The Leadmill - Time to turn a page.

This weekend sees the final shows at The Leadmill and it now feels like the right time for our city to draw a line under recent events and move forward positively.

I have been involved in bringing cultural events, community festivals, live music, comedy, and big public celebrations to life in Sheffield for over 30 years. We kicked things off in Sheffield with Mayfest, Fright Night, City Lights, After Dark, and Grin Up North with Toby Foster. I have also worked on projects such as Festival of the Mind, Docfest, Tour de France and ‘Leadmill in the Square’ with Sheffield Theatres. More recently, I've been working all over the UK, staging pop up events, street entertainment and theatre festivals.

Like many Sheffield folk I have many happy memories of nights at The Leadmill. My Parents met there in the 60s when it was The Esquire, and my late brother met his wife there in the 90s when it was The Leadmill.

But one thing I've definitely learnt on my journey in the creative sector is that everything changes all the time, and that's a good and necessary thing. That building has already had at least three different cultural lives: first as The Esquire Club, then The Leadmill as a not-for-profit community arts organisation, and in recent years it became a fully commercial operation under Phil Mills. To be honest, when I was last there a few weeks ago it was looking tired, rather unloved and desperately in need of investment.

When Mr Mills passed on the opportunity to buy the freehold in 2016, it was pretty much inevitable that the building would be sold, either to a property developer or to a new venue operator. And that's exactly what happened with Dominic Madden and the Electric Group. Frankly, Dominic has saved that space from being turned into student flats, and he clearly has the money, energy, experience and drive to make the place great again.

I, for one, was horrified by the aggressive, cynical, and disingenuous campaign launched against Madden and the Electric Group. I was embarrassed for our city. What kind of message does that send about bringing in new investment and being open to fresh ideas and new people?

Our Son was at university in Newcastle and absolutely raved about their NX venue there. I also have friends and family in Bristol and London who go to gigs at their venues and speak very highly of their operation.

I'm 57 now, and most of my memories of The Leadmill are from when I was between 18 and 22. At its core, that building has always been about great music and cool events for young people. It's clear that The Electric Group will bring an even better programme because they can offer artists and promoters multi-venue deals and this will be appreciated and enjoyed by a new generation of young people. It’s their turn now.

When the horribly negative and unnecessarily personal campaign against Mr Madden started, I actually reached out to him to reassure him that not everyone in Sheffield felt that way (and I was not the only one). Since then, I've found him to be full of ideas and fantastic plans for the venue. He's got a vision that will bring awesome new music to Sheffield and he is committed to really doing great things there, as they have in other cities. He is also wanting to honour the history of that place.

It's perfectly okay to be a little sad about something changing, but still be excited for the next phase. I truly believe that what the Electric Group will bring is a fourth act for the building, and then in thirty years' time, everything might change again!

I've lived in Sheffield my entire life, and I love this place, but we really do need to be careful that we don't close ourselves off to the new and cling on to the old and, at times, tired. Saying that the Leadmill can’t change seems a bit like saying Richard Hawley (who I was at school with) or Pulp cant release a new album because we love their early work so much.

There was also a strong element of “but he’s not local” in the campaign and I am reminded that so many of the great Artistic Directors at Sheffield Theatres have not been local either. The “Soul of Sheffield” nonsense sounded to me like something from Royston Vasey – “Local Clubs for Local People”. We are better than that.

So, as a City can we please draw a line, be open to fresh ideas, new people and now support this amazing space as it evolves further.

Hopefully, in a couple of years we might agree that the change has been for the greater good.