New Sheffield music venue ‘bringing a taste of the bohemian’ to suburb wins drinks licence plea

Herd on Holmhirst Road in Woodseats was given permission for a drinks and entertainment licence by Sheffield City Council’s licensing sub-committee (June 19). The meeting heard that two people had objected and a small group of residents had signed a petition against the plan but none attended the hearing.

Solicitor Leigh Schelvis, representing business partners Andrew Bennett and Robert Woolhouse, said the business has been operating as a cafe since January, providing a community space.

“They are expanding the offering to include sales of alcohol. Mr Woolhouse and his partner have put in considerable capital of their own into this premises in order to create something that is quite unique to the Woodseats area. They are bringing a taste of the bohemian into this wonderful community.”

The plan is to remain as a cafe during the day and offer a street food menu in the evenings.

He said that the number of staff employed would rise from three to 14, including an experienced food and drink manager.

Platform

Mr Schelvis added: “This isn’t the Leadmill, it’s not West Street Live. As much as they would like to attract Led Zeppelin, unfortunately that’s not going to happen, but what it is going to do is provide a platform for local artists to perform in front of an audience of a smaller scale.”

He said the music performances would be slightly louder than acoustic sets, something the venue had tested out during the Woodseats Live music event, when the venue got a temporary alcohol licence for performances.

Mr Schelvis said that there had been no problems associated with that.

He added that Herd still aims to be family-friendly: “We appreciate that the Woodseats area is a family-friendly area. Rob (Woolhouse) is very much a member of this community – he lives, breathes and bleeds the Woodseats local area.

“There is nothing more he would like than for people with families to come to this establishment to have a nice drink while their kids are playing board games.”

He said that the venue provides board games and welcomes dogs. Herd also hosts mother and toddler groups two mornings a week.

Objections

He rejected suggestions from objectors that the venue had illegally sold alcohol last July, saying that the venue was still a furniture shop and storage then. The music event ran in March with a temporary licence legally applied for.

Mr Schelvis replied to objections about possible crime and disorder, saying that police have no objections to the application. He said that an environmental health officer had visited to check out potential noise levels from music and found them satisfactory.

Councillors agreed to the proposals to allow the venue to serve drink until 11.30pm seven days a week, closing at midnight. The licence allows live and recorded music and dance or similar performances.

Committee chair Coun David Barker said that the venue has to advertise a phone number so that residents can contact staff to discuss any problems.

He added: “We have no reasons to assume that you wouldn’t manage these premises responsibly and it wouldn’t cause issues to the local community.”

He continued that if objectors are concerned about Herd or any other licensed premises, they can raise issues and the committee can consider them. Ultimately, the committee can revoke the licence of any premises where problems have occurred.

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