does anyone know what is happening with the Arches nightclub (Wicker)? last i heard they were trying to sort out their license..any news?

Yeah.. I dont really know. I remember someone else buying it (or at least taking the lease over) but since they've had it, there hasent been much action huh.

yeah i heard that there may be some construction work going on down walker street early next year and wondered whether the arches club was to be involved??

yikes. hope not. After the amount of times people said it had closed for good, it always made a comeback in some way or another, even if it was only for a week or two!

fingers crossed ay.

they could do so much with that venue it would be a shame to let it go to waste, very much like Bed.

I'd love it if it reopened and headcharge started back up there again, I've had some of the best nights out ever in that place.

tell me about it...its all about the atmosphere of the place.pokey little clubs are not my thing really. and the people....i never once felt lost in such a big building.

it was cool just going for a random wander, sitting down somewhere and chatting **** to random people sitting next to you, everyone was so friendly!

whilst we're on the subject of clubs, any sneaking suspicions on the riddimtion NYE 'secret venue'? i don't want to ruin it in any way for those going, only guessing.

its very sad to think of all these places closing down, but i'm so proud that i was around to go to these places whilst they were thriving.

I heard a rumour that the venue was flooded which totally knacked it all up??? and they'd left the soundsystem in there n all - oh dear - dunno if it's true like

We were chatting to a couple of the dj's and people involved with setting up Headcharge at Jackhammer.

Apparently, Arches was leased from Railtrack, and the draining system below the tracks was over 100 years old and in complete disrepair. This led to all kinds of rubbish flowing into Arches and buggering up the electrics as well as making the place a health and safety nightmare. There was also no disabled access to the place, which is possible something they were stung on.

Andy Driver said that Headcharge was the only night pulling crowds in, so I guess leasing Arches just wasn't very profitable.

I'd also heard that some people weren't sorting things out properly, and it was getting more and more difficult to get things ready on schedule. It's such a headache getting people confirmed, printing tickets, distributing tickets, printing flyers, distributing flyers, arranging advertisements and listings, keeping up to date with the website and mailing lists etc etc etc. All this for just one night. Add to that many of the people were not just involved with Headcharge but had other projects and commitments and I think you get the idea that they had a lot of pressure to deliver.

So, if anyone has a few thousand to spare, make every techno-bods' christmas by getting the Arches sorted!

wow thanks for the info. so its looks like there may be no future for the Arches??!! this is a crying shame. i was just thinking this morning (and maybe i'm completely naive when it comes to these things) but where are all the business-minded people in sheffield (the nice ones who have an interest in the community of course) who want to set up new history-making clubs in such an influential northern city.
i guess its the same old, same old......money

killthedj - did you mean the riddimtion venue or the arches? very sad for either.

It sounds like the arches is well and truly finished unless someone is prepared to shell out a lot of cash on it. And lets be honest, who in their right mind would do that just for a techno night? If a lot of money was spent on it, I'm sure the new owner would something on a regular basis with more pulling power than Headcharge.

Such a shame as there seem to very few decent venues in Sheffield, and lots of very generic and run-of-the-mill nights.

Originally posted by Agent Gypo
We were chatting to a couple of the dj's and people involved with setting up Headcharge at Jackhammer.

Apparently, Arches was leased from Railtrack, and the draining system below the tracks was over 100 years old and in complete disrepair. This led to all kinds of rubbish flowing into Arches and buggering up the electrics as well as making the place a health and safety nightmare. There was also no disabled access to the place, which is possible something they were stung on.

Andy Driver said that Headcharge was the only night pulling crowds in, so I guess leasing Arches just wasn't very profitable.

I'd also heard that some people weren't sorting things out properly, and it was getting more and more difficult to get things ready on schedule. It's such a headache getting people confirmed, printing tickets, distributing tickets, printing flyers, distributing flyers, arranging advertisements and listings, keeping up to date with the website and mailing lists etc etc etc. All this for just one night. Add to that many of the people were not just involved with Headcharge but had other projects and commitments and I think you get the idea that they had a lot of pressure to deliver.

Well Planet Zogg ran for three years there - which made it the longest running night at the Arches apart from Headcharge - in fact probably the only other night that managed to run for more than a year down there.

