Last updated on 12/12/2024

The History of The Shed. Part 1.

By Trevor Locke.

11th December 2024.

Introduction

This month (December 2024), marks the 30th anniversary of the opening of The Shed. This series of three articles celebrates that event by telling the history of the venue, as I understand it. The Shed is a live music venue in the centre of Leicester. The longest-running of all our small music venues, it opened in 1994. It stayed open until it was fully refurbished in 2017 and remains open to this day. I went there for the first time in November 2002 and I have been going back ever since. The place has played an important role in my life. It has also played an important role in the lives of many thousands of other people, being the venue where many of our local musicians played their first public performance as a band musician or as a singer. Many people regard the venue as being an icon of Leicester’s musical life. Like many other venues, it has one main stage, although, unlike most of the other venues in Leicester, it also has a smaller room and stage, situated in the basement. The lower room was originally called the downstairs bar; it was later rebranded as ‘The Vault’ and retained that name until the venue closed for refurbishment. Let me explain, for the sake of readers in other parts of the country (or the world, for that matter), where and what is the city of Leicester.

Where is Leicester?

Leicester is known around the country, if not around the world, for many things. Things like the king in the car park, the final burial place of King Richard III, the National Space Centre, the remains of the Roman town, its castle and its cathedral and of course its two universities. The city is also well-known for its football and rugby teams. The king was re-interred in Leicester Cathedral in a ceremony covered by the world’s media and me. Leicester University is associated with the discovery of genetic fingerprinting. Sue Townsend and Joe Orton were both born in Leicester. Both went on to become world-renowned authors. As an urban area, Leicester is one of the longest-inhabited towns and cities in the UK. It boasts two thousand years of continuous human habitation. The name Leicester is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word for it – Ligora-ceastre – but, before that, the Romans called it Ratae Corieltauvorum, the principal town of the district of the Corieltauvi tribe who lived in the settlement on the banks of the river Soar, before the Roman invasion. Hence, the peculiar name for the present-day city, which many people do not know how to pronounce. When the Romans left Britain, Leicester was taken over by the Anglo-Saxons and then the Normans. There are many layers of history during which the city changed both commercially and culturally. Leicester has two important nearby cities Nottingham and Birmingham. Coventry is also close by. The proximity of these other cities has had an important impact on the life of Leicester’s live music industry (some would say negatively.) The Romans built a wall around the city and various place names, that survive to this day, are based on the gates of the wall through which major thoroughfares ran, Humberstone Gate, Sanvey Gate, Church Gate and Gallowtree Gate being examples of these. The town was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 when its six churches suggest it had a population of around 1,500 to 2,000 people. The road in which The Shed now stands (Yeoman Street) was once called Nelson Street, which ran from Humberstone Gate through to Halford Street, although the half adjoining Halford Street was known as Yeoman Street. Halfway along it, there was a minor side road called Yeoman Lane which led up to Charles Street, as shown in a map of 1888. A map published in 1892, showed Yeoman Street running from Rutland Street to Yeoman Lane, where it then became Nelson Street and off that was an area known as Nelson Square. Information about the early history of properties in that street has either been lost or has never been digitised for the Internet.

Significance of The Shed

In my view, The Shed stands alongside the Clock Tower, the racecourse, and the football stadium (the original football ground for Leicester was in Walnut Street. It later moved to its present location and was renamed more than once but today is called King Power Stadium), Grace Road cricket ground and the Tigers rugby ground, as being one of the iconic features of this ancient city. Why? Many musicians began their careers there and later went on to become famous around the city and county and a few became stars of the music scene nationally. Acts that once graced it stages included the singer Ellie Goulding who performed there in November 2009. It was once claimed that the Leicester band Kasabian played there; I will return to this later. Over the many years that I have been going to The Shed, I have witnessed many exceptional gigs and seen hundreds of rock bands, some of which have been world-famous, some of international importance but most largely unknown outside of our local area. I will return to this theme in Part 3 of this series. There is hardly a musician or singer who has not performed on the stages of this venue, at some point in their musical careers. Bands have come from literally all over the world to play at The Venue. The place has a notoriety and a celebrity equal to that of the Cavern Club in Liverpool, Rock City in Nottingham, The Leadmill – the longest-running live music venue and nightclub in Sheffield opened in 1980 or Camden’s Dingwalls, London’s Roundhouse, Manchester’s Apollo and many others. The Shed should, in view, be in the UK’s top 30 live music venues of all time.

