Campaign to stop Leadmill owners from taking over Sheffield venue fails | Sheffield

A public campaign to stop the owners of one of Sheffield’s best-loved music venues from being granted a licence to run it has failed.

On Friday, Sheffield city council granted a shadow licence to MVL Properties, the owners of the Leadmill venue, which will allow them to take over the running of the venue from its current operator, Phil Mills, should they be successful in evicting him.

Mills has led a passionate campaign to keep running the Leadmill, which helped launch the careers of bands including Pulp and Arctic Monkeys.

About 100 people protested in support of him at the licensing hearing in Sheffield on Monday.

They raised concerns about the ability of Dominic Madden, the director of MVL Properties, to safely run the Leadmill, citing newspaper reports of assaults and drug possession at other venues run by his company Electric Group, which owns Brixton Electric, as well as clubs in Newcastle and Bristol.

Madden stated at the hearing that several of the safety issues raised had happened before he took over the venues.

Tom Hunt, the leader of Sheffield city council, said on Friday he was satisfied that the company would meet its safety requirements. “The council’s licensing sub committee found that the applicants demonstrated they could uphold all four of the licensing objectives.

“As a statutory licensing authority, the council has a legal duty to be fair, unbiased and treat each licence application the same. The application for a shadow licence for the Leadmill by MVL … was treated impartially and the case was considered on its own merits.”

The council has laid out 20 conditions that MVL Properties must meet, including running a Challenge 25 policy, which asks those under 25 to show ID, having a written search policy, a lockable “drugs box” for any illegal substances confiscated at the venue, and controls on noise levels.

Mills was served with an eviction notice in March 2022, a year before his lease on the building ended. He continues to run the venue, which has acts booked until late 2024.

Madden said he hoped to take over the Leadmill next year, and plans to run it as a music venue.

“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,” he said.

“Our repeated intention has always been clear – to secure the Leadmill as a thriving music venue for music artists and community projects.”