The promotion & booking & organisation of a night is down to the promoters not the venue - so think you may be getting some wires crossed re: the arches/headcharge... Alan & Jamie who ran Headcharge were separate to the management of the Arches. But the ongoing saga of the management down there didnt make life easy for any promoters trying to get some stability to book a run of nights.

But it is obviously true that you cannot keep a club on the basis if just one night - which was all there was down there once Zogg left (even when it was there - you cannot run a club on two monthly nights)

Its sad - i've been to a lot of clubs round the land - and the arches is one of my fave venues ... but things move on - personally I'd be very surpised if it ever re-opened - but if it did - i'd definately be down there!

:)

Originally posted by jake
Well Planet Zogg ran for three years there - which made it the longest running night at the Arches apart from Headcharge - in fact probably the only other night that managed to run for more than a year down there.
:)

What other nights ran there? We've been racking our breains but can only ever remember Headcharge, Planet Zogg, and I seem to remember a drum and bass night there (no idea what it was called).

It is really sad about the venue, but the people involved with the nights they had on there have been putting some great nights on since it closed. Jackhammer brings a tear to my eye... It's so beautiful.

hmm yeah i remember that d&b night

The Drum & Bass night was probably Feedback, which did some warm up parties in the summer and came to a lovely head with Twisted Individual, Easy D, Fychu downstairs, and Matt, Venja, Me and Leki playing breaks upstairs. Was a right laugh :)

Originally posted by Agent Gypo
What other nights ran there? We've been racking our breains but can only ever remember Headcharge, Planet Zogg, and I seem to remember a drum and bass night there (no idea what it was called).


Wasnt the D&B night called Coalition?

There hadnt been many nights there in the last few years - but going back a few years - Remedy ran there for while, and Curfew & Spoof used to do a few parties there- and of course Gatecrasher ran there for ages... and in the mid 90s there were quite a few regular nights... but most found it quite a difficult venue to make work for variety of reasons...

I used to go to the arches about 12 years ago (it was called SADMAC at the time -sheffield and district music appreciation club- an unfortunate acronym), there was a house night called Scooby's Do (Graeme Park played the first time I went)- it was great- I was into techno/trance at the time, but it opened my mind to the more soulfull side of things. Smokescreen did a lot of fantastic nights there about 10 years ago and went on to do a regular night called Boxed (the arches at it's best IMO)- I'm getting all nostalgic now and also feeling quite old !:( as I don't get to go clubbing anymore:cry:

Didn't Nomandics used to be on every now and then too. Don;t think Coalition was at Arches more than once, that spent a fair bit of it's life at Casbah

Other nights at the Arches? That’s a tricky question, I guess I was at most of them but remembering is a different matter!
Curfew and Lifemind for a while, followed by Livemind, Remedy was there for quite a long time, Gatecrasher was there for ages before suddenly deserting the place. Return to the source did quite a few nights and some spin off nights followed, Flo I think did a few flouro nights, Some people from Manchester did a few good nights, think it began with 'D' but can't remember the name, then they did a one-off at the Octagon. Children of the Bong played there before it was even the Arches, that was a top night. If I had I may not burned so many brain cells at the place I may have been able to remember more!

and i'm sure corporation did a few weeks/months down there after bank street closed (a VERY sad occasion for all). never went to corp at the arches so can't really comment but it seems like i personally found the place a little too late...gatecrasher at the arches, oh man!
even if it never reopens its nice we were all there at some point, would love one last big bash there though, how about it any of you go-getters listening out there?

and any thoughts on why zogg managed to lift itself up again, whilst headcharge has tried and tried, yet crashed and burnt (sorry maybe a little over the top!)

and any thoughts on why zogg managed to lift itself up again, whilst headcharge has tried and tried, yet crashed and burnt (sorry maybe a little over the top!) [/B]

It was the luck of the draw - Zogg moved to Zero quite early (last Jan) when it still didnt have the best of reputations... while Headcharge hung in there at the Arches.

The management of Zero have done a great job in turning the club around whereas things didnt go quite so well at the Arches - and then, when the Arches shut, there werent really any suitable venues left for Headcharge in Sheffield...

