

  What was that right place?

• 32:18Speaker 01

  The hacienda.

• 32:19Steven Bartlett?

  Okay, wow. As an inspiration?

• 32:21Speaker 01

  As an inspiration, yeah. And then not just there, you know, I do reference that a lot, but there have been several key moments throughout my life. For example, working at Flannels and seeing these people coming in and the nice cars and just it gave me a kick up the arse really to to go out and just grab it.

• 32:44Speaker 01

  But yeah, sorry, what's the question?

• 32:46Steven Bartlett?

  Basically, like, I'm trying to figure out what it is that makes you successful. And I've read I read online in an interview that you did about your attention to detail and things like that and I guess being the person that protects the standard.

• 32:58Speaker 01

  Well, I think I don't like to use the word OCD.

• 33:02Steven Bartlett?

  Right.

• 33:02Speaker 01

  Because I don't have real OCD, but I'm certainly, I like everything to be perfect. And if it's not perfect, it really pisses me off because it means you could do better.

• 33:14Speaker 01

  And the other thing is that I know so many people who work nine to five jobs, but actually have great ideas and they share their ideas with me, say, what do you think about this? I'm thinking of doing this. And they never actually do it. And I'll see them five years down the line later and they're still doing the same job that they hated when they spoke to me about the great idea. So I did an interview last week and, you know, they asked me about this and my recommendation was anybody that has a good idea, like yourself, you know, go and do it. Because it's not, by the way, because what you've here is absolutely amazing, but you're 25 and if everything fucks up tomorrow, okay, you'd be absolutely mortified, but you're 25. You know, the world's your oyster.

• 33:57Speaker 01

  You can go out and achieve whatever you need.

• 34:00Steven Bartlett?

  Why do you think it is that people don't end up doing what they they dream to do?

• 34:05Speaker 01

  I think you can get. I understand people like living in the safety net. Um, of a nine to five job, knowing you're going to come out at the end of the month with X amount. Out of that X amount, you pay your mortgage or your rent, you bought your food, you know what your bills are and you've got that in your pocket. I think it's possibly the fear. But then I do, I question myself, this is going deep now. So I can be sat on Princess Parkway. I've left the office, I've had a ticket count, we've had a great day. I'm sat in my car, you know, I have, I have um, a car that sticks out, so.

• 34:42Steven Bartlett?

  What car is it?

• 34:43Speaker 01

  Do I have to tell you?

• 34:44Steven Bartlett?

  Hundred percent.

• 34:45Speaker 01

  A Ferrari.

• 34:45Steven Bartlett?

  Oh, nice. So you finally got the Ferrari.

• 34:49Speaker 01

  So I'm sat there in this Ferrari and the bus is next to me.

• 34:54Steven Bartlett?

  Right.

• 34:54Speaker 01

  And the people on the bus are looking at me and thinking, you bastard. But then I'm looking at those people on the bus, thinking, well, actually you're going home now. To your loved ones, you can have your dinner on the table at six thirty and you've left your work behind.

• 35:12Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 35:13Speaker 01

  And you don't see your work again until nine o'clock tomorrow. So the evening's yours and the morning's yours and you can do what you want and you don't have any stress or worry. Because you're getting your pay packet at the end of the month. You may have the, the worries of paying the bills and things like that, but.

• 35:30Speaker 01

  Who's, who is, who's chosen the right path? Now, everybody's going to say, the guy sat in the Ferrari chose the right path.

• 35:39Speaker 01

  I don't know what the answer is, if I'm being honest.

• 35:41Steven Bartlett?

  I've always thought that it was just subjective. I just think, I, I, I. I don't think entrepreneurship is for everybody.

• 35:48Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 35:48Steven Bartlett?

  Um, because I don't think some people would enjoy, because I enjoy the bullshit. We refer to it as such a negative thing. But I've almost got addicted to it. I've almost got addicted to the challenge and the, and the, and things being tough. And my tough days in hindsight are always my favourite ones. They're the ones where I, I, I stretched myself and I came outside of my comfort zone. I don't think everybody would enjoy that experience. I think that I'm a bit of a loner. In the same, you know, way that you've kind of described it being a lonely experience. I'm really good at spending all Saturdays sat at my desk on my own. Um, and I enjoy that.

• 36:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 36:22Steven Bartlett?

