Sheffield club Hope Works will shut its doors in February 2025.
Announcing the news today, 16th December, the team behind the beloved underground venue and home of No Bounds festival said that founder and Creative Director Liam O’Shea, aka Lo Shea, had made the difficult decision to close in order to "achieve a greater sense of balance in his life".
"I have devoted 12 years to Hope Works," said O'Shea in a statement. "It has been my passion, an act of determined resilience to create something in Sheffield like no other. A uniquely programmed beacon of hope and restless freedom in the Steel City."
“It has to be said that running an underground music venue in today’s ever shifting & volatile nightlife landscape has been challenging," he added. "We haven’t been immune to the difficulties facing so many grassroots music venues. We survived COVID and have delivered hundreds of parties since 2021. However for me to continue [to] expand my work into new areas and have time for my family, which is so important to me, something needed to change. That change was sadly to let Hope Works as a venue on Sussex Road Sheffield, be put to rest.”
In the same statement, O’Shea assured followers that No Bounds Festival will return in 2025, and that this change in circumstance will allow the festival to evolve in new and exciting ways. He and the Hope Works crew have also vowed to continue "creating musical opportunities and nurturing careers for people from all backgrounds in South Yorkshire. Especially Sheffield and Rotherham."
Hope Works first opened in 2012, and quickly became a nexus point for underground music in Sheffield. It has championed local DJs including 96 Back, Gracie T, Lupini, Silva Bumpa and Diessa, as well as counting the likes of SHERELLE, Tim Reaper, Batu and I. JORDAN.
Revisit DJ Mag's 2022 feature about No Bounds and Hope Works here.
The club was previously nominated in the "Best Small Club" category at DJ Mag's Best Of British Awards, and No Bounds won the Best Boutique Festival award in 2019. Hope Works ranked as the No. 95 club in the world in DJ Mag's Top 100 Clubs poll in 2019.
Read the full statement below.