Salford’s Lads’ Club is “officially saved”: “There is a light and it never goes out”
Salford Lad’s Club has confirmed that it will remain open, following the threat of closure earlier this year.
The youth centre was opened in 1904 by Robert Baden-Powell in Ordsall. Originally it was a club for boys, but is now open to all young people.
It is the location of the most famous photo taken of The Smiths, and has been featured in TV series and films such as Peaky Blinders, Last Tango In Halifax, Mrs Biggs, Cold Feet, Blue Murder, and more.
However, last month it was reported that the iconic site was under threat of closure due to rising costs and a drop in grant funding. To remain open, it was forced to try and raise £250,000 by mid-November, and called out for support from the community.
Now, in a new update shared on Instagram, the venue has confirmed that it has hit the financial target required, and will now be allowed to continue functioning as usual.
“We did it! Salford Lads and Girls Club is officially saved,” the update began. “Thanks to the incredible generosity of our supporters, we’ve smashed our £250,000 target, ensuring the doors of this iconic building remain open for our young people and the community.”
“From historic concerts to changing lives through youth work, this club has stood as a beacon of hope, culture, and connection. This funding ensures we can continue to make an impact for generations to come,” it added.
“A heartfelt thank you to every individual, business, and partner who stepped up to help us keep the lights on. This is your victory as much as ours. Together, we’ve shown what’s possible when a community rallies together.”
As well as countless fans rallying together to contribute to the GoFundMe page organised, huge donations also came from various famous faces.
Morrissey, for example, donated £50,000 to help save the club. He has multiple ties to the venue, including the building being featured in The Smiths’ ‘The Queen Is Dead’ album artwork.
He also provided financial aid to the site in the past, and donated £20,000 in 2007, when the club was raising money to fund essential maintenance to the building.
Legendary singer-songwriter Graham Nash – who spent his childhood in Salford throughout the ‘40s and ‘50s, and was a member of Salford Lads Club – also donated £10,000 to save the venue, and Noel Gallagher auctioned a guitar and helped create an Oasis exhibition to raise funds to keep the site open.
Elsewhere, the fundraiser was backed by Courteeners and Salford-born Tim Burgess, frontman of The Charlatans.
According to The Guardian, the club’s annual income for 2023 was about £160,000, with its outings adding up to £394,700. The club also faces annual bills of a whopping £43,000 combined (including utilised, insurance and building maintenance).
As well as being a site popular with musicians, last year it was also recognised in the world of fashion. This came as luxury brand Chanel booked out the landmark to host a star-studded event ahead of its show in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.
While the future of Salford Lads’ Club seems secure now, the recent threat of closure mirrored a much wider issue facing historic music venues across the UK.
Back in December last year, for instance, Mark Davyd, the Music Venue Trust CEO, told NME that 2023 had been the worst year for venue closures. “The rise of costs and energy is extraordinary and nobody seems to care, the rise in rents is just astonishing with landlords trying to make money back they might have lost during COVID by rapidly increasing rents beyond the possibility of what can be paid.”
Going into 2024, an MVT report from January echoed his comments too, finding that grassroots venues are facing a “disaster”.
In light of the report, the Trust’s COO, Beverley Whitrick, told the House of Commons that the decline is by no means related to a lack of interest from the general public: “23.6million people visited a grassroots music venue in the UK in 2023, which is an increase on the previous year. Sometimes people say to us when they ask about closures, ‘Is it that people are not interested in going anymore?’ Of course, that’s not the case at all,” Whitrick said.
“The wish to see artists, to connect with them in small spaces in local venues is as high as it’s ever been.”
At the start of this month, NME reported how the touring circuit across the UK’s grassroots music scene is said to be facing “complete collapse” without urgent help, and revealed ways that music lovers can get involved to protect the local spaces.
More recently, the Culture, Media and Sport Committee welcomed the UK government’s new backing of a levy on gigs at arena level and above to help save the grassroots music scene. Nonetheless, pressure is mounting for a clear deadline for the industry to take urgent action.
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Liberty Dunworth
NME
