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In the book ‘Dirty Stop Out’s Guide to 1980s Sheffield – The Limit Edition’ former manager and DJ Paul Unwin remembers: “The Limit legacy means different things to different people. The late Seventies and Eighties were a period of high unemployment and political turmoil in Sheffield – but in the Limit you could leave it behind. We provided excitement, escapism and amazing music. The memories will be with thousands of punters for a lifetime – it is an amazing feeling to have been a part of that.

“The two directors – George Webster and Kevan Johnson – were a Jekyll and Hyde combination. George loved the music – it had been his life up until then. Kevan was an ex-policeman and businessman with support from his wife who helped manage the purse strings. Relations could be toxic and it wouldn’t be uncommon for there to be a constant state of disagreement.

“But for all its faults – the Limit was a formidable success for much of its lifetime.

The Limit directors Kevan Johnson, left, and George Webster outside the venue.

“There was also some other key people on The Limit payroll at the start, Ged Doherty being one of them. He was in charge of booking bands and was successful in bringing Siouxsie & the Banshees, the B-52’s and other key acts in the early days of the club.

“We were lucky enough to witness musical history happening here in Sheffield with the rise of the likes of Human League, Def Leppard and others. On occasions, I had the pleasure of helping influence the industry people who were prepared to come and listen to what was happening

“However, it was definitely not all my doing. The music industry was extremely buoyant during this period and record sales were at an all-time high.

“This meant that behind the scenes record companies were extremely proactive when it came to promotion.

Wendy Wu, lead singer of The Photos, at The Limit

“Some Sheffield DJs from the earlier days of the Buccanee /Wapentake had moved into different jobs within the music industry but remained in contact.

Former Wapentake DJ Dave Bates went on to work for Virgin Records and then Phonogram where he became head of A&R, and signed acts including The Teardrop Explodes, Def Leppard, Tears for Fears and others.

“Thanks to Dave, I got records well ahead of their release dates and would often leave Phonogram’s head office in London with armfuls of vinyl.

“Ged also left to work at the Victoria Palace in London promoting bands and went onto manage Sniff & the Tears/Paul Young /Alison Moyet, before becoming head of Arista Records and Sony Music.

The cover of the book Dirty Stop Outs Guide to 1980s Sheffield - The Limit edition

So, when the Limit opened it became a magnet for rock ’n’ roll. The West Street crawl would usually end up at our place.

Was there any fun while working at the Limit? Well the simple answer is yes.

If you were a people watcher, sober and stood where I was during the night you would see certain things that would make you smile and on occasion nearly wet yourself laughing.

For instance the night The Cramps played for the first time, their lead singer Erick Lee Purkhiser, alias Lux Interior, caused great amusement to the audience.

The Limit favourites Vice Versa who later became ABC, with singer Martin Fry, left.

He counted the band in by banging the microphone four times on the false roof above the Limit stage. On the fourth attempt he succeeded in removing the complete roof panel. The clubs owners weren’t impressed, I overheard one of the directors say ‘they'll have to pay for that’.

The book is available from dirtystopouts.com and Amazon, priced £13.95.

No Limit to memories of famous Sheffield nightclub