Much-loved Sheffield pub The Harley set to reopen

The venue on Glossop Road is expected to open its doors again this autumn, and its new bosses have assured punters it will continue to host the live music for which it was famous within the city.

The Harley announced its closure with immediate effect via Facebook on April 5, saying its events and music department and key promoters had begun working on a new city centre event space which would be announced very soon.

It described the pub as having been a ‘beacon for new music, bands, and grassroots promoters’, adding ‘the venue may have come to an end, but the memories will live on’.

It said the immediate closure was down to mounting financial pressures which meant the business was no longer viable.

The lease was put up for sale less than a month later, with an advert describing it as a ‘well-known landmark bar and hotel rooms’ and ‘one of the places that started the famous Tramlines festival in Sheffield’.

But Mitchells & Butlers, which owns the building, appears to have had a change of heart and decided to take over running the premises itself.

A spokesman for the company, which operates around 1,700 restaurants and pubs across the UK, said: “From time to time we review our estate and have taken the decision to invest in this business.

“We expect to be reopening the Harley in the autumn this year, retaining a live music presence whilst enhancing the offer of the iconic Sheffield destination.”

Mitchells & Butlers has applied to Sheffield Council to make a ‘minor variation’ to the premises licence, which includes changing the layout.