The Gryphon have two pairs of tickets to give away for the opening of brand new and exciting venue Church this Friday, featuring Circa Waves.
To enter, simply like and share this post, and the winner will be announced on Friday evening.
Opening the club on Friday 7th October is four piece band Circa Waves, who have previously played at Glastonbury, Reading & Leeds, and have sold out a date at the O2 Academy Brixton.
The new venue, which is on the doorstop of the university, comes as a result of the efforts of Tokyo Industries’ CEO Aaron Mellor, Back To Basics founder Dave Beer, Vivienne Westwood’s son, Jon Corre, and New Order’s Peter Hook.
The nightclub is being marketed as “a new arts and events space of biblical proportions”, and with 16 acts already confirmed for events over the course of the next month, it is looking like it will open its doors with a bang. The venue will also contain a street food emporium and a music academy.
It will also now be home to Back to Basics, one of the UK’s longest-running club nights which started in 1991.
Church will offer a ‘core group’ of members, called ‘The Brotherhood’, special perks which include discounted entry, their name on the wall and inclusion in the club’s meetings. Members will have to be invited by an existing member, and then seconded by another. According to Beer, Church is “a club by the people, for the people”.
A new Back To Basics Music Academy will also find its home at Church. The academy will offer part time and full time courses teaching digital music and other creative subjects, with Beer aiming to give everyone from all walks of life the opportunity to express themselves and be together.
Church replaces Halo nightclub and is located in a 18th century grade II listed church on Woodhouse Lane. The opening of Church comes over two years after the closure of Halo in December 2014.
Since its opening in 2005, Halo was a popular venue with students and Church looks on track to become just as popular, with its Facebook page accumulating over 4,700 likes.
Despite its popularity with students, Halo was a polarising venue in the wider Leeds community. The nightclub closed after a spate of unfortunate incidents in its last 12 months including 52 thefts, 14 assaults, seven drunk and disorderly arrests and three sexual assaults.
An application to expand Halo’s operations in 2014 was met with opposition by West Yorkshire Police, Health and Safety, Environmental Health and Entertainment Licensing.
The University of Leeds also brought up concerns about rowdy clubbers, whom they feared would disturb students studying in the then-newly opened Laidlaw Library. The application was ultimately rejected by the Leeds City Council.
Mikhail Hanafi