Former Leadmill venue to offer free workspaces

Sheffield's former Leadmill venue will feature free creative workspaces as part of the new plans for the building, its team said.

The Electric Group-owned location will be known as Electric Studios and aims to open in spring 2026.

Other plans include increasing the capacity of the music venue, a new commission for a stone sculpture outside the entrance and ambitions to attract more music artists to the city.

Jack Cooper, club promoter for Electric Studios, said: "We're not trying to make it slick - we want it to have soul."

The Leadmill officially closed its doors in June after 45 years of hosting concerts in the city centre, despite a long battle to keep it open.

The Leadmill was denied an appeal against an eviction notice from Electric Group in May, with Electric Group vowing it would continue to be "a cornerstone of the live music scene in Sheffield".

According to Mr Cooper, one of the most important changes to the venue will be "returning to a cultural initiative" introduced when the building first opened in 1980.

It will offer co-working spaces upstairs for 40 "young, creative people" in Sheffield from "all walks of life" for 18 months, with the group inviting people to make applications for the places from late January.

The initiative is backed by Alan Deadman, a music promoter who was involved with the venue in the 1980s.

"There's a kind of cyclical thing, just as the Leadmill was a very powerful stimulus in 1980 in the morale of the creative community," he said.

"I think the Electric Studios will do that again."

Phil Mills, the outgoing tenant of the Leadmill, was accused over summer of "cultural vandalism" by the Electric Group after the removal of a stone frieze above the entrance.

Leadmill Ltd said it had removed the artwork in order to "lovingly rehome it", but Sheffield City Council said planning permission was not obtained to remove it.

Electric Group confirmed local sculptor Andrew Vickers had been commissioned to "reconstruct" the artwork for the building with his own "artistic flavour".

As well as dressing room and sound refurbishment work, Mr Cooper confirmed the venue's capacity hoped to change from approximately 900 to 1400 people.

"I've seen a lot of acts skipping the city for whatever reason," he said.

"An increase in capacity will help us be able to get certain acts into the venue and it just opens up more opportunities."

Live music acts and club nights for Electric Studios are expected to be announced in January.

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