Neepsend’s Yellow Arch Studios holds a special place for many Sheffield musicians, with the rehearsal space and recording studio welcoming thousands of the city’s musicians, including Arctic Monkeys and Richard Hawley, under the arches.
The live music events held there proved just as popular, and a little over five-years-ago they decided to open a fully licensed bar and music venue on the premises. Sadly, thanks to the coronavirus restrictions last year, a massive dent has been put in the revenue streams of both sides of the business.
In order to survive they needed to adapt, so studio director Andy Cook looked for answers in one of his other passions. “When Covid came along, it meant the hospitality and the event industry unfortunately shut down overnight, and there was a kind of a realisation from Yellow Arch that if we don’t reinvent this building sharpish, we’re in trouble.” explains Andy.
Image credit: Yellow Arch Studios
“It was a big concern, so we came together, and I had an idea that indulged one of my other lifelong passions – antiques.”
That was back in June 2020, and from that point the plan has been to create a new salvage and antiques centre in the huge 2,500 sq ft Victorian warehouse area of the former nuts and bolts factory, that they had always previously used for storage.
They have created an emporium of ‘things from yesteryear and things that are handmade’ which was revealed for the first time in December, when The Warehouse finally opened its doors to the public.
Image credit: Yellow Arch Studios
Everything in the space is for sale. Begrudgingly in some cases, as Andy is struggling to come to terms with letting some of his prized pieces go, although he has been enjoying seeing people’s faces as they first set eyes on the new venture.
He said: “You’re certainly not expecting what you’re about to see. It’s the scale of it. It’s like that scene at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark!
“Selling to everyone and getting excited over the pieces and people actually purchasing bits – that’s happy days, but I just like to sort of take people’s faces off! I just like them to go, ‘just look at this’, because I think then then you build an experience into why you’ve come.
Image credit: Yellow Arch Studios
“I do think it is quite photogenic, and it will just develop and develop. I am already looking for something interesting for the roof space, which, because of the size of it, I could literally put a Spitfire in, or a hot air balloon!
“The Chinese say find a job you love and never work again, and luckily I found two, one was music, and the other was antiques, but I’ve been in the music business now for 30 years, so It’s nice to sort of let go of it, to be honest.”
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