Old cellar club’s dance floor

ing was demolished. To much of Manchester, it faded from memory.

Now Linda, today a playwright on attachment at Manchester’s Contact Theatre, has made it her mission to unearth the club’s forgotten stories, literally – by digging it up.

After securing £65,000 of Arts Council funding, she and a team of volunteers from the old Reno crowd are excavating the site, overseen by Salford University’s applied archaeology department.

Next weekend they will throw a party on the site – now a patch of land opposite the Heineken brewery – to revive the spirit of the club for one more night.

Former Reno clubbers and their families will be able to walk over the dance floor one last time before dancing to tracks selected by the club’s original DJs, including Persian.

Linda has also been collecting memoirs from clubbers, which have been filmed and archived online and will go on display at The Whitworth, in a special Thursday Lates event on November 23.

Footage of the excavation and party will be buried in a time capsule on the site for future generations to find. It is set to be backfilled and built on once the excavation is complete, and Linda hopes to get a blue plaque put up.

There will be a free open day on the dig site this Saturday from noon to 7pm, followed by a party. Tickets to the party are available from Eventbrite .

Anyone who wants to help with the dig until then can book a place at thereno.live, where the memoirs can also be watched.

Former Reno owner Phil Magbotiwan outside the club with his son Moses and daughter-in-law Rita

Linda Brogan at the excavation Reno regular Alfonso Le Cruit Waters Buller with dice found in the dig

Frank Pereira and friends in the Reno