  And I think that's a bit weird. I think I've got a bit of a sickness in that regard. Do you know what I mean? Because surely I should want to go out and see my friends and see my family. No, I just want to sit on my computer and. So I just think it's a subjective thing.

• 36:34Speaker 01

  It is, but I think you'll you'll reach a stage, Stephen, when, because believes or not, I know you can't tell looking at me, but I am a bit older than you.

• 36:43Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah, I know what you're gonna say.

• 36:46Speaker 01

  You will reach a stage, because you're in the aggressive stage at the moment, and you're building something fantastic.

• 36:53Steven Bartlett?

  I know what you're gonna say, yeah.

• 36:54Speaker 01

  What's my gonna say?

• 36:54Steven Bartlett?

  So I think what you're gonna say, and this is what I've been told before, where other things, I will I will want to, I won't be able to do what I do now, basically.

• 37:05Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 37:06Steven Bartlett?

  And when I'm slightly older, and in some respects, eighteen year old Steve doesn't operate like twenty five year old Steve does. Eighteen year old Steve was the aggressive, the savage. Twenty five year old Steve's a little bit more weathered, he likes, you know, to to lay down a little bit more. But I'm still super aggressive, but not compared to eighteen year old Steve. So when I think about what thirty year old Steve will look like, I I hope that I'm not doing this, because I think that would be a very sad thing if I was still operating in the same way that I do now.

• 37:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 37:36Steven Bartlett?

  I think there's much more to life than.

• 37:38Speaker 01

  It'll come, and I also think, you know, what's happened to me, I don't know how it's happened. I can only think it's an age thing.

• 37:49Speaker 01

  But in the last two years, I've noticed now I spend half my time giving advice to people. So because of, you know, where I am, what's I've achieved, what I've been through, people are looking at me as almost an example. And they're asking me questions, and I really enjoy giving people my advice, whether it's right or wrong, I don't know.

• 38:13Speaker 01

  But yeah, I'm doing more of these interviews and more talks at universities. And I think people quite like the idea. That I achieved something by fucking up in the first place.

• 38:26Steven Bartlett?

  Of course, yeah, because you're the underdog there.

• 38:28Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 38:28Steven Bartlett?

  You know what I mean? And people have a very, they have like this, almost this picture of what a successful person, their life looks like, and it starts with being handed a silver spoon and then getting amazing grades and going to Oxford. And then, so anyone that shatters that perception is, they become super relatable, they become someone that is just like me.

• 38:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 38:46Steven Bartlett?

  And they become the, the role models. And I think that's exactly what a lot of people see in, see in you. And it's, I see it in you as well, you know? Um, just hearing your journey today, um, uh, there's been so many times where I thought, ah, that makes sense now because of my own experiences and my own perception of the world. On that point, if you were to give advice to somebody, and this person is you, when you were seven, sixteen years old, let's say.

• 39:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 39:13Steven Bartlett?

  And eighteen years old, neither, um, what would that advice have been?

• 39:19Steven Bartlett?

  Let's say at sixteen years old.

• 39:22Speaker 01

  I think.

• 39:26Speaker 01

  You stumped me.

• 39:28Steven Bartlett?

  This is perfectly.

• 39:28Speaker 01

  Do you know what? I wouldn't, I wouldn't have made many changes, I don't think. Because I was going to, I was actually going to say, I wouldn't have done this, I wouldn't have done that, where I'd made mistakes. But you'll know yourself, every time you make a mistake, you learn from that mistake and it actually improves you to move on. So.

• 39:51Speaker 01

  No, would I, would I have said to myself, go and do your A levels at sixteen, make sure you get your A levels? No.

• 39:59Steven Bartlett?

  Would you say that to your own kid now?

• 40:01Speaker 01

  Well, I don't have any kids, but.

• 40:02Steven Bartlett?

  If you wanted to have a kid.

• 40:03Speaker 01

  If, if I had a kid, no. I would, I would much rather my kids, or kids, had fun at school. Rather than, I mean, obviously I don't want them to completely flunk out and, you know.

• 40:14Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 40:15Speaker 01

  But, you know, I would want them to have more fun than sit down and study all day long and then go home and then do homework all night long. Now go outside, kick a football around, just to have fun.

• 40:28Steven Bartlett?