I suppose Zogg wasnt as tied to the Arches as Headcharge was, as it had started at the Otherside and grew out of Dionysus/Destination Venus, and so it was easier for it to leave the Arches.

But things could easily have gone the other way - the Arches could have sorted itself out and Zero might not have turned itself around... it just the way things turn out...

true true, hooray for .zero i first started going to zero not too long ago when a night called shush ran there on a saturday i think it was. a really good night, perfect for saturday night energies.and, surprisingly i've never managed to get to zogg at zero (only Everyone Centre once since departure from the Arches) but hey hey hey i'm off to mutoid tonight...see you there guys.

Did anyone see Aphex Twin at the Arches? I'm sure he played their as the Diceman.

I found that when i first started goingto headcharge i really liked the chilled out atmosphere etc, after crasher shut after the raid a lot of the crasher kids started at headcharge and many of them were frighteningly young. I went right off headcharge after i saw girls who looked about 13 f'in up in the toilets on pills with old guys trying to take advantage as they were. The girls were far too young to be there and i saw it happen the last 4/5 times i went there.

.................

yeah i didn't tend to notice that at headcharge either, but...mutoid at zero...its turned into corp on a friday! maybe not as bad, but where did all the nippers come from...i felt old in there.
i was in the toilets and these two girls clad in corp gear (stripey tights/kilt-style mini skirt and dockers) walked past me and said "who's she?"
i mean i might have missed a few outings to zogg but who made them veterans. arhhhh

apologies!

Is Mutoid a regular thing? I went on monday and thought it was great, but thought it was just a one-off spesh.

Mutoid was just a one off put on by Dill (who is one half of Zogg) as the club had a spare night where the day after was a bank holiday. Zogg itself returns on the 22nd jan.

i thought it was a one off too but who knows...
i'm suprised that you felt old _ren i didn't see anyone who i thought to be really young looking, by that i mean under 18 and by taking a wild guess i would say that most people in there were 21+. anyhow it was a good crowd which is what is important once the age requirements are met, i thought it was a wicked night!

I need to find a techno dj to play at house parties. In fact, I need one prepared to play to me all day.

Every day.

Forever.

Well I'm generally willing to come play anywhere. DJ whore that I am. And thought mutoid was damn good, nice to hear a bit of old acid techno in a club again. Oh and come see me play at the next Zogg :P

I may be forced to abduct you.

yeah overall thought mutoid was ace. and yeah with the young people thing...i do have a habit of picking out three young looking people and blowing it up into the whole club was full of kids ahem...sorry.but there were a few i saw.
aNTAacid..very looking forward to zogg in january yes!

and sorry techno lovers but where's the drum and bass in sheffield????!!

.............

Shush had some great nights at zero and some bloody terrible ones but it did do a lot to change peoples perceptions of zero. Scotty and Adele are 2 of the most supportive people in the Sheffield music scene and they don't get the credit they deserve.

Never managed to get to Shush. A guy called Ben used to dj there, I worked with him at a god-awful call centre.

Last I heard he moved back to Liverpool, so if anyone knows who I'm on about let me know!

Ben was a great DJ. A couple of my mates would like to get in touch with him if anyone has a phone number or email address.
Paul Harris and Des who used to DJ at Shush are now part of Spannered.

He played a set at boardwalk on my 21st birthday september 03. Great, great, great stuff.

I had the pleasure of been stood behind him whilst he was doing a hip hop scratching session at zero before Shush opened one night. I think his name at the time was DJ Scary Death.

So, the mission is on.

Where in the world is DJ Scary Death (Ben)?

yeah i'd heard of drum and bass arena but where is coalition now? i thought it had finished cos of fez and po na na closing. and how often is the allnighter?? i love it!! only just got back to sheffield and felt abit lost in all the new nights and lost nights.

I can't believe the Arches might be gone for good! The only other club that came close to it IMO was the old Riverside in Newcastle.

I recall the Smokescreen and Lifemind friday nighters being the best regular club nights I ever went to. Plus the Megadog's there were much better than places like the Octagon or Manchester Acadamy etc and the other one-off nights in a simelar vein. Also when Gatecrasher started there I really enjoyed it - much better than the crappy, echoey Republic or the annoyingly out of town Adelphi where the bizzies often searched the queue.

