Venue 44 (home of Renaissance)

Venue 44 was a nightclub on Belvedere Street in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, best remembered as the birthplace of the club night and later global brand Renaissance. The building itself hosted a range of dance nights through the 1990s, but it is the Renaissance story that gives this unassuming Midlands venue its place in UK clubbing history.

Geoff Oakes started Renaissance at Venue 44 in March 1992, deliberately choosing a small mining town away from the gang troubles then affecting some bigger-city clubs, and taking advantage of the venue's rare all-night licence. The night quickly became one of the first true after-hours events in the country, drawing clubbers who travelled from the Hacienda, Back2Basics and Venus once those nights had finished for the evening. Early residents included Ian Ossia, Sasha, John Digweed and Nigel Dawson, and it was at Venue 44 that Sasha and Digweed first crossed paths, going on to forge one of dance music's most influential partnerships. In 1993 Renaissance outgrew the premises and relocated to a converted print works called The Conservatory in Derby, taking its now-signature look of velvet drapes and gold cherubs with it.

Alongside Renaissance, Venue 44 also played host to other local nights of the era, including the happy hardcore night Vibealite, hard house night Hot to Trot and rave night Fantasia, reflecting the broad range of dance music that passed through its rooms during the decade. Regulars have described the venue's distinctive studded walls, which clubbers would climb to get a better view of the dancefloor, and the venue was known for how packed its arched rooms could get on a big night.

Renaissance's year or so at Venue 44 is regarded as a formative chapter in UK house and progressive house culture, helping launch the careers of Sasha and Digweed and setting the template for the elaborately styled, after-hours club events Renaissance became known for long after it left Mansfield. The original Mansfield mix sets from 1992–94 are still circulated among collectors and DJ history enthusiasts today.

Venue 44 itself closed in the years that followed and the building was demolished in 2010. The site where it once stood is now used as a car park, though the venue is still fondly recalled by Mansfield clubbers and remembered nationally as the starting point of the Renaissance story.