Northern Soul in Sheffield

As this module focus on Northern soul and Sheffield street style I researched the Northern Soul scene in Sheffield during the 1970s and today.

Club 60 & The Esquire Club:

> A club on Leadmill Road

> Was formally Club 60

> Is now The Leadmill

> "Club 60 was the life and soul of the Sheffield music scene. It became so popular that it eventually outgrew itself and moved to the site of the Esquire, which is now the Leadmill."

> At Club 60, people could hear the latest jazz, R&B and the rapidly-spreading rock 'n' roll. The venue quickly developed a reputation as one of the north's premier talent showcases, where many artists established their careers, including Dave Berry, Frank White and Rod Stewart.

A poster for the Esquire Club

A Northern Soul Devotee:

An interview with Northern Soul fan Steve Bush by Mark Sheridan.

> "We also started to change the music we were listening to. So a few of the places in Sheffield, that I can remember, Manel Youth Club was one of the places, there was a club called The Ark which was at St Barnabus Church at Crookesmoor, They started playing this fast beat Northern Soul dance music. We were straight into it, it was a great night out. We started hunting through the second-hand record shops, in Sheffield, there was a couple on Ecclesall Road. The big one was Violet May's in the city centre just off the Moor. [We] used to hunt through them but very quickly exhausted that supply. One of the things that [we] used to do was try and be the first one to get hold of a new Northern Soul record that nobody else had heard. So me and my best mate, what we started doing was every time either United or Wednesday was playing London, which was nearly as often once every 5 or 6 weeks or so, we used to jump on the coaches and go down, cos that was the cheapest way of travelling. But instead of going to the football match, we'd jump on the tube and go into central London to places like Carnaby Street and places like that where there was some real class record shops. We'd started hunting through all the 60s back catalogue of soul records."

> Mark: "Where were the places you'd go?".

Steve: "Samantha's was one of the one's I went to. I also used to go to the Penny Farthing. The Top Rank, which is now the O2 Academy, they also used to have a few Northern Soul nights. The great thing about the Top Rank was it has a massive dance floor, so you could get everyone up dancing at once. But, for me, the best one was Turn-ups at Netheredge Hall because that was pure Northern Soul. That was the place where you saw kids, selling records, buying records. It's where they first started, selling the badges, the 'keep the faith' badges. You could go into Turn-Ups and you could buy a badge to sew on your backpack."

A Samantha's ticket

Violet May's record shop

Maggie May's:

> Maggie May's host Soul Saturdays where they play Northern Soul music.