IN 1989, a little bit of American glitz and glamour arrived on the East Lancashire club scene.

Manhattan Heights on Ciceley Lane, Blackburn, certainly didn’t believe in understatement.

Inside the club there was neon and brass and chrome everywhere. The entrance to the dancefloor was marked by two massive jukeboxes and the club boasted an impressive lighting rig.

It was impossible to miss the new club - above the entrance a Fifties’ Cadillac was perched some 20-feet in the air, complete with its own petrol pump.

The whole frontage was made to look like an American street from the era of rock and roll and as well as drinking and dancing, clubgoers could enjoy Manhattan Height’s American-themed Liberty Street restaurant complete with staff in New York Yankees shirts.

Liberty Street opened in September 1989 with Lord Taylor of Blackburn ‘doing the honours’ then two weeks later the club itself staged a gala night with the Mayor and Mayoress of Blackburn, Councillor Bill Taylor and his wife Anne officially opening the club.

Manhattan Heights soon became an integral part of Blackburn’s night-time economy but just two years later it was hit by a major blaze which closed the club.

In 1994, a new Manhattan Heights opened on the same site with Coronation Street star Ken Morley the guest of honour.

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