What is The Shed?

The Shed is a live music venue in the centre of Leicester. The longest-running of all the city’s small music venues, The Shed opened in 1994 on Christmas Eve. The opening night show featured the Soul and Motown band, Ten Feet Tall. The celebrated musician Dawson Smith told me he and his band were the first to play on opening night and Geoff Overon, another of our great local music artists, also claimed he played on the opening night of the venue. Before the building became the Shed, I am told, it used to be a nightclub, though little is known about it and I have failed to find any reference to its original use in old directories. Before the property took on its current name, it used to be a nightclub, though little is known about it, in those days, and my attempts have failed to find any reference to it in old street directories.

Kevin Holyland, the then manager of the venue, said, “… it was The Last Resort, The Hothouse, Viceroy and originally The Leicester Variety Artistes Club (given in records as originally located in Cank Street), so that’s four licensed premises before it became The Shed.” Little was ever written about the property in its early days and attempts to find out more have always failed. It is not clear whether The Shed was built as a nightclub or whether it had another use prior to it becoming that. I searched many old maps and street directories, published prior to 1994, trying to see if there was any reference to the place. I found a reference to Humberstone Gate (the nearest main road) in a sketch of the area made by John Speede in 1610.

The Story of the Shed

In Part 2, I will tell you about some of the bands that have played there over the years, but first, let me explain what I know about the building. Not many people who have been to the venue, and there must be many tens of thousands of them, know anything about its past, except that, its branding makes clear that it was opened in 1994.

The building is situated in Yeoman Street, not far from Leicester’s iconic clock tower our equivalent of Eros and Piccadilly Circus. From the main entrance on street level, you ascend a flight of stairs to the ticket desk and the doors to the main room are just to the left of that. Along the corridor, a flight of steps leads down to the outside smoking area and further down to the foyer for the second stage – the Vault – and toilets. The main room had a capacity of 180 standing. There were few seats. The place looked and felt very different when I went there for the first time. Back in those days, there were no windows in the main room. The stage, at one end, overlooked a large floor area, alongside which ran the bar, from one end of the room to the other. On either side of the stage were the speakers two very large ones stacked one on top of the other. These produced a very loud noise. In front of these, you could feel the music not only hear it. The stage lighting came from large lamps fixed to gantries running across the ceiling. At the right side of the room, facing the stage, there was a long alcove, an area of the floor where the ceiling was lower than in the rest of the room. In this area, there were some chairs and tables and it provided a convenient location for the bands to leave their equipment. At the end of this low area, there was a small room that originally served as a little kitchen and servery that provided hot meals and snacks to the customers. This was later closed and converted into toilets. The sound control box was originally just inside the main doors. It was later moved to the back of the room and converted into a high sound control desk with a clear view of the stage. Downstairs, the long narrow room that served as a secondary performance area, had its own little bar and the entrance to the gentlemen’s and ladies’ toilets. There was no separate sound control desk, as there was upstairs. Opposite the bar, there was a low stage. Shows were constantly interrupted by people going into the lavatories. There has always been a smoking area at the back of the property and this is still there today. Of course, when I started going there it was before the smoking ban and fans smoked throughout the shows, the air in the room taking on a blue tinge and the floor being covered in discarded dog-ends. In July 2007, smoking was banned in enclosed areas and the atmosphere became healthier for the bar staff and sound engineers fans and musicians. For me, the smoking area was one where some of the most interesting and rewarding conversations took place.

