A LITTLE bit of Manhattan arrived in Blackburn in the late 80s, with all the razzmatazz of the Big Apple.

For in 1989 the town's new nightspot Manhattan Heights in Ciceley Lane, became part of the local club scene.

The official opening was carried out by the then mayor Bill Taylor and his wife Anne at a packed VIP night.

The club was typically big and brash, with juke boxes, neon strip lighting, lots of chrome and bartenders and waitresses in American Yankees sports gear.

The club also featured a Liberty Street diner and outside, on a ledge 20 feet above the entrance, was parked a 1950s Cadillac.

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It quickly became part of the local night club scene and crowds of regulars flocked nightly to dance to the latest hits.

It was hit by a bad fire in 1991 and when it re-opened Ken Morley, alias Reg, from Coronation Street, did the honours, his red shirt matching the colour of the ribbon he cut, while surrounded by young clubbers.

Manhattan Heights, then went through a series of name changes - becoming Northern Lights and then Millennium, before eventually closing its doors for good.