Farewell Basement 35

Basement 35 is a Leeds legend.

It was a simple Hyde Park house that transformed into a night out for over 500 students, complete with seven DJs, bouncers and portaloos.

They got so big that corporate giants Red Bull wanted in on the action, but apparently they “did nothing”.

The first party Basement 35 hosted had a modest 100 guests, before they got bigger and bigger.

Despite police and the council visiting every time, all the parties lasted beyond 6am before being shut down.

One of last years’ hosts told The Tab: “The letting agency was showing us around us around, and they said ‘you’ve got a big basement, ooh party party’, with a bit of a wink.

“There was a 50 quid laser in one room. We kept adding more and more stuff.

“For the last one we had a gazebo outside. We wanted to go even bigger, but we got shut off by the council.”

The last party at Basement 35 had over 500 guests, prompting a Leeds Uni Official to go round and let the hosts know they had reports that up to 50 people had been on the property.

“We just laughed and someone said there were 50 people in the queue for the toilets.”

The housemates were threatened with a £5,000 fine.

“At the last party, we were still completely rammed at half past six.

“Someone from the council said to me: ‘Do you think this is acceptable?’, to which I said ‘no’.”

Word of the legendary basement had got round Leeds to the point where Red Bull wanted to sponsor a party and security guards had to be hired.

“People saw it was a Red Bull party and went along because of that, but they didn’t provide DJ’s or sound systems or anything, we did it all.

“All they did on the day was turn up with two crates of red bull and a mini-fridge.

“We asked, ‘are you for real?'”

With that group of housemates moving out this summer, it appears that Basement 35 is a shadow of the venue it once was.

Secret location raves are held by one of the former tenants of Basement 35 for the followers of the ‘B35’ Facebook page, which has accumulated over 400 likes.

There is also rumour of a B35 club night being launched in the near future in an attempt to carry on the legacy.

The current tenants of Basement 35 did not want to speak to us much, or invite us to their next party.

Farewell B35, it was fun while it lasted.