International pop diva Rihanna had her night out in Manchester cut short after being swarmed by paparazzi and fans in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The Only Girl (In The World) singer decided against going into Longworth Street nightclub Suede after arriving there with her entourage at around 2.45am – and instead headed to a All Star Lanes bowling alley (pictured below).
Rihanna, who performed at the Manchester Arena on Wednesday night, had booked a VIP booth at the nightclub and was with her brother and backing singers among others.
She had earlier been photographed bowling in Manchester, just minutes away from Suede.
But after her car pulled up outside the nightclub, Rihanna chose not to go in after seeing the surrounding photographers, despite the club’s efforts to get her in via a back entrance.
Alex Morrissey, General Manager of Suede, said: “I kind of understand it’s the paparazzi’s job to sell pictures of celebrities and make money, but at the same time it would have meant a lot for Rihanna to be in Suede.
“I wasn’t so much angry, I was just frustrated that they didn’t leave her alone.
“But I do sympathise with Rihanna for one, and with the paparazzi, because they’re doing their job.”
But even without the presence of a singer who has sold over a million records worldwide, Mr Morrissey took positives from Thursday morning’s events.
Rihanna’s entourage went into Suede and, according to Mr Morrissey, enjoyed their visit.
He said: “Rihanna’s brother had a really good time in the VIP lounge and the head security guard shook one of our door staff’s hand and said ‘Thank you for a good night’.”
“And they were very pleasant people, very down to earth.
“They actually came down from the VIP area to the main dance floor, because they didn’t want to be shut off from everyone else.”
Rihanna is not the only internationally renowned musical act to have visited Suede, with R Kelly, Trey Songz and JLS among its previous clientele.
Manchester United footballers have also paid frequent visits to the nightclub, and Mr Morrissey takes great pride in the way Suede treats their celebrity guests.
He said: “When celebrities are here, we treat them the best we can and keep our standards as high as possible.”
“If the celebrities want to be left alone, we make sure they are and give them the priority they request.”
Another Suede source spoke to MM about Thursday morning’s events.
They said: “Obviously it’s unbelievably frustrating because it’s all set up and under the radar, but that sort of stuff does happen.
“The paparazzi want pictures of Rihanna just as much as we want Rihanna in our venue, so I understand why they did it.
“We didn’t quite pull it off but we were by far the closest she came to a night out in Manchester, so we’re proud of that!”
Suede said on their Facebook yesterday morning: “Huge love to Rihanna for coming down to party with us last night!! Wish we could have controlled them paparazzi!!”
Picture courtesy of Kai Rune Storhagen, aktivioslo.no, with thanks.
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