The early success of Factory band New Order, particularly with their 1983 dance hit "Blue Monday", helped to subsidise the club even as it lost considerable amounts of money (in part due to clubbers' embrace of the street drug ecstasy, which drove down traditional alcohol sales).

The former warehouse occupied by the club was at 11–13 Whitworth Street West on the south side of the Rochdale Canal: the frontage was curved and built of red Accrington brick.

Downstairs was a cocktail bar called The Gay Traitor, which referred to Anthony Blunt, a British art historian who spied for the Soviet Union.

The sound and lighting design and installation for the Haçienda was done by Martin Disney Associates and later by Eddie Akka from Akwil Ltd.

The name comes from a slogan of the radical group Situationist International: "The Hacienda Must Be Built", from Formulary for a New Urbanism by Ivan Chtcheglov.

It served as a venue for Madonna on her first performance in the United Kingdom, where the renowned music photographer Kevin Cummins took photos of the evening on 27 January 1984.

[13][14] In 1986, it became one of the first British clubs to start playing house music, with DJs Hewan Clarke, Greg Wilson and later Mike Pickering (of Quando Quango and M People) and Little Martin (later with Graeme Park) hosting the visionary "Nude" night on Fridays.

[17] On 14 July 1989, the UK's first ecstasy-related death occurred at the club; 16-year-old Clare Leighton collapsed and died after her boyfriend gave her an ecstasy tablet.

[8] The resulting problems caused the club to close for a short period in early 1991,[19] before reopening with increased security later the same year.

When local magistrates and police visited the club in 1997, they witnessed a near-fatal assault on a man in the streets outside when 18-year-old Andrew Delahunty was hit over the head from behind with what looked like a metal bar before being pushed into the path of an oncoming car.

[22] Ultimately, the club's long-term future was crippled and, with spiralling debts, the Haçienda eventually closed definitively in the summer of 1997.

Following a number of years standing empty, the Whitworth Street West site was purchased from the receivers by Crosby Homes.

Clubgoers and enthusiasts from across the country attended to buy memorabilia ranging from the DJ booth box and radiators to emergency exit lights.

[27] Michael Winterbottom's 2002 film 24 Hour Party People starring Steve Coogan as Tony Wilson, tells the story of the Haçienda.

[30][31] The Manchester Museum of Science and Industry now holds a variety of Haçienda and Factory Records artefacts, including the main loading bay doors from the club, and a wide array of posters, fliers and props.