Community share offer launched to reopen historic Castlegate pub as live arts and media venue
Plans to re-open a historic Sheffield city centre pub have been set out in a Community Investment Offer from Sheffield Community Media. The crowdfunding campaign is inviting the public to become community shareholders and co-owners in the development of a new live arts and media venue in the evolving Castlegate quarter.
The former Tap and Barrel, on Castlegate, was acquired earlier this year by Sheffield Community Media, the charitable community benefit society which hosts and supports Sheffield Live! radio and TV.
The building is situated opposite Lady’s Bridge and at the corner of what was once the inner courtyard of Sheffield’s mediaeval castle. The site has a rich history and has been the location of a public house since the 1790s when it was the Bull and Mouth Inn and a meeting place for early friendly societies and constitutional reform campaigners. The present building dates to 1927 and was constructed for the Duncan Gilmour brewery.
Sheffield Community Media plans to renovate the building to accommodate radio, TV and podcasting studios, to re-open the ground floor as a public cafe and bar, and to offer performance spaces for local artists and promoters.
“To bring this wonderful and historic building back into public use and to realise its full potential as a community asset will require significant planning and major investment”, says the Society in its Community Investment Offer document. To support the next phase of development it is inviting members of the public to become co-owners in this unique part of the city’s heritage and to become involved in its future development.
Steve Buckley of Sheffield Community Media said: “We have had a tremendous response to the news of our acquisition of the former Tap and Barrel. We are now inviting people to help us realise the full potential of this building as a venue for live music, performing arts and media, owned by and run for the benefit of the community.”
Sangita Basudev, co-founder of Sheffield Live! said: “So many people have shared with us their memories of the pub and its neighbourhood and their hopes for what it can become in the future. Now we need people to get on board, as community shareholders, to help raise the investment needed to restore and renew this unique city centre asset.
Sheffield Community Media has benefitted to date from support for the project from University of Sheffield, Co-operatives UK, Social Investment Business, Architectural Heritage Fund and the Key Fund. The Community Investment Offer has been awarded the Community Shares Standard Mark for achieving the national standard of good practice.
The Community Investment Offer is live and open to the public until 10 December 2026 on the Crowdfunder platform and via the Society’s website, with more information available at sheffieldlive.org/shares and on Crowdfunder at crowdfunder.co.uk/p/sheffieldliveshares.