Sheffield’s Hope Works has announced that it will close permanently at the end of February 2025.
READ MORE: UK grassroots venues suffering from “the complete collapse of touring” – here’s how you can help
The news was revealed on Monday (December 16), with representatives from the venue saying that founder and creative director Liam O’Shea had taken the “very difficult decision” to step away “in order to achieve a greater sense of balance in his life.”
The 400-capacity venue is situated on Sussex Road, and first opened in 2012.
In a statement shared to Instagram, O’Shea wrote: “I have dedicated 12 years to Hope Works. It has been my passion, an act of determined resilience to create something in Sheffield like no other. A uniquely programmed beacon of hope and restless freedom in the Steel City.
“It has to be said that running an underground venue in today’s ever-shifting and volatile nightlife landscape has been challenging,” he continued. “We haven’t been immune to the difficulties facing so many grassroots musical venues. We survived COVID and delivered hundreds of parties since 2012. However, for me to continue to expand my work into new areas and have time for my family, which is so important to me, something had to change.
“That change was sadly to let Hope Works as a venue on Sussex Road, Sheffield, be put to rest.” O’Shea goes on to say that he will continue to run No Bounds Festival – an experimental music and arts event that takes place across various venues in Sheffield and Rotherham.
Before doors close for good, Hope Works will be hosting a series of closing parties, with its final weekend taking place between February 21 and February 23. They’ll begin with a New Years Eve Rave-Up, followed by the Off Me Nut 15th Birthday on January 31. Then, Mala and Tash LC will play at the La Rumba x Dubshack 8th birthday on February 8. You can find tickets on Hope Works’s official website, here.
Hope Works’ closure follows the recent news that the UK lost 480 nightclubs between June 2020 to June 2024, with 65 closing just this year. Yorkshire, the county where Hope Works operates, was the worst hit, experiencing a 45 per cent reduction from 132 venues to only 73, as reported by the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA).
The NTIA has called for immediate government action, explaining that the shuttering of nightclubs reflects a broader crisis in the UK’s nighttime cultural economy. The association has urged the Chancellor to extend business rates relief in the Autumn budget as a way to ease the financial burden on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and as a way to ensure their survival.
Last March, the NTIA claimed that the previous UK government was “intentionally” closing down nightclubs and venues across the country, as it saw the nightlife sector as “a burden on policing and local government”.
Similarly, in August 2023, the association shared that over 100 independent nightclubs across the UK had been forced to close down over the past year.
The strain put on local music spaces across the UK is by no means a new issue. Back in January last year, it was shared that one-third of UK nightclubs closed by the end of 2022, while back in January, the crisis facing grassroots venues throughout 2023 was revealed – pointing to a “disaster” across the 12 months.
Among the key findings into their “most challenging year”, it has been reported that last year saw 125 UK venues abandon live music and that over half of them had shut entirely – including the legendary Moles in Bath. Some of the more pressing constraints were reported as soaring energy prices, landlords increasing rate amounts, supply costs, business rates, licencing issues, noise complaints and the continuing shockwaves of COVID-19.
