The Cockpit was a club and music venue in
Leeds
Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
,
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...
, England. Formerly the Cock of the North pub, the venue was located on Swinegate, close to
Leeds station. It hosted small to medium-sized touring artists as well as occasional showcases for local acts. The venue's main room held 500, whilst the second room held 250, and the small upstairs room held 125.
History
A regular competition run by promoters Futuresound (and sharing their name) gave unsigned bands from
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...
the chance to win a spot on the bill at the
Leeds Festival
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading, Berkshire, Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend ...
.
The Cockpit was split into three live gig rooms with individual stages in each: The Cockpit (The Pit), Cockpit 2 (The Venue) and Cockpit 3 (The Upstairs). The venue had the ability to host 2 gigs on the same night, with a band in the main room using the second room as a bar, and a band in the upstairs using the main bar.
The venue played host to a variety of bands playing a wide range of musical styles including rock, metal, hardcore, emo, punk, indie, alternative and folk. Four weekly club nights ran at the Cockpit - Slam Dunk on a Tuesday, Southern Fried on a Wednesday, Heavy Soul on a Friday and Garage on a Saturday. Gay night Poptastic ran at the Cockpit on Thursday nights from the late 90s to early 2000s.
In November 1997 the club was one of three venues spotlighted in the ''Club City'' documentary about Leeds nightlife, screened as part of the
BBC North ''Close Up North'' strand.
[''Close Up North: Club City'', 13 November 1997]
Nick Hodgson introduced
Ricky Wilson to the other members of the
Kaiser Chiefs
Kaiser Chiefs are an English indie rock band from Leeds who originally formed in 1996 as Runston Parva, before reforming as Parva in 2000, and releasing one studio album, ''22'', in 2003, before renaming and establishing themselves in their cur ...
at the Cockpit in the mid-nineties, when they attended Brighton Beach, the club's then weekly indie night. The group formed Runston Parva, later shortened to Parva, before changing their name to the Kaiser Chiefs in 2004.
Closure
On 10 September 2014 the Cockpit's owners, promoters Futuresound, announced that they were to close the venue after 20 years due to the dwindling number of people prepared to go to club nights during the week and the poor condition of the building. As a "direct result" of the Cockpit closing, Futuresound's sister company Slam Dunk opened a new venue, the Key Club, in the
Merrion Centre. Slam Dunk director Ben Ray has described the new venue as the first "pure rock" venue in Leeds. The Garage and Slam Dunk club nights, which were previously held at the Cockpit, along with several rock gigs which had been booked for the Cockpit, moved to the Key Club on its opening.
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External links
The Cockpit
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cockpit, The
Music venues in Leeds