The bouncers at the Archers were by far the nicest in Sheffield, especially considering the high jinks we used to get up to in plain sight in the club itself. I particuarly liked that vending machine on the ground floor by the stairs down from the terrace - cold Stella with no queue and if you wanted to be really cheeky I remember more than once just turning it back on at the mains socket to get beer after 2am.

The Arches will indeed be sadly missed, I know there are loads of others out there with simelar memories...though a lot of them are probably a bit fuzzy ;-)

Wow, you know after they closed down the Hacienda, squatters / party people broke back in and set up a free party, to give the place their own goodbye. Someone should do that (and invite me!) :)

yeah that sounds ace! count me in.

hi all.. i think u may all be throwing in the towel a little too soon.

someone HAS got the lease for the arches and has been sorting out the problems that lead to its closure. seems to be quite an expensive and slow process, sort one thing out nd another pops up, but it is getting done.

as far as i know, it should be getting back on its feet in the next few months, thats if no other problems pop up.

and iv no idea what nights will be held there but...

hopefully see you there soon. :c)

joined this alittle late but oh well

headcharge at the arches was amazing,so freindly n chilled

i hope it does get back on its feet,we need it!

a not insignificant part of me moving to sheffield was the cracking times i had at the arches.

it was always the most appalingly run place in the world tho. how they ever thought they could run a businesss only really opemning one night a week is beyond me. they (everyone who tried to run it) always struck me as incompetent and idiotically rude - so that no one wanted to work with them.

Be good to have it back again.

I was fairly convinced that it was being demolished for the new dual carriageway that is going through that area, a friend said they had been surveying the place only recently in preperation for it being knocked down, I could be wrong though

oh aye, i'd forgotten about that. have to look at the plans again, but i thought that bit was gonna be okay, even tho the buildings on either side of the arches were going. if that makes sense

they are on radio 4 at 7 pm most nights except for saturday

the omnibus is on sundays at 10

x

Originally posted by iffypop
Wow, you know after they closed down the Hacienda, squatters / party people broke back in and set up a free party, to give the place their own goodbye. Someone should do that (and invite me!) :)

Hey I was at that party! It got quite mental when the police turned up. A proper lock in, lol. The Hac was in a much better condition then than the Arches is now tho.

In general the problem with the Arches is three fold. The drainage between the central arches has been blocked and accumulated about 15 years of sludge (approx 10 feet deep, ik). This means that any rain instead of draining forward and down the out flow pipes has been making it's way through the building and ending up in the fuse room along with all the 3 phase electricity, which is nice. When we were setting up for a Headcharge once there was literally an inch of water on the dance floor in the backroom! Secondly, the security roller covering the fire doors is well and truly shafted and without this being sorted there'll be no license granted. Lastly, as anyone knows who's worked nights there, the management regime at the Arches has always been, shall we say, a bit challenged in understanding about how to fill up a roster of complimentary nights. Costing over a grand ever since I've been going there (95 onwards) it's hardly going to bring any fledgling nights in is it. In fact I lose count of the amount that did one night where all their mates come down, break even and then on the next one lose 2or 3K Without having a cross platform appeal i.e live music, a variety of dance music nights and maybe some daytime access for the local community then the Arches will never turn a profit and could well end up being that sofa warehouse that was threatened before Shannon took over the lease last time.

The deal with the devlopment of the riverside and the new road is not that the Arches gets demolished, just that the third arch (the one to the left of the entrance) needs to be filled up with concrete to increase the structural strength to a point necessary for the road. As far as I understand this would definately put the club out of action for about 6 months. If you're paying a lease to run the place as a club and all of a sudden you can't do owt for 6 months then you better have some wedge behind you to tide you over. I don't think anybody knows yet when the road development will finally go ahead so it's a bit of a sticking point that.

Having said all this, I've heard good things about the ongoing repairs. It'll cost a packet to fix the current issues never mind get a decent rig in there again, but it is being attended to slowly, electrics, plumbing etc. I can't see the capital being there to do stuff like a second bar, third room and other things that have been eternally mooted until the road development has finished (and that's been coming for a number of years already) I'm quietly confident you'll see some sort of re-emergence, but I can't see that in 2005. I'd be happy to be proved wrong however.

Thats my two penneth, anyhoo.