Leadmill venue among residents’ ideas for Sheffield’s former pop music museum

Sheffield Hallam University is considering the future of the HUBS on Paternoster Row following the students’ union’s departure in January.

Suggestions from readers of The Star include a live music venue for The Leadmill, a temporary gallery and a centre combining music education with Sheffield’s musical history. These are residents’ proposals as the university considers what to do with the building.

Music and arts proposals

Ian Turley suggested The Leadmill could take over the premises for live performances. Kevin Rodgers proposed recording studios, instrument and songwriting tuition, careers education for young people and small gigs for emerging artists, alongside a museum devoted to Sheffield music.

Angela Greenwood suggested a temporary home for Graves Art Gallery, saying it needed premises for a year and pointing to the building’s central location and existing cafe/bar. Michael Brown favoured dance studios and a performance space.

Other ideas included a football museum, proposed by Mike Legat, and an indoor bouldering centre, suggested by Willow Ambrose. Leo Sharpe jokingly proposed a “national curling centre”, referring to the building’s appearance.

From museum to students’ union

The building opened as the National Centre for Popular Music in March 1999 and shut in July 2000. Hallam took it over in September 2003, opening the HUBS there in 2004.

Its four drum-inspired structures, described as ‘kettles’, were clad in Sheffield steel to reflect the city’s heritage.

In April 2025, following news of the students’ union relocation, The Twentieth Century Society placed the building on its national list of sites at risk from neglect, dereliction or demolition.

Source: The Star