While many headlines in recent years have focused on the struggles of UK venues – with closures, rising costs and landlord disputes dominating the conversation – one Sheffield space has seemingly bucked the trend. Tucked away in a reworked industrial building just off Matilda Street, Sidney & Matilda has steadily grown into a cornerstone of the city’s cultural scene. Now, with a recent win for ‘Best Live Venue’ at the Exposed Awards under its belt, it’s clear that gig-goers in the city are beginning to recognise the importance of this proudly DIY spot.
“The cultural story of Sheffield is a city built on live music. These are sacred spaces – they add chapters to the story,” says Paul ‘Tufty’ Tuffs, renowned Steel City sound engineer and owner of Sidney. “I’ve been doing sound for gigs and venues of all sizes for over 20 years now, so I reckon I know what a good venue looks like. This place is a success story. It’s growing. It’s getting better. It’s a positive thing for the city.”
Tufty’s career has seen him become a well-known, always-smiling face on the local music scene. From his early days at the Grapes, through running Cafe Totem, to manning sound desks at pubs and clubs across the country and major festivals across Europe, the bloke has certainly earned his stripes. Sidney & Matilda, he says, is the culmination of all that experience. “We’ve done it all gradually. Some places open with a big glitzy launch night and that’s as good as it gets, but we’ve been focused on continually improving. There wasn’t loads of money involved. We just grafted. The big refurb – moving the bar, fitting out new spaces – most of it was done by us. My dad welded some of the steelwork.”
Launched originally as an art gallery and creative space by his friend and collaborator Al Daw, the venue’s name was borrowed from the two streets it straddles. Tufty came on board to help with some gigs in the basement – a vibe not dissimilar to the one he’d cultivated at Cafe Totem – but just as the pair were set to relaunch the building as a full-time live venue, Covid hit.
Rather than pack it in, Tufty and the team used the lockdown period to refit the building from the inside out. “We didn’t have any income. No furlough. We were skint,” he recalls. “But we did have a bit of time on our hands. So we just got stuck in.” That work ethic led to Sidney & Matilda being one of the first venues in the country to host a live show post-lockdown, a seated outdoor yard gig featuring local acts and attendees seated in groups of four.
Since then, the venue has grown room by room, month by month. It now boasts several performance spaces – from the 70-capacity Factory at the front, to the booming, sub-heavy basement and the 250-capacity main room that regularly hosts major touring acts. A large courtyard ties the building together, frequently used during summer events ranging from televised tournaments to lynchpins like their annual ‘Other Festival’, a Tramlines-weekend celebration of local talent.
“There’s been a lot of talk about the city losing venues, and rightly so – the guys at the Leadmill are our pals and were putting on some of their smaller shows here,” Tufty says. “But what we’re focusing on is growing and talking up what we’ve got to offer. This is working because the content is right, the team’s amazing and the standard is there.”
That standard comes in no small part from his sound engineering background. “A lot of grassroots venues scrimp on production,” he says. “But I wanted Sidney to sound as good as an O2 Academy, for example, or a much larger venue than ours. The monitors, the desk, the spec – it’s got to meet what touring engineers expect. If they’re used to playing thousand-cap venues and come here, they should still be impressed.”
One such moment came early on when they hosted a Newcastle band called Lanterns on the Lake. “There’s this guy bringing gear in, setting up. I thought I recognised him. Turns out it’s Phil Selway from Radiohead. He’d driven the van down on his own and was in the live room, setting up drums. We had a good chat and at the end he’s saying how good the monitoring and gig experience was. That was a bit of a ‘this is definitely working’ moment.”
Some places open with a big glitzy launch night and that’s as good as it gets, but we’ve been focused on continually improving.
Despite its growing national profile, Sidney remains deeply rooted in Sheffield’s local scenes. Alongside international bookings and underplays from touring bands, it continues to champion emerging acts and genre-spanning club nights. One weekend might feature a psychedelic art rock gig, the next a free party in collaboration with Planet Zogg or underground techno from Berlin down in the basement. “We’re not trying to be a rock bar or a house club,” Tufty says. “We’re a reflection of what’s going on in the city – a melting pot of music and cultures.”
That commitment extends to the team, too. The venue’s day-to-day is steered by manager Mark, whose background in bands and Sheffield’s art world gives him an instinctive feel for balancing chaos with curation. “He’s the one with a level head,” Tufty laughs. “I’ll have a mad idea and he’ll pull me back just enough to make it work.”
The model is simple, really: a flexible, multi-use venue that adapts to what people want. “You can come in one night and there’s a gig in the basement, a club night upstairs and maybe a little photo exhibition in the factory,” Tufty says. “It’s like the big ruin bars in Budapest – where you’ll get completely random things in each room. Discovery’s part of the experience.”
Looking ahead, there are murmurs about expanding into a larger space, particularly as Sheffield loses some of its mid-sized venues. “We’re not here to take the place of somewhere like the Leadmill,” he says. “But we do need bigger spaces here. Otherwise, Sheffield will start losing more touring acts to Leeds, Nottingham, Manchester. We’ve got the team, the production values – we just need the right building to come up.”
For now though, Sidney & Matilda’s focus remains on maintaining its steady, organic growth. “A lot of places open promising the world, then slowly fall apart,” Tufty says. “We did it the other way round. Every time you come in, it’s a bit better. Bit cleaner, bit tighter, bit more on offer. The best it’s ever looked is today – and it’ll look and sound better in the future. You can hold me to that.”
COMING UP:
The Other Festival featuring Alexis Taylor
from Hot Chip, Cruz and over 30 more artists
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From £27.50, 27 SeptemberDJ ADHD with Keppie and Beat Bunker
£11.50, 3 OctoberJarred Up Festival featuring Femur,
Avalanche Party and more
£30, 25 October
