Sheffield retro: 9 nostalgic photos celebrating nights at the Limit, one of city's 'most legendary' clubs

Despite being shut over thirty years it’s now regularly hailed as one of Sheffield’s most famous and legendary clubs, writes Neil Anderson.

The subterranean Limit provided a safe haven for the burgeoning  punk movement that was already into its second year when the West Street venue opened in 1978.

The Limit was at the forefront of a group of regional independent venues that opened in Northern England around the same time and went on to help shape the UK music scene in the eighties. Other venues included the Warehouse in Leeds, Eric’s in Liverpool and the Hacienda in Manchester.

The Limit survived and thrived through times of major political and social unrest that proved to be the undoing of many venues.

It saw off the Winter of Discontent in 1978-1979; the Miners’ Strike of 1984 and

The Limit’s early months cemented its status as a cutting-edge live music venue with Siouxsie and the Banshees playing the opening week; the B-52’s making their UK debut at the club and everyone from the Specials to the Undertones performing seminal shows.

But the Limit’s influence was probably strongest felt by the local acts it helped nurture and the electro-scene that exploded out of the city in the early 1980s.

Human League, Cabaret Voltaire, Clock DVA, Vice Versa (later to become ABC), Def Leppard, Artery and others all played seminal shows at the venue.

Within a couple of years of opening the Limit was turning its focus to clubnights; it went on to become a regional goth-epic-centre and was pioneering the rave scene when it shut for the last time.

• The venue is celebrated in Neil Anderson’s ‘Dirty Stop Out’s Guide to 1980s Sheffield – Limit Edition’: https://dirtystopouts.com/products/dirty-stop-outs-guide-to-1980s-sheffield-limit-edition