Kevan Johnson remembered - a man who helped shape Sheffield's music history through The Limit nightclub

He was one half of the partnership that ran a venue that opened on the back of the first wave of punk and helped launch some of the city’s most popular bands of the era. The Limit played a part in the story of the rise of everyone from the Human League.

Although the West Street venue didn’t actually open until punk was well into its second year, the initial idea had been buzzing around in DJ George Webster’s head for years.

He was in a better position than most to make a success of things. Webster already had the following from the city’s Buccaneer and Wapentake Bar where he’d been the resident DJ.

Punk rock wasn’t being catered for at The Wapentake and there was also that gap in the market for a venue catering for smaller bands following the closure of the Black Swan.

But it takes a lot more than spinning a few discs to open, run and manage a successful venue and that’s where Kevan Johnson came in.

As well as being an ex-policeman, Johnson also knew the licensing trade because his dad had run pubs in Heeley and Woodseats for years.

The Limit passed its afternoon inspection by the fire service with flying colours on March 22, 1978, and prepared to open that night.

It was actually local club-act Bitter Suite that packed the place on opening night.

Paul Unwin, who was The Limit manager as well as its main DJ, said: “Opening night was a total disaster but the customers wouldn’t have known that. We’d come as DJs but we were now asked to be night-club managers.”Siouxsie and the Banshee were the first big national band to perform.

Paul Unwin remembers: “Nobody had ever seen anything like Siouxsie and the Banshees in Sheffield; she’d just got a single in the charts that was Hong Kong Garden and she was at the height of the punk scene then.”

The Limit went on to be a massive success.

It staged hundreds of gigs throughout the late seventies and early eighties as well as promoting bigger shows at the Top Rank.

The B-52’s made their UK debut there and everyone from the Specials to the Undertones played seminal shows there.

Many bands would play twice – matinee shows for the youngsters were also a regular thing.

Other Sheffield acts like Clock DVA, Cabaret Voltaire and Vice Versa (later to become ABC) all performed there.

By the mid-1980s the Limit was staging more club nights and dominated much of the alternative/indie scene.

Neil Anderson’s book, ‘Take It To The Limit’, which chronicled the life of the venue became a best-seller when it was originally launched in 2009.

Michael Glover, arts critic for the Independent, said: “This book is an absolute roller coaster ride through the late seventies punk scene and Sheffield’s synth dominance that followed.”

•‘Take It To The Limit’ is available from www.dirtystopouts.com

*Content supplied by Neil Anderson.