DJ and writer Dave Haslam made his DJing debut at the Hacienda in 1986. He played there almost five hundred times, including on the final night of the club in 1997. Laurent Garnier, Ian Brown, Tim Burgess, Justin Robertson, and the Chemical Brothers were regular visitors to Haslam's ground-breaking DJing events at the Hacienda, and all have credited Haslam as an inspiration.
His journalism has appeared in NME, the Guardian and many more. His first book, Manchester, England, a cultural biography of Manchester, was published in 1999. On World Book Day in 2003 Manchester, England was declared one of the ten books that best represent England (alongside books by Jeremy Paxman, Zadie Smith and George Monbiot). His latest book, Life After Dark: A History of British Nightclubs & Music Venues, was published in 2015.