The Full Monty: New Disney+ series revives hopes of saving Sheffield's Shiregreen Club which featured in film

Shiregreen Club – then known as Shiregreen Working Men’s Club – is where the cast famously revealed all before a baying crowd in the hit 1997 film

The building on Shiregreen Lane became a shrine for fans of the comedy, attracting sightseers from around the world.

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But the venue closed in 2018 and four years later the site remains fenced off with its future up in the air.

An application to bulldoze it to make way for flats was rejected by Sheffield Council in 2020, after more than 1,000 people signed a petition to save the club, but this was described at the time as a temporary reprieve.

The owner Eyre Investments subsequently said it was happy to work with locals to create a community asset, and there were negotiations about converting the concert room into a youth centre and boxing gym, with the lounge becoming a sports bar, though it is understood those plans eventually fell through.

Now the fight to save it has been given fresh impetus by the announcement that The Full Monty is returning as an eight-part TV series to air on Disney+ with the original cast and writer reuniting to update fans on what has happened to the gang since we saw them in all their glory 25 years ago.

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The new series is being shot in Sheffield and Manchester, with filming already underway, and though there is little chance of Shiregreen Club featuring, it has helped highlight the plight of probably the film’s most famous setting.

Ann Bentley, who ran the club with her husband Roy when The Full Monty was filmed, and launched the petition to save it from the wrecking ball, said the announcement had given her fresh hope.

“I was absolutely thrilled when I heard they’re making a TV series,” she said.

“If the club can get back on its feet again that would be a dream come true, and this could be just what we needed to get things moving again.”

Ann added that the club had been ‘very, very busy’ during its heyday and although business had declined more recently, partly due to the rising cost of beer, she believes it could thrive again in the right hands.

Shiregreen and Brightside ward councillor Peter Price said he understood plans for the boxing club to take over had fallen through as the rent was considered too high, and he was not aware of any new proposals.

"Hopefully this new TV series will raise interest in the club and perhaps get the attention of a developer who will bring it back into use for the community because it was a very successful club,” he added.

Disney says the Full Monty series will follow the original characters as they navigate the post-industrial city of Sheffield and society’s crumbling healthcare, education and employment sectors.

It will explore the brighter, sillier and more humane way forward where communal effort can still triumph over adversity.

The Star has attempted to contact Eyre Investments.