BY day he fries fish and chips, but after dark it's the dance floors of New York that Mick Baldwin is cooking up.

And it's all thanks to the Hacienda nightclub which shut five years ago ... but has become hugely popular in Manhattan following the release of 24 Hour Party People, the film which chronicles the life of Factory Records and a certain Tony H Wilson.

Mick, who has lived in New York for two years with his wife Louise, used to hit the decks on a regular basis when he lived in Manchester, then in Rishton.

And he has discovered it was worth keeping in contact with his musical contacts in the North West after flipping Stateside.

A visit back to Blighty earlier on this year prompted Mick to take his vinyl back to New York, and after playing a few parties with friends he managed to land himself a few regular spots in some of the city's coolest hangouts.

But his biggest event to date took place on Wednesday at a venue call The Spa.

Mick said: "They have never had anything like 24 Hour Party People over here or the type of music or club like the Hacienda.

"They've all been going mad for the music and one of the guys from Factory Records has been over here doing club nights on the back of it.

"The Spa event was a full-on Hacienda revival type thing and it was huge. They've never had anything like it before and most of them had never heard of the Hacienda before the film came out. But I lived near Manchester so they got me in."

The Hacienda opened in 1990 and became the place to be seen. At the heart of the developing Madchester music scene involving bands such as the Happy Mondays and the Charlatans, its name became a watchword for clubbers everywhere.

After changing the face of the nightclub scene forever, it closed its doors for the last time in 1997.

Mick, who runs a chippy on Second Avenue in New York, also has regular slots at another city club called the Leopard Lounge and one at a bar on the East Side which is frequented by English ex-pats and tourists.

He added: "In New York, all the club music they seem to have is thumping stuff with no vocals.

"After a few hours of that you're done in. I go for more good funky house and subliminal sort of music, rather like what was played in Cubes in Blackburn.

"The gigs I do have really taken off and are packed. People describe US House back at home but very rarely can you get hold of it over here, you have to buy it on import."