A Student's Guide to Clubbing in the North

Big ones

In Manchester, The Warehouse Project dominates the clubbing calendar. A series of giant nights beneath Piccadilly Station, it runs from September to New Year's Day and presents the biggest names in electronic music. Many of the acts playing already sold-out nights at WHP will grace Liverpool and Leeds too, with established hosts in the former including Circus, and an equivalent venue in the latter being Canal Mills.

Unlike its Manchester cuz, Canal Mills is still a relatively intimate affair, retaining an underground feel and repping most corners of alternative dance. There's also the atmospheric Williamson Tunnels in Liverpool, which hosts sellout nights from Detroit legends and co; and promoters Freeze are known for persuading heavyweights like Bonobo and Michael Mayer to play in the ruins of the Bombed-Out Church.

Heavy ones

While dance music has an iron grip on all three cities every weekend, the weeknights are refreshingly less 4/4. Juicy's cheap and very cheerful hip-hop party packs them in like clockwork (every Wednesday at Manchester's Joshua Brooks and every Thursday at Liverpool's Shipping Forecast during term time). Leeds has led the way in grime outside of London and does a nice line in all things heavy: relatively new venue The Old Red Bus Station has become a hotbed of jungle, drum'n'bass and rave.

Tuneful ones

In Leeds, the passionate and risk-taking lot at Butter Side Up – usually operating out of Wire – arguably have the more underground side of house locked down. Selective Hearing are responsible for much of Leeds and Manchester's techno output, while new kids on the block Covert are giving them a run for their money with seriously good parties at Mantra Warehouse in Ancoats.

Everybody's new favourite venue Hidden, a retired textile mill in Manchester, has wiped the floor with bookings the past year, while in Liverpool promoters Hot Plate and mUmU bring the euphoria on the regular. For global sounds with roots in house and disco, check out Banana Hill, largely in Manc but playing here, there and everywhere.

Transcendental ones

The local scene is so healthy that you might be surprised how quickly some of your favourite ‘underground’ artists get snapped up by the big promoters, but pioneering spirits keep pushing things forward nonetheless. In Manchester, those out for a truly mind expanding experience will find themselves at Islington Mill, or at infrequent but otherworldly parties like Wet Play.

In Leeds, Cosmic Slop has a similar vibe; the speciality is vinyl-only jams covering funk, boogie, house, soul, vintage disco and whatever else feels right in the moment. Look out for Shipley's cult Golden Cabinet, too: an early evening experiment in a community centre, programmed so Leeds dwellers can catch the last train home after bracing sets by punishing aural explorers.