Sheffield Leadmill “remain defiant” against eviction as new building owner granted shadow licence
The operators of the Sheffield Leadmill say they “remain defiant” against closure after the owner of the building was granted a new shadow licence.
- READ MORE: If Sheffield’s Leadmill – the venue that helped break Arctic Monkeys – goes, we all lose something
Last March, it was announced that The Leadmill was facing a threat of closure due to its landlord issuing a notice of eviction. The news sparked an outcry from music industry figures and gig-goers alike.
A licence hearing then began this Monday (September 18) to determine the future of the venue, with the barrister acting for Leadmill boss Phil Mills accusing the new owner Dominic Madden of “arrogance”.
The building’s owners, Electric Group, who bought the site’s freehold in 2017, previously told music fans that they had no intention of closing the venue at the end of the current occupiers’ lease in 2023. “The management may change but the song stays the same,” Madden, CEO and co-founder of Electric Group, wrote on Twitter at the time.
Madden’s company MVL Properties 2017 Ltd applied for a shadow licence to operate the Sheffield venue once it has evicted The Leadmill from the premises on Leadmill Road, where the club has operated since opening in 1980. Now, MVL have had the licence application approved by Sheffield City Council.
A shadow licence protects the rights of the landlord to continue operating licensed premises in a venue after tenants move out.
Venue operators The Leadmill Ltd – led by Mills – said the future of the venue is “far from over” after the decision, saying it was “considering our next steps over the coming few days”.
They wrote on Instagram: “The Sheffield Licensing Sub-Committee have today decided to grant our landlords their shadow licence.
“However the fight for the future of The Leadmill and its staff is far from over, and we will be considering our next steps over the next few days. All scheduled events will still go ahead as planned and we will continue to programme events further into the future while the legal process continues.”
The statement added: “We would like to take this moment to give a shout out to all of our incredible staff who have continued to put their heart and soul into their jobs despite having this hanging over them for the last 18 months. It is taking its toll and we are doing everything we can to help with the strain on their mental health.
“The Leadmill is made up of a passionate group of young event organisers who invariably read everything that is written whilst at work, so please consider the affect that your words may have on them when discussing the matter online.
“We remain defiant against a London landlord trying to get his hands on one of Sheffield’s cultural assets in such a cheap and underhand way.”
A council spokesperson said: “The granting of this licence does not affect the current premises licence held by the venue. It allows the second party to run the venue under this ‘shadow licence’ if the current premises licence were to be revoked or surrendered.”
Responding to the news, Madden said: “We are pleased to have been granted a shadow premises license for The Leadmill. This is a significant milestone – and we would like to extend our gratitude to Sheffield City Council and the Licencing Committee for focusing on facts, not smears and our outstanding track record of compliance.
“We hope that this decision can mark the beginning of a new chapter, where we can put the hostilities of the Save the Leadmill campaign behind us. Our repeated intention has always been clear – to secure The Leadmill as a thriving music venue for music artists and community projects.”
At the hearing, Madden praised the Save The Leadmill campaign but claimed it had “crossed the line” when it came to some of the tactics allegedly used in targeting him in particular: “What’s to stop them sending some kid down to Brixton and go in and write a bad review? I’m not saying they’ve done that but how do we know they haven’t?”
Frazer Spooner, who was representing Leadmill staff, objected to the shadow licence application.
He said: “The current Leadmill team is a young, driven, endlessly creative collective of minds that aren’t here just because it’s a job to do, but because we are all completely committed to delivering memories and experiences of the calibre that we have grown accustomed to as Leadmill customers.”
Last year saw former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn visit The Leadmill and encourage others to “get behind it”.
Elsewhere, Sheffield locals hailed the venue as “the heart of the city” while the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Jarvis Cocker and Bring Me The Horizon’s Oli Sykes were among the Steel City artists to have expressed their support in 2022.
The post Sheffield Leadmill “remain defiant” against eviction as new building owner granted shadow licence appeared first on NME.
Will Richards
NME
