Readers who don’t have a taste for hardcore may not know it, but Sheffield is home to one of the UK’s best punk venues: the Lughole. Bands from all over the world have graced the stage in Neepsend, yet the venue’s totally non-profit ethos means tickets are cheap and drinks at the bar are even cheaper.
However, this beloved community venue is now facing an existential threat, after they were hit with a £9,500 bill. That’s today’s big story.
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The big story: Beloved venue fighting for survival after bailiffs arrived mid-gig
Top line: One of the UK’s best venues for punk and alternative music is fundraising to secure its survival after being hit with an unexpected demand for £9,500. The Lughole, a non-profit DIY venue in Neepsend, saw bailiffs turn up in the middle of a gig, threatening to seize equipment unless they were paid thousands on the spot. After clearing the debt with the help of emergency personal loans taken out by the founders, the venue now has almost no cash left.
Background: In 2013, four punk fans came together to address the lack of cheap venues and practice spaces in Sheffield, which was making gig tickets unaffordable and meant artists were having to perform unpaid. The original Lughole venue was a 100-capacity space in an old industrial unit in the city centre, which eventually became so popular that it needed a bigger home. In 2019, the collective found a former joinery workshop in Neepsend and spent years (and around £40,000) turning it into a usable venue with the help of a host of volunteers, before finally opening in the summer of 2022.
Rates trap: Despite having applied to change the building’s use from a workshop to a music venue before opening, the building was only visited by the Valuation Office Agency to set their business rates in 2024. The government chose to backdate their increased rate to the year they applied for the change of use — 2020 — even though it didn’t actually open for another two years. Though the council has been willing to offer small business rate relief, it could not backdate this further than two years. As a result, the Lughole was left with a £9,500 debt to the council’s business rates department.
Bailiffs arrive: The Lughole spent the following two years trying to contest this debt, which one founder described as an “injustice”. However, earlier this month, push finally came to shove. Bailiffs arrived in the middle of a gig on 8th March, forcing the event to grind to a halt while the founders tried to stop their equipment being seized.
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