  If if life isn't about, because a lot of, when I didn't have money, I made the this the foolish mistake of thinking that that was really important. And I thought, I wrote in my diary when I was eighteen, I wanna be a millionaire before I'm twenty five, I want a Range Rover to be my first car, all these things. And I look back on my diary now, and I just think, what a terrible like goal to write for the next uh seven years of your life. And upon arriving at the point where um I have those things, um I've now started doing a bit of soul searching, I think, in myself and asking what. Okay, if if I'm not doing this for monetary gain, then why am I doing this? Why am I building a big business and and um why am I, you know, making the the money? What's the what's the point in it all? And as someone that's, you know, slightly wiser than I am, what's your answer to that?

• 41:12Speaker 01

  Well, I mean, look how many people um you're helping along the way. Look how many staff you've got here who are paying the bills because of you. Um. And you want to, you know, you went through really, you went through tough times, um we were speaking before, you know, when you were starting off. So you're proving to yourself that you can do it.

• 41:33Steven Bartlett?

  Hmm.

• 41:34Speaker 01

  So you're just beating yourself, um you know, you're racing against yourself.

• 41:38Steven Bartlett?

  Mm hmm.

• 41:38Speaker 01

  And I think that's that's important, that you always better yourself.

• 41:42Steven Bartlett?

  And and is that is that for you, is that the fulfillment from this for you, that?

• 41:47Speaker 01

  I I there's nothing, there's nothing better than if I'm walking through Manchester or London and I see somebody who was at my school. And I don't have anything against those people, but they're they're now lawyers.

• 42:03Steven Bartlett?

  Mm hmm.

• 42:04Speaker 01

  And they're wearing a really boring suits with a really shitty tie. And I just look at them and I just think that's great.

• 42:13Speaker 01

  You know, I'm so happy.

• 42:16Speaker 01

  And it's not, I think the freedom is important as well. Obviously, you're tied to this business. So I won't say it's a prison sentence, but you know, it's a big ball and chain. But if you want to just stick a tracksuit on now and run up and down the Enz Gate, you can do that.

• 42:38Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 42:38Speaker 01

  And no one can say, Stephen, you're fired.

• 42:40Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 42:41Speaker 01

  You know, just do what you want to do.

• 42:42Steven Bartlett?

  Hmm.

• 42:43Speaker 01

  I don't suggest you do it, by the way, because you get some really weird looks.

• 42:46Steven Bartlett?

  No, yeah, there's a couple of people in the office walking around in tracksuits and they're still here, so it's fine with our policy. Is, what are your sort of personal ambitions then? You've achieved so much and I think where you're at, people would, you know, this won't mean much to you, but people would do anything to be in a position where you're at. And you must get so bored of people saying things like, you're so proud of yourself, et cetera, et cetera. Because as you said, it's just a battle amongst yourself. You're not, you're not competing against another, you know, a competitor. You're battling Sasha every day. What is Sasha's next big battle then? And his next big sort of ambition?

• 43:23Speaker 01

  So, I mean, I'm really proud of my city, Manchester and Greater Manchester, you know, the ten boroughs. And I think,

• 43:32Speaker 01

  you know, I've worked for, my first night was July the 4th, 94. So this will be 24 years.

• 43:39Steven Bartlett?

  I was two years old.

• 43:40Speaker 01

  Oh, I don't remember saying this, have you?

• 43:42Steven Bartlett?

  I was one and a half, bloody hell.

• 43:44Speaker 01

  Um, so yeah, I think I've seen everything come and go in the city and I've seen the city develop in a very, very good way.

• 43:55Speaker 01

  Especially since the bomb, actually, that was a turning point for the city.

• 43:59Speaker 01

  So I'm talking about the IRA bomb, by the way.

• 44:02Steven Bartlett?

  Oh, okay, right.

• 44:03Speaker 01

  So I would like to give back to the city, what the city has given me, because the city gave me lots of chances that other cities wouldn't. There are lots of other cities that would not allow somebody to put a rave on in a car park.

• 44:19Steven Bartlett?

  Sure.

• 44:21Speaker 01

  You know, when I wanted to reopen Sanki Soap that had been open from 94 to 98, when it wasn't mine, the police shut it down because there was guns and there was all sorts going on, the drug dealing, and I wanted to reopen it. And I proved to the police I could do that. Most cities wouldn't allow that to happen. It's shut, it's staying shut. So we have a very, very forward-thinking council, Labour-run council in Manchester. Um, and they've always understood the importance of the night-time economy. And especially, and I'll reference it again, but looking back at the days of the Hacienda when the world was looking at us as the music leaders.

