{"id":181662,"date":"2025-06-13T17:40:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T17:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/181662\/"},"modified":"2025-06-13T17:40:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T17:40:16","slug":"pulps-jarvis-cocker-tells-us-about-the-loss-of-the-leadmill-in-sheffield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/181662\/","title":{"rendered":"Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker tells us about the loss of The Leadmill in Sheffield"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pulp<\/a>\u2018s Jarvis Cocker<\/a> has spoken to NME about the loss of iconic venue The Leadmill in his native Sheffield \u2013 as well as revealing that he may step on its hallowed stage once more.<\/p>\n

The steel city legends famously played their first ever public gig at The Leadmill in 1980, returning many times during their gradual ascent to one of the UK\u2019s biggest bands of the \u201990s \u2013 including the now infamous high-concept failure \u2018Day That Never Happened\u2019 show.<\/p>\n

Before it was announced that the venue had finally lost their appeal against their eviction notice from The Electric Group<\/a> this year, 2022 saw frontman Cocker return to join fellow local Richard Hawley<\/a> for a benefit gig. Addressing the new owners, he said: \u201cThey may own the bricks and mortar, but they don\u2019t own the spirit of the Leadmill\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ahead of Miles Kane being announced for the final gig<\/a> at The Leadmill, the venue put out a plea for any artists who\u2019d like to come and play farewell gigs to come forward<\/a>. Speaking to NME as part of our recent interview<\/a> around the band\u2019s long-awaited new album \u2018More<\/a>\u2018, Cocker told us if there was any hope of Pulp gracing their stage once last time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think Pulp would fit into The Leadmill now, unfortunately,\u201d he replied. \u201cEvery time I look, we\u2019ve got another member. I know that Richard Hawley is doing something there soon<\/a> and I might go up there, watch that and maybe go on stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, he is keen to take home a memento from The Leadmill \u2013 a black plaque that commemorates Pulp\u2019s first gig.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy main thing is trying to figure out how to get that plaque outside off the wall before the new owner moves in,\u201d Cocker told NME. \u201cI vowed that\u2019s what I\u2019d do if it was to close, and now it is. If the next thing you read about me is that I\u2019ve been arrested trying to crowbar off a plaque from the outside of The Leadmill, you\u2019ll know why.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The venue was first served an eviction notice in 2022<\/a> \u2013 to the uproar of music fans and artists alike<\/a> \u2013 when it emerged that Electric Group had bought the freehold for the site of the Leadmill in March 2017. The Electric Group runs a number of venues across the UK, including Brixton Electric, and has vowed to keep the building as a music venue<\/a> that will \u201ccontinue to be a cornerstone of the live music scene in Sheffield, supporting artists, fans, and community projects for the next 100 years\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking to NME about how events have unfolded, Cocker said:\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s a bit like when Starbucks first started and they would close down all the coffee bars to open theirs. Leadmill was already a successful venue but now someone has bought it. They\u2019re not turning it into flats, which is what usually happens.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a weird thing: that idea that you can invent a scene\u2026 This is the first place that Pulp played in Sheffield, it\u2019s developed over a lot of time, and to create a place with that kind of history and atmosphere to it is not something that you can buy.\u201d<\/p>\n

And what if Pulp\u2019s touching new song \u2018Hymn Of The North\u2019 were to be one of the last songs played there?<\/p>\n

\u201cThere wouldn\u2019t be a dry eye in the house! We\u2019ll see\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Richard Hawley and Jarvis Cocker onstage at the Leadmill in Sheffield on August 9, 2022. Credit: Tom Sunderland<\/p>\n

Fellow Sheffield star and former live Pulp guitarist Richard Hawley will be playing two final shows at The Leadmill this month<\/a>. Speaking to NME last month, Mercury-nominated singer-songwriter told us about how the plight of the venue was reason enough to change the law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying not to get angry, but it\u2019s very difficult because they say I\u2019m the musician that\u2019s played there the most by a long, long way,\u201d said Hawley. \u201cIt\u2019s probably true. I don\u2019t want that to stop, and not just for me but other people. It\u2019s a rite of passage. The people running it now are best placed to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cThere desperately needs to be a change in legislation. If someone comes along and buys the land under your business and building and throws you out and turns it into flats \u2013 which happens all the time \u2013 or if they kick you out but steal your business, we\u2019re talking about a serious moral issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pulp are currently on course for a Number One with their first new album in 24 years, \u2018More\u2019<\/a>. The band are currently in the midst of a UK arena tour. Visit here<\/a>\u00a0for tickets and more information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pulp\u2018s Jarvis Cocker has spoken to NME about the loss of iconic venue The Leadmill in his native…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8817],"tags":[748,480,393,4884,481,453,1620,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-181662","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sheffield","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-britpop","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-indie","13":"tag-rock","14":"tag-sheffield","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114677286535869288","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}