New use '80s Hit Factory

by David Thame: THE studio that produced a string of pop hits of the 1980s is to become home to a public relations company.

Amaze, a new media and evolving technologies consultancy which is part of the Hasgrove Group, will move into the 12,000 sq ft refurbished former home of pop gurus Stock, Aitken and Waterman, who used the building's basement to record hits in the 1980s.

It was here that bouffanted crooner Rick Astley recorded his smash hit Never Gonna Give You Up.

Bluetree acquired the property from Pete Waterman in 2006. A former church, the building sits on one of the major gateways into the city centre at the south end of Deansgate in Castlefield.