The venue changed little between its opening night in 1994 and the time when it passed to a new owner in 2017. After Kevin retired and left, the venue stood empty for two years. The property was then acquired by the father of Elisabeth Barker-Carley (as she then was) and work began on extensive alterations. Kevin Holyland was the person who ran the Shed since it was established, in 1994, until it passed to Elisabeth in 2017.

The Refurbishment

After Kevin Holyland gave it up, the venue stood empty and silent for two years. The property was then purchased by the father of the then Elisabeth Barker-Carley who later married and became Elisabeth Carley-Leonard. Extensive alterations were introduced. A window was opened in the main room. The bar was moved to the opposite side of the room and the toilets, in the lower area, were moved to a new position and completely modernised. The lower bar was refurbished and a new stage was installed in an area opposite the bar. The Shed opened under new management in 2016. The venue saw its opening night on 1st April 2017. Music in Leicester magazine reported on this event with an article headed, ‘The Shed reborn’. The article said, ‘After 23 years the venue has now been refurbished and refitted to offer its clientele a modern ambience in which to enjoy music. Even over the few years that I have been going there, The Shed has had little done to it, apart from one year when the layout and staging in the lower room was changed. Even before that, the main room was altered when a new sound desk was built. These were minor alterations compared with the modifications seen by tonight’s audience.’ It went on to say that, ‘Tonight saw the public opening of the refurbished venue. Even from the outside, in Yeoman Street, substantial changes were immediately obvious. A large window now adorns the frontage. Daylight has entered the main room for the first time in well over two decades. In designing the decor, the theme of a garden shed has remained pivotal; large expanses of walling have been covered with the kind of rough timbering associated with garden huts. Dotted around the rooms are odds and ends that have been cunningly re-purposed. The stage is still where it has always been, though it has been rebuilt and is now adorned with red plush curtains as one might find in many theatres.’ The article continued, ‘The long bar that used to stretch along the stage-left side of the room has gone. Now the bar is where the tables and chairs used to be, beneath the lower end of the ceiling. The sound engineer’s box has been rebuilt. A new sound system has been installed and there are new lights. Behind the stage is a large LED display screen; on it, images of the old shed and movies of its reconstruction played while waiting for the start of the first act.’ Further details were given, ‘It is downstairs in the basement, where the changes are most dramatic. Gone are the awful old toilets whose doors ruined the performances of many nights with the constant traffic of people in and out. Having completely removed the toilets, the room is now much larger with its own bar at one end of the room and a slightly raised stage at the other.’ The report went on to say, ‘The lavatories are now where the office used to be, having an entrance that means customers do not have to troop through the middle of a show to use the facilities. The lower bar performance area is now called The Vault stage. The stage is now back where it used to be in the old days to the left of the main entrance door.’ Today was a big day for me, said Elisabeth Carley-Leonard. On 20th January 2017, Elisabeth got the keys to The Shed. She commented, “I can only hope that I’ll be able to do the place justice. Kev is family to me, and the venue is home. It’s huge, and I can’t believe it. And I can’t wait for you all to see it. Keep April 1st free. A window was made in the wall overlooking the street, allowing daylight into the main room for the first time since the place was built. The bar was moved to the opposite side of the room. The toilets, downstairs, were moved to a new position so that people did not have to cross in front of the stage to use them. The bar in the lower area was completely refurbished and a new stage was constructed at the opposite end of the room. The new venue saw its opening night on 1st April 2017. I was there to report on the event for Music in Leicester Magazine. My report is still online and I will list links both to it and other articles at the end of this series (in part 3.)

Acknowledgements: thanks for contributions to Kevin Holyland, Elisabeth Carley- Leonard (nee Barker-Carley), Tom Carnell and many others.

Next Recollections. In Part 2, I will begin to share my recollections of the bands and gigs I saw in the venue during the time I was a regular attendee there.