Boom Leeds will be forced to close its doors in March 2025.
Boom Leeds will be forced to close its doors in March 2025.
Boom is located within Byron Street Mills on Millwright Street in Leeds. Our landlord has decided to terminate our lease to start work on developing the building into flats & shops.
Closure
Boom is located within Byron Street Mills on Millwright Street in Leeds. Our landlord has decided to terminate our lease to start work on developing the building into flats & shops.
Byron Street Mills has been used for cultural activity and the home of our community for over 10 years. What initially started off as practice rooms for bands like The Flex has grown into a multi-stage venue with permanent rehearsal rooms for local artists, creative studios, and a place to foster new creative ideas, projects and businesses.
Thank you
Over the last 4 years we have been quite public with our struggles with maintaining Boom whilst up against a global pandemic, increased costs, changes in the music industry and a cost of living crisis. Boom has always been a small team made primarily of volunteers - all working other jobs to support Boom. We would like to thank the team here at Boom past and present for what we’ve achieved over the years.
Our community has always had our back and we would like to extend our thanks to everyone that has been part of the history of Boom. The support our venue has received from friends, fans, bands and individuals across the globe over the years has always been noticed and we’re so grateful.
Boom has managed to promote a programme of international, local and regional artists we genuinely love in our way, in a space we’ve built from scratch. If you’ve ever been to a gig hosted by Boom - you know it's a lot of fun. Our venue has raised thousands of pounds for charities and local causes and we’ve hosted hundreds of gigs, parties, weddings and life celebrations for our community.
Malevolence live at Boom Leeds // Photo blackboxphoto
Culture means everything
Writing about how our music scene is about to lose Boom and thinking about the effects that will have on not just on livelihoods but on people's wellbeing in our community is not something we want to do. We’ve been presented with situation after situation in recent years where stepping back and closing Boom would be the easy choice. But we’ve always made a fight out of it, lost a lot in the process - but we’ve made it through and continued a venue dedicated to alternative music. Unfortunately our final battle to stay at Millwright Street can’t be won. Boom must now admit defeat and close at the end of March 2025.
The future
We are proud of what we’ve achieved at Boom Leeds and our contribution to the Leeds music scene. We’ve also learned a hell of a lot.
Right now we are sending out invites to bands and artists we would like to play Boom Leeds one last time on the run up to our closure at the end of March 2025. The Flex will close out the final gig at Boom Leeds. Details will be made available in advance with scheduled on-sale time. Keep an eye on our social media and make sure you are signed up to our mailing lists and blog.
No Pressure live at Boom Leeds // Photo by Tom Berridge
A new venue & location for 2025
The team behind Boom will be opening a new venue location in 2025.
Our new space is established as a community interest company. Our plan for the new space includes a live music venue, bar, community space, rehearsal and creative studios - a non-profit - serving the community.
We will also be setting up a formal education arm to the venue, supporting people into the live music and media industry with live sound and lighting.
We have a history of mentorship at Boom. We have taken on students and provided education, experience and a foot into the live music industry. We are immensely proud of what those students have gone on to achieve. We visited Birmingham Arena in January this year and watched our team from Boom run the live sound, playback and monitors for Static Dress - a band that rehearses above our venue, in front of 16,000 people supporting Bring Me The Horizon. Less than a week prior, the exact team and band were on stage at Boom Leeds.
Our final run of shows at Boom Leeds will help us fundraise the build and opening of the new location and secure it for many years into the future.
Subscribe to our newsletter
Please subscribe to our Substack/Blog so you can be kept up to date with our journey. We will also be publishing details of upcoming events for the final gigs to our mailing list and blog subscribers first.
We hope to see as many of you as possible over the following months to see the final gigs at Boom Leeds and we look forward to welcoming you to our new space in 2025.
Boom Leeds
Important Links for the future -
FAQ
Can my band play Boom Leeds before you close?
We’d love to have you - fill out this form by clicking here.
How can I contact Boom Leeds?
Please see our website at boomleeds.com