• 45:00Speaker 01

  Um, that's recognised how important it is for the city to, to understand and support night-time economy. And that's, that's been consistent throughout, even when councils have come and go and changed seats. Um, you know, that, that has been recognised. So I'd like to give back to the city what, what they've let me achieve.

• 45:18Steven Bartlett?

  Um, I think you'd be a great ambassador for the city.

• 45:20Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 45:21Steven Bartlett?

  Speaking personally, because yeah, you've got a very sort of authentic relationship with the city and you, um. Uh, I don't think many people that, um, are, are sort of better placed to, uh, understand both sides of the, the spectrum. If you know what I mean, in terms of what the city needs, but also what the, the people that live within the city are looking for.

• 45:40Speaker 01

  Right.

• 45:41Steven Bartlett?

  Um, so definitely have my support.

• 45:43Speaker 01

  Thank you, appreciate that.

• 45:44Steven Bartlett?

  If you, I had another question, which I tend to, I tend to ask everybody I meet. It gives me a bit of a perspective on who your sort of idols are and such. If you had a dinner party and there is, uh, six seats, right? One of them's mine, because, uh, I'm, I'm cooking. The other one's yours. The other four seats for the dinner party, dead or alive, who would you, um, who would you be inviting to the table?

• 46:03Speaker 01

  David Bowie.

• 46:04Steven Bartlett?

  Right, why?

• 46:05Speaker 01

  Oh, he's a fucking genius.

• 46:07Steven Bartlett?

  Okay, fair enough.

• 46:07Speaker 01

  I mean, he, he, um, reinvented himself so many times, um. Against all the odds as well, by the way. Um.

• 46:19Speaker 01

  I think Prince.

• 46:20Steven Bartlett?

  Nice.

• 46:21Speaker 01

  Would be there.

• 46:21Steven Bartlett?

  Mm-hmm.

• 46:22Speaker 01

  Um.

• 46:25Speaker 01

  I mean, you're going to think this is absolutely pathetic now.

• 46:27Steven Bartlett?

  Right.

• 46:28Speaker 01

  But I know we do have something in common.

• 46:30Steven Bartlett?

  Right.

• 46:31Speaker 01

  Love him or hate him, Jose would be at the table.

• 46:33Steven Bartlett?

  Mourinho?

• 46:34Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 46:35Steven Bartlett?

  Oh, I love Mourinho.

• 46:36Speaker 01

  We have the same birthday.

• 46:37Steven Bartlett?

  Are you, really?

• 46:38Speaker 01

  Yeah, and I've, I've met him twice actually.

• 46:40Steven Bartlett?

  Have you?

• 46:40Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 46:41Steven Bartlett?

  What's he like?

• 46:42Speaker 01

  Not what you'd expect. The loveliest guy. Um, really nice, genuine guy. Although I had got his daughter guest list for the MTV Awards, so maybe it has something to do with that. Um.

• 46:53Steven Bartlett?

  Bribery.

• 46:54Speaker 01

  So where are we? Bowie, Prince, Jose.

• 47:03Speaker 01

  Me, hmm, I've met her before, but maybe Grace Jones.

• 47:07Steven Bartlett?

  Mm-hmm. Do you, do you, do you still, and this is a bit of a segue because I just crossed my mind when you, when you said about Prince and Pully. Um, do you still get the same excitement from putting on your events as you did when you started?

• 47:22Speaker 01

  No.

• 47:23Steven Bartlett?

  You don't?

• 47:23Speaker 01

  No.

• 47:24Steven Bartlett?

  How has it changed?

• 47:25Speaker 01

  Definitely not, but now that it's, um, it's a lot more serious because they're a lot, they're a lot bigger. You know, you can put, um, Parklife was 20,000 people when it started at Platt Fields, one day.

• 47:34Steven Bartlett?

  Do you get anxiety in the lead up to the event?

• 47:36Speaker 01

  Very much so.

• 47:37Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 47:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 47:38Steven Bartlett?

  And how do you deal with that? Is it just again, that sort of inner monologue, going to the gym?

• 47:41Speaker 01

  Going to the gym and week leading up to it, uh, red wine does appear.

• 47:45Steven Bartlett?

  And you, and you must be thinking about everything that could possibly go wrong.

• 47:49Speaker 01

  Everything, yeah, everything. So during Parklife, um,

• 47:55Speaker 01

  you know, my, th- this is an example actually of how people think, and there's nothing wrong with this because people don't understand how it works and the intensity of it, but one of my, um, girlfriend's friends said, oh, we're looking forward to Parklife, we can hang out with you that weekend.

