{"id":2341656,"date":"2026-03-23T06:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T06:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2341656"},"modified":"2026-03-23T06:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T06:28:12","slug":"historical-mill-to-reopen-as-entertainment-venue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/historical-mill-to-reopen-as-entertainment-venue\/","title":{"rendered":"Historical mill to reopen as entertainment venue"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">An historical cotton mill is set to reopen as an entertainment venue following a \u00a33m refurbishment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Described as a &#8220;socialising day-to-night&#8221; venue, Factory Floor officially opens on Thursday inside Grade II-listed Eckersley Mill as part of the Cotton Works complex in Wigan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Owner The Heaton Group said it had transformed the mill into a large &#8220;social playground&#8221; featuring darts and shuffleboard as well as beer pong and retro arcade games, immersive industrial design, street food and a bar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Managing director John Heaton said seeing the mill &#8220;open and full of life again is incredibly rewarding&#8221;.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-0 size-full\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-3 right-3 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed bottom-0 left-0 right-0 top-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>There are also dartboards at the venue [Factory Floor]<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Dating back to 1884, Mill One at Eckersley Mill was the first mill built on the historic Eckersley site, once one of the largest cotton mills in the north-west of England.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">At the heart of the venue, which holds about 350 guests, sits a striking feature bar, surrounded by flexible social spaces designed to shift from daytime games to being a lively party destination with DJs, dancers and disco lighting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Each week, on Friday and Saturday nights, it will play host to dancers and DJs spinning retro disco and dance tracks from 21:00 to 01:00.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Details of themed events to be announced in coming weeks include Gatsby evenings, Abba parties and DJ takeovers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The opening marks another milestone for The Cotton Works, which continues to grow as a destination for hospitality, culture and community in Wigan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Heaton Group said Factory Floor had created 20 new jobs, bring its team across the site to about 60 employees.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><img alt=\"Guests inside the restored cotton mill which is opening as an entertainment venue.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/j_pcVCAczW33hljxw0gcbQ--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU0MDtjZj13ZWJw\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/bbc_us_articles_995\/e49695312ce02ba0682fefa6311862f9\"\/><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-0 size-full\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-3 right-3 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed bottom-0 left-0 right-0 top-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>Details of themed events are to be announced in coming weeks [Factory Floor]<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Already operating within the development is The Three Mills, outdoor food and drink market Feast at The Mills, and creative workspace Weave Co-Working, which opened last summer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Heaton said: &#8220;Factory Floor is all about bringing people together for shared experiences in a space that feels exciting while still respecting the incredible history of Eckersley Mill.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;We&#8217;ve transformed part of this historic building into somewhere people can play, eat, drink and celebrate under one roof.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He added: &#8220;Seeing it now open and full of life again is incredibly rewarding.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><em>Listen to the best of <\/em><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sounds\/curation\/p0cjdwpw?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Byahoo.north.america%5D-%5Blink%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:BBC Radio Manchester on Sounds;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;BBC Radio Manchester on Sounds&quot;}\" class=\"link \"><em>BBC Radio Manchester on Sounds<\/em><\/a><em> and follow BBC Manchester on <\/em><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bbcmanchester\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Facebook;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Facebook&quot;}\" class=\"link \"><em>Facebook<\/em><\/a><em>, <\/em><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bbcradiomanc\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:X;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;X&quot;}\" class=\"link \"><em>X<\/em><\/a><em>, and <\/em><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/bbcmanchester\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Instagram;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Instagram&quot;}\" class=\"link \"><em>Instagram<\/em><\/a><em>. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"mb-4 text-xl font-bold md:text-2xl\">More on this story<\/h2>\n<h2 class=\"mb-4 text-xl font-bold md:text-2xl\">Related internet links<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source ca.news.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An historical cotton mill is set to reopen as an entertainment venue following a \u00a33m refurbishment. Described as a &#8220;socialising day-to-night&#8221; venue, Factory Floor officially opens on Thursday inside Grade II-listed Eckersley Mill as part of the Cotton Works complex in Wigan. Owner The Heaton Group said it had transformed the mill into a large [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2341657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[453904,453910,453906,304725,453908,453909,453907,453905],"class_list":["post-2341656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-cotton-works","tag-eckersley","tag-eckersley-mill","tag-entertainment-venue","tag-factory-floor","tag-heaton-group","tag-john-heaton","tag-retro-arcade-games"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Historical-mill-to-reopen-as-entertainment-venue.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2341656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2341656"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2341656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2341658,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2341656\/revisions\/2341658"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2341657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2341656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2341656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2341656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}