Morrissey has donated £50,000 to help save Salford Lads Club, the venue which is pictured in The Smiths’ ‘The Queen Is Dead’ album artwork.
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It comes after the Greater Manchester building was confirmed to be facing closure earlier this month due to rising costs and a drop in grant funding. To remain open, it must raise £250,000 by mid-November.
The venue has been immortalised in pop culture since 1986 when The Smiths used an image of them in front of the establishment on the sleeve of their seminal third album. Today, the centre continues to provide a safe space for young people from some of Greater Manchester’s deprived communities, offering activities such as sports six days a week.
Now, Morrissey has joined over 1.1k people in raising funds to protect the venue, donating £50,000 to a public fundraiser that has been set up to protect the space on GoFundMe.
His backing pushes the current total raised to £216,000, which will go towards the goal of keeping the club open for another year.
Laura Slingsby, head of youth operations at Salford Lads Club told Manchester Evening News that they are “deeply grateful” for the donation. “His support is more than a financial contribution; it’s a powerful endorsement of our mission and a tribute to the club’s enduring role in the lives of young people and the cultural heart of Salford,” she said.
Slingsby also revealed that the donation was initially anonymous, but was confirmed to be from Morrissey by his representatives. “He didn’t wish to make a statement but he is happy if it helps us to go public with it,” she added.
It’s not the first time he’s helped out the venue. In 2007 he donated £20,000 when the club were raising money to fund essential maintenance to the building.
Last week, it was reported that Graham Nash, who spent his childhood in Salford throughout the ‘40s and ‘50s, and was a member of Salford Lads Club, had donated £10,000 to save the venue.
The fundraiser has also been backed by Courteeners and Salford-born Tim Burgess, frontman of The Charlatans. You can find out more and donate here.
Alongside The Smiths’ album cover, Salford Lads Club has also been featured in TV series and films such as Peaky Blinders, Last Tango In Halifax, Mrs Biggs, Cold Feet, Blue Murder, and more. Last year luxury fashion brand Chanel booked out the landmark to host a star-studded event ahead of its show in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.
According to The Guardian, the club’s annual income for 2023 was about £160,000, with its outings adding up to £394,700. The club also faces annual bills of a whopping £43,000 combined (including utilised, insurance and building maintenance).
The announcement of the Salford Lads Club potentially shutting down comes after Mark Davyd, the Music Venue Trust CEO, told NME back in December that 2023 had been the worst year for venue closures.
Similarly, an MVT report from January echoed his comments,, finding that grassroots venues are facing a “disaster”. The Trust’s COO, Beverley Whitrick told the House of Commons: “23.6million people visited a grassroots music venue in the UK in 2023, which is an increase on the previous year. Sometimes people say to us when they ask about closures, ‘Is it that people are not interested in going anymore?’ Of course, that’s not the case at all.
“The wish to see artists, to connect with them in small spaces in local venues is as high as it’s ever been.”