• 48:09Steven Bartlett?

  And you must think.

• 48:10Speaker 01

  That's like, you know, I'm responsible for 85,000 people every day for two days.

• 48:18Speaker 01

  300 plus artists, you know, it, it is, there's literally a hospital on site. You know, there's 84 catering units, 13 stages of music, and you think I'm going to hang out with you for two days? Are you, are you mad? So for those two days, there's something called Event Control.

• 48:37Steven Bartlett?

  Right.

• 48:37Speaker 01

  Um, which is a, uh, an arena that we set up where there's a wall of CCTV cameras watching everywhere throughout the park. And then everybody has their own desk or the statutory authorities. So there's a desk commanded by the police, NWS.

• 48:52Steven Bartlett?

  Wow.

• 48:52Speaker 01

  Um, you know, the fire service, environmental health, security, my desk, and it's in the middle of the room, you have this huge map.

• 49:02Speaker 01

  And when something goes wrong, we all stand around it and it's like, here's the challenge, how do we overcome it?

• 49:06Steven Bartlett?

  What's the worst thing that's ever gone wrong?

• 49:09Speaker 01

  Um, last year was, was, last year was a nightmare. So we had.

• 49:15Speaker 01

  Frank Ocean.

• 49:17Steven Bartlett?

  I heard about this.

• 49:18Speaker 01

  Refusing to go on until something, until we'd resolved something. So he went on thirty eight minutes late.

• 49:25Steven Bartlett?

  I heard about this on Twitter.

• 49:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, so he, he went on thirty eight minutes late until we resolved something for him.

• 49:32Steven Bartlett?

  Right, I can't share what that was.

• 49:34Speaker 01

  Do you know what it's actually, it was something technical. I actually can't remember what it was. It was not him.

• 49:39Steven Bartlett?

  Being a diva or anything.

• 49:40Speaker 01

  No, it was something technical and I get why he didn't want to go on, because it has to be perfect for him. He's, he's an artist.

• 49:47Speaker 01

  So because of that, he insisted still on doing the full set, which meant I'd be breaking the eleven o'clock curfew. So I had to think of something like, how do I explain to the head of the council here now? I want to go over the eleven o'clock curfew because I will get the bollocking of my lifetime. And I could be fined, they might not let me do this again next year.

• 50:15Speaker 01

  And then at, at exactly the same time, there was um, a tragedy where somebody had fallen on one of the MetroLink lanes in the city centre, nothing to do with Parklife.

• 50:29Steven Bartlett?

  Right.

• 50:29Speaker 01

  So none of the trams were working.

• 50:31Steven Bartlett?

  Yep.

• 50:32Speaker 01

  Um, the tram's not working. So at the same time, then I had twenty thousand people who had to walk back into Manchester.

• 50:42Speaker 01

  So out of that, I managed to convince the council that a staggered egress would be a lot better.

• 50:48Steven Bartlett?

  Oh boy.

• 50:49Speaker 01

  Than actually kicking everyone out at the same time and twenty thousand people walking back into town, stagger the egress out and, and do that way.

• 50:59Steven Bartlett?

  And that, in that moment, when Frank Ocean is, is, you know, he's not going to go on until this is fixed, this is your problem.

• 51:05Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 51:05Steven Bartlett?

  Right, this is your problem to deal with. The buck stops with you, presumably. And I, I imagine.

• 51:11Speaker 01

  Well, it, it stops with me and Sam and, and the team, but probably because I'm um, known on social media, I'm the one that gets the aggro from, you know, the customer if something goes wrong, they, they come for me.

• 51:27Steven Bartlett?

  It's an immense amount of pressure, it really mustn't be a pleasant experience for you.

• 51:30Speaker 01

  It is when it's good though.

• 51:32Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah, and I imagine when it's over.

• 51:33Speaker 01

  Yes, yeah, yeah.

• 51:36Steven Bartlett?

  And what's the, what's the, what's the, the big vision then for Parklife? Where do you want to take it?

• 51:41Speaker 01

  It can't go any bigger. Um, Parklife will always remain in Manchester, is a question I get asked a lot. It's going nowhere. It's the biggest metropolitan festival in the country now, and I'm really proud of that. Proud Manchester has that.

