FAQs

The Leadmill’s current landlords, MVL Properties (2017) Limited, served The Leadmill with an eviction notice in March 2022 to evict us in March 2023.

The landlords have confirmed their plans to operate The Leadmill as their own venue, attempting to seize the goodwill created and developed by The Leadmill over 43 years.

The Landlords have to apply to the courts to try and force us out; this process takes time and could go on until 2024 or later.

In the meantime, the landlords are applying for a premises licence. They cannot succeed in evicting the Leadmill without that licence.

A Public Hearing has been arranged for Monday 18th September to decide whether the landlord will be allowed to evict us. If The Landlord wins, The Leadmill will be evicted, forced out and cease to exist.

We are continuing to operate as normal whilst this process is ongoing. We will defend our case in court for as long as it takes and run public awareness campaigns to try and stop the eviction.

If the landlords succeed in evicting The Leadmill, our events would either be moved to other venues where possible or cancelled. The Leadmill will always refund cancelled events.

No. The current landlords purchased the building in 2016/2017, apparently with the intention to evict us.

The current and all previous landlords have not spent a penny on the building.

Like many businesses, The Leadmill is a tenant of the building it operates from and always has been. Our priority has always been to spend money on bringing the best events to Sheffield, even when those events lose money, and to be a good employer.

In 2014, the building went up for sale as part of a portfolio of more than 20 properties that had to be purchased together – something The Leadmill could not afford. A property investment company purchased this portfolio and then put The Leadmill building up for auction separately with a high reserve price.

Unsurprisingly, the auction didn’t meet that reserve price, so the building wasn’t sold.

In 2016/2017, our current landlord apparently agreed on a sale. The landlord’s intention to evict us was never discussed with us.

As you can imagine, this uncertain situation is taking a significant toll on our 80 hard-working staff; time, energy, and resources are being diverted into trying to retain our jobs which could have been spent on developing the business and bringing unique events to Sheffield.

We are distressed and frustrated about the situation, but the continued support offered by the public keeps us going (that’s you, so thank you!).

Sign up to our mailing list at www.savetheleadmill.com to keep up to date with our ongoing Battle for the Soul of Sheffield and keep an eye out for how you can help us win.

As we have said, the landlord has applied for a premises licence. They cannot succeed in evicting the Leadmill without that licence so we are asking people to come to the public hearing to make their voices heard and speak out against allowing the landlords to evict The Leadmill. Even just showing up is a huge help.

10am on Monday 18th September at the Sheffield Town Hall. Further information can be found at www.savetheleadmill.com — make sure you’ve signed up!