Sally Brown's on Bradford's North Parade closes its doors

Sally Brown’s only opened on North Parade last year, bringing a distinctive bright yellow pop of colour to the street.

But over the weekend it was announced the venue would be closing permanently.

In a lengthy statement, owner Steve Davis detailed several issues which led to him making the decision.

He said: “I anticipated that opening a venue in this current climate would be difficult, yet we thought we’d seen the back-end of Covid, or at least the brunt of it, so thought it a safe opportunity to give the business a go.

“Unfortunately, a week after opening, Mr Omicron decided to make an appearance.

“We had little to no customers for about eight weeks! We did have support from the Government through the Omicron grant (as did every other business), we would have surely closed way before now if not, but I think it’s important to recognise that the business is fully self-funded, we’ve had no grants, no loans, no special treatment from the Council as some may think, this was through savings and hard-earned cash.”

Mr Davis said that regardless of Covid “it seems to have been especially hard to develop a business in the centre of Bradford”.

He added: “What has become increasingly evident is that some people, not all, have the notion that Bradford has no chance of providing the same opportunities that other major cities do."

He said a "certain negative attitude and mindset when it comes to Bradford that seemingly prevents any growth" is perpetuated.

Mr Davis also touched on competition from other businesses as well as “extortionate” business rates as being factors in his decision to close the venue.

He said that people often did not want to pay to get in, and while prices are “considerably higher” in Leeds, Sally Brown’s was considered “pricey”.

Mr Davis said: “It's such a shame that we'll be unable to see if we'd have felt the benefits of the street regeneration.

“People may ask us, why did you not open more? We tried, we weren't able to, if nobody comes to the street then it would ultimately cost us more to remain open. So, we pretty much relied on Friday and Saturday nights to generate our income which is again not sustainable with increasing costs.

“We're sorry to everyone that enjoyed our little music venue that we've had to close, it's been a real pleasure serving the community or Bradford, and further afield. We do hope to see you again soon.”