• 51:55Speaker 01

  So in terms of Parklife, it's all about, the thing we can improve is the production. So we've got some really nice bits coming in this year.

• 52:02Steven Bartlett?

  Excited.

• 52:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, some extra special stages that just look incredible.

• 52:08Speaker 01

  They're very costly. So Sam went to see Kendrick Lamar last week.

• 52:12Steven Bartlett?

  Oh wow.

• 52:12Speaker 01

  And in London, actually, in the next day, he phoned me up. He's like, right, that's it, main stage, we're gonna have it exactly the same as Kendrick Lamar's stage. And I was like, that's gonna cost millions. So we've had to find a sort of a fine line between the two. To keep him happy and to keep the budget happy.

• 52:30Speaker 01

  But yeah, that's, that's how we can improve on it.

• 52:33Steven Bartlett?

  Your personal life, you, you're, how old are you now? Forty?

• 52:36Speaker 01

  Six.

• 52:36Steven Bartlett?

  Forty six. You look really good. You look about thirty. So I guess that's going to the gym every day.

• 52:41Speaker 01

  Healthy eating.

• 52:42Steven Bartlett?

  Healthy.

• 52:44Steven Bartlett?

  You look tanned as well, which is really good. That's probably been on a holiday at some point recently? Or is that just a natural?

• 52:50Speaker 01

  Well, holiday, but also the Sunbed Centre next to Waitrose in Alchingham.

• 52:54Steven Bartlett?

  Nice. So this is all about honesty. I would have a bit of that. That's the depth I was looking for. Okay, and my last question for you then. As someone, again, that is significantly more wise than I am, and has been, especially within the Manchester scene, but in the business world longer than I have. What one piece of advice would you give to me as I continue on my own sort of personal journey? And to sort of young entrepreneurs that are like me, um, starting out?

• 53:22Speaker 01

  Um, I think just do exactly what you're doing now and whatever belief you've got is quite clearly working. And anybody around you will say, well, Stephen, I wouldn't do this. I wouldn't take on the 10 people because think of the wage bill and the overhead. Fuck them. Just do it. Because it's succeeding now. And, you know, cut out all those negative people. You know, I didn't have a great relationship with my dad, but he always used to say, if you hang around with shit, you'll end up in the shit. And it's true. If you hang around with negative people that want to pull you down and question everything you do, you'll, you'll be pulled down with them.

• 54:05Steven Bartlett?

  It's a circle, I guess.

• 54:07Speaker 01

  Release yourself and just surround yourself by, as you have done here, you know, I've met your colleagues and your partners, just surround yourself by like minded people who want to go out and make a difference. That would be my advice.

• 54:21Steven Bartlett?

  Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

• 54:23Speaker 01

  No, thank you.

• 54:23Steven Bartlett?

  Um, I cannot wait for Parklife this year. I saw the lineup and the, the reaction from the team here kind of says it all. I'm of the group here, I'm probably the one that's less involved with, with music events because of time and I, I struggle to make the time for it. But the people that are the hardcore Parklife fans here have never been, and I'm not just saying this to bullshit to your face, they've never been more excited. And I did a bit of a test to the guys. I was like, have you guys all seen the lineup? They're like, oh my God, it's sick this year. So that's a tremendous credit for you. I want to thank you on behalf of Manchester as well, because you've brought a lot to Manchester, even out, you know, bringing the, having the festivals here and having the events here brings a lot to the wider economy as well. You've also been a tremendous advocate and

• 55:07Steven Bartlett?

  for, for the city on a wider stage, but you're also approachable, which I find really fascinating. The fact that you even came and did this, the fact that you respond on Twitter, that it's you that's tweeting, I think is something that a lot of sort of leaders, and especially leaders within a city, could take notes from. So on behalf of Manchester, I just want to say thank you so much and keep inspiring us and keep helping put the city on the map. Because I think it's, it's going to help a lot of other young entrepreneurs to come try and follow in a similar footsteps.

• 55:35Speaker 01

  Thank you very much.

• 55:36Steven Bartlett?

  Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thank you so much for listening to this chapter. It means the world to me. If you can, please do subscribe to the podcast and you'll be notified the minute it's released. I'm often quite bad at letting you know when it's out on my social channel, so this will give you a bit of an advantage. Also, if you have a couple of seconds, please do leave a review for me in the App Store. Everybody that reviews the podcast and tweets me, I promise you, if you leave your handle in the review, I will get in touch. Thanks and I'll see you next week.