Na night Night Kitchen. Has Sheffield’s Club Culture Gone to Sleep?

Thursday marked the latest of blows to Sheffield’s nightlife, The Night Kitchen announced via Facebook what we all hoped wouldn’t happen. That the chefs behind arguably one of Sheffield’s best nightclubs would be “closing the kitchen for good”.*cue city wide outrage*

For those of you who don’t know, The Night Kitchen is at the forefront of Sheffield’s underground music club culture, offering the best of jungle, bassline, drum and bass, and, if you’re REALLY weird, techno. From Chip Butty Records to LSS, Ed Solo to Nightmares on Wax, The Night Kitchen catered to the tastes of many (pardon the pun). True to the city’s beloved bassline, as well as a regular serving of Offmenut, it hosted Sheffield’s first Boiler Rooms session, a ‘Bassline Special’ with TQD.

Although it’s still breathing until June, the death of TNK will see Sheffield’s graveyard of great clubs grow.

When I shared TNK’s post on Facebook, the first comment was “First DQ and now this?”. Ahhh DQ. It closed its doors December 2015. I still have the inflatable monkey from my first (technically underage) night out November 2013. It’s now February 2017 and I still shed a mental tear whenever I think of the place. Two floors catering to old school rnb, indie and as ex DQ-Devotee Jasmine, 20, puts it ,“the occasional bit of cheeky bassline upstairs”.
Every song played was a banger. Every song.

Following that, there was Golden Harvest… yes I know there’s one on Abbeydale road. I mean the old Golden Harvest.

The record label/head shop was by day Sheffield’s version of an Amsterdam coffee shop, and a small venue holding host to RiteTrax and regular garage at night. Located by the late Grovesnor hotel, the intimate venue threw its last party June 2016 and went off in style with Insub Audio, North3rn Monk3y and Ya Mums Ya Dad Bassline among those who gave the night a proper Sheffield Sound Send-off!

Jungle night at Golden Harvest

The tragic loss of South Seas came just ONE DAY after Golden Harvest

Opening early and closing early, it was the night starter. Rough round the edges, South Seas had its own rules. Genuinely friendly bouncers who’d turn a blind eye if you ‘forgot’ your ID, sparked up inside or took in copious amounts of your own Buckfast.

Sheffield sound system culture used South Seas as a platform to showcase and perfect their music. Chuffin’ Noise, CG Sounds and Lunar all did nights and with crowd surfing, people standing on speakers and loud, loud music, the closing party was pure madness.

You’d probably get your bag nicked at South Seas, but you’d definitely get your heart stolen.

“Fez?” The question we were all guilty of saying yes to. I don’t have much to say about Fez, partly because I could never remember my nights there and partly because Fez was just Fez. It was the place you’d go when everywhere had closed, but you still wanted to party. Opening 6 days a week and later than any other Steel City club, you’d emerge from Fez to the light of the morning. The early morning sun washing you with rays of shame/delight that you’d literally danced the night away. It wasn’t much, but the people of Sheff still mourn the loss of Fez to this day.

Fear not, it isn’t all doom and gloom. After over a decade, the legendary Niche was resurrected earlier this year and the team behind Night Kitchen vow they’ll be back. The Clubhouse fits in some mighty soundsystems and after the fantastic RiteTrax Mad Friday Xmas party (at which I won a woolly hat and a Toblerone in the raffle), RecordJunkee is emerging as a promising small venue. Hopeworks and the Harley will continue to offer as popular underground music hot spots. You never know, hopefully we’ll wake up and this is just a bad dream.

The Night Kitchen will be open as usual, with its final goodbye in June.

Which club do you miss? Send obituaries to [email protected]