The Leadmill


The Leadmill is the longest running live music venue and nightclub in Sheffield, England, based on Leadmill Road, lying on the south-east edge of the city centre. It opened in 1980 in what, despite its name, was a former flour mill, originally as a Community Centre. This coincided with the rise of several Sheffield bands, including the Human League, Cabaret Voltaire, Heaven 17 and ABC.
The venue has prided itself on the variety of its events over the years hosting live music, comedians, theatre productions, record fairs, cabaret, drag and talks.

History

The Leadmill first opened in 1980 in the building that previously housed The Esquire, a club during the sixties that saw gigs from Jimi Hendrix and Small Faces. The Esquire was housed in one of the upper floors of The Leadmill building, it is now occupied by the venue's box office.
Originally acting as a community centre. The venue was not granted an alcohol license until 1982 and so initially hosted plays, education and training workshops and live music. The team at The Leadmill in the early 80s had the mission statement to promote the education of the public in the arts and to promote social welfare by providing recreational and leisure-time facilities. The young and unemployed were the central focus of the venue throughout the 1980s.
Notable early events included a 1982 pantomime directed by Jarvis Cocker and The Housemartins deciding to queue for their own 1984 gig, but being turned away by bouncers. The venue also hosted the Festival Against Unemployment in September 1982, promoting local bands; New Model Soldier, Party Day and Agent Orange. Jazz For Lunch, an afternoon live music event was often held on Sundays throughout the 1980s.
In 1988, HRH Prince Charles visited The Leadmill. He described it as "a building well restored" and went on to say "It houses a theatre, live music venue, educational and training centre, not to mention a restaurant, bar, nightclub, and, they say, it makes a profit!". The staff at the venue had made the prince a cake in the shape of the building which was then taken to the Sheffield Children's Hospital for the enjoyment of staff and patients.
The Leadmill rolled with the times in the 90s, briefly becoming the Sheffield home of Gatecrasher before launching its own influential house night RISE.
During the 00s, The Leadmill played host to bands such as Milburn, Coldplay, Snow Patrol, The Killers, Enter Shikari, Sisteray, Klaxons, The Coral, Explosions in the Sky, Kids in Glass Houses, Elliot Minor, One Night Only, The Audition, The Maccabees, and The White Stripes. Sheffield's own Arctic Monkeys sold out the Leadmill in 2005 quicker than any other band, well before they released Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not. The Libertines played a five-band bill in 2002, supported by Parva, who would later come back to headline as Kaiser Chiefs. In the same way, in 2003, Hot Hot Heat were supported by Franz Ferdinand before they came back to headline. Franz Ferdinand went on to tell Arcade Fire that playing The Leadmill was a 'rite of passage for any band worth their salt'.
Milburn returned to the venue in 2016, during a surprise gig as part of the venue's Tramlines Festival after party.
In 2017,The Leadmill featured in Sheffield made independent video game, Welcome To Hanwell. The survival horror game allowed you to fight zombies beneath the iconic neon sign.
This year also saw the venue begin renovation work which included tearing up the original dance floor to make way for a new one. Instead of throwing it away, the venue decided to cut it up into individual engraved pieces for customers to purchase. In addition to the new dancefloor, the venue also revealed a new mezzanine floor in the back right corner of the main room.
Comedy has always had its place at The Leadmill and 2017 saw the venue host its first comedy festival with 55 acts taking to the stage over the space of a week. Acts included Ross Noble, Sara Pascoe, Russell Kane, Joe Lycett, Mark Watson and more.
In more recent years, The Leadmill has continued to host emerging and world renowned artists with gigs from Sam Fender, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Marmozets, Tom Walker, Mahalia, Peace, Pale Waves, Jake Shears, Tom Grennan, Miles Kane, Shame, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Jimmy Eat World and Jorja Smith.
In 2019, the venue was chosen alongside Cambridge Junction to host the return gigs of Bombay Bicycle Club.
Leadmill Road was closed during Tramlines weekend in 2019 while the venue occupied it for a street party, welcoming over 2,000 festival goers. Additional elements included an outdoor bar, carnival performers and street food.
During the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020, panic buying had become rife and so the venue opted to begin selling toilet roll at cost price to combat those inflating the price due to the demand. A spokesperson from The Leadmill said, 'No-one should have to worry about not having basic supplies like toilet rolls at the best of times, never mind in a horrible crisis like this".
Eventually due to government lockdown restrictions during the global pandemic, The Leadmill was forced to temporarily close. The venue auctioned off a variety of items from their archive to raise money to pay staff wages and to ensure the future of the venue. Items that went on sale included signed memorabilia from Arctic Monkeys, Arcade Fire, George Ezra, Biffy Clyro and more.
Also during this period of closure, the venue launched a Crowdfunder to pay essential overheads and to support the nationwide campaign, #SaveOurVenues, which aimed to ensure no music venues closed as a result of the pandemic. This was supported by online gigs promoted by The Leadmill via their Facebook page, with notable guests including Billy Bragg, APRE, Little Man Tate and a one-off performance from George Waite of disbanded Sheffield group, The Crookes. Billy Bragg's online concert went on to raise over £15,000 for the fund.

Awards

The venue has been voted favourite live music venue by readers of the NME on several occasions. The Leadmill has won 'Best Live Venue' at the Exposed Awards several times, most recently claiming the prize in 2019.The Leadmill was awarded a Music Heritage Award by PRS for Music in 2015, which was unveiled by Pulp at an event broadcast live from the venue on BBC 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq show. They have also won 'Best Venue Teamwork' at the LIVE UK Awards in 2011 and 2015.

External events

The Leadmill has taken events beyond the venue many times including three 7,500 capacity outdoor events at Don Valley Bowl in 2018 with headliners including George Ezra, Ocean Colour Scene and Hacienda Classical. This run of events was nominated for 'Best Local Event' at the 2019 Exposed Awards.
The venue also promoted several cinematic events at Sheffield General Cemetery as part of their Halloween events in 2019 including screenings of The Omen and Get Out. When Tramlines Festival made the move from a city centre festival to an all-in-one site at Hilsborough Park, The Leadmill remained part of the festival with a stage named after it, featuring up and coming artist alongside comedians.
Club Tropicana, a club night ran by the venue's team, expanded to a night in Leeds during 2018, taking place at Leeds University Union.