Covid forces popular Sheffield bar to convert its live music element

James O’Hara, of Bar Public Ltd that owns Picture House Social, revealed the move during a Sheffield Council licensing sub committee meeting this week.

In the meeting the committee granted permission for the venue to extend its opening hours to 3am, when Covid guidelines allow the hospitality sector to return to normal business.

During discussion in the meeting Mr O’Hara said they were planning to remove the live music element of the venue and turn that space into a games room with pool and ping-pong tables along with other things.

He said: “That is a response to Covid in that we doubt we will be able to do live gigs for quite some time so we need to utilize it for other purposes.”

Later he added it would be a permanent move and is also due to the large costs involved in hosting live music.

Along with those changes he said they were keen to develop the food offering: “The pizza parlour element has become quite big, if you walk in on an evening it will generally be every table full of people eating pizza and that’s an area we really want to develop going forward,” he said.

Picture House Social – which has a capacity to seat 120 people – has operated from the landmark Abbeydale Picture House on Abbeydale Road for seven years, a building which last year celebrated 100 years since opening.