Over the years we have been asked many questions by newcomers before they come for the first time. We thought it would be a good idea to try to list the main ones here in order to make your first visit easier.

This question has been asked on the forum so I decided it should be answered here.
Since moving back to the Rembrandt hotel we have started renting room 1 again that we first started using 22 years ago. This room contains two double beds, a wash basin and four mirrors fixed to the walls. At present the lighting for the mirrors is not very good but we have been given permission by Mac, the hotel manager, to fit up whatever lighting we think would be best for us. We are still working out how best to do this but progress is being made and new lighting will be fitted fairly soon.

I have always used whatever changing facilities have been available, ever since I started coming to the concord 22 years ago. I have always enjoyed using them, especially as it gives an opportunity to get to know some of our members, or visitors, better while we get changed and do our makeup. It also gives an opportunity to help newer people if they need it and even lend them things they may have forgotten if necessary.

There is comfortable room for about four people to get changed at the same time and possibly six at a pinch, but this number is very rare.

We have one key for the room which is normally kept in the club at the reception table to be borrowed by anyone that comes who needs to get changed. If you are a newcomer then one of us will take you upstairs and show you the facilities and ask if you need any help before leaving you to get changed, or possibly staying with you for company if we feel that is what you would like.

The room is kept locked at all times so it is perfectly safe to leave your bags and clothes in the room until the end of the evening which is around 11:15 pm. If you want to stay out longer than this then you would need to remove your things by this time as this is when we leave.

We would advise you NOT to leave anything valuable, such as wallet or car keys, in the room as this is a sensible precaution, but in all the time I have been coming I cannot remember a theft from the changing room.

If you are going to finish off your evening in Napoleons, over the road, then it is possible to take your bag with you over there and to change back in the ladies at the end of your evening.

This can depend on what time you manage to get here. If you can arrive fairly early in the evening and manage to find a parking bay in the street in say Bloom street or Chorlton street, then these spaces are free after 6 pm until 8 am the following morning.
If you arrive earlier than 6 pm then these spaces cost £2.20 per hour.
If you have hotel accomodation in the area then it can be useful to feed the parking meter for up to 2 hours which will carry over to the following morning from 8 am allowing you to park until 10 am. You only get this max of two hours if you feed the meter after 6 pm.

If you cannot find an available meter space then my advice, at least till you get to know the area, is to park either in the Bloom street car park or the Chorlton street multi storey car park but these can be very expensive.

This is quite a hard question to answer and obviously depends on which direction you are coming from, so we will try to suggest four possible routes, from North, South, East and west. The easy way for us is to say use a SAT NAV but we dont all have them yet so we will try to answer the question.

But, if you have a Sat Nav, then the useful bit of info is the Post Code of the Rembrandt Hotel in Sackville Street which is M1 3LZ.

Lets start with the south and west.

If you are approaching Manchester up the M56

Continue all the way up the M56 which leads on to Princess Parkway. Keep straight on up Princess Parkway through several sets of traffic lights until you get to the roundabout at the end which has the Manchester inner ring road going overhead.
Go straight over this roundabout and continue to the next set of traffic lights which are just under an overhead railway bridge. Turn right at these lights and continue ahead to the traffic lights at the Palace theatre.
Go straight across these lights leaving the Palace on your left, cross over the next set of lights at Princess street and turn left at the next set of light into Sackville Street.
Go up past the Rembrandt Hotel on your right, past Richmond Street and the next road is Bloom street.
Here you can either turn left into Bloom Street and look for a vacant parking space or turn right and go to the end and turn left into Chorlton Street. The next left is into the bus station and immediately after that is the ramp up to the multi storey car park.
You are now within easy walking distance of the Rembrandt which you passed earlier.