A guide to Sheffield’s folk scene

Jon Wilks kicked off our Folk Cities guides back in April 2024 with a look at his native Birmingham. They’re a bit of an epic undertaking, but we’re delighted to now bring you the next in the series looking at – where else? – Sheffield.

This article is intended to help visitors and current residents alike find and experience folk culture in Sheffield, as well as being a repository for various bits of history and background that’s floating round other webpages and sources.

Buckle up, because this one is going to be a big ‘un…

In this article you’ll find:

• A brief guide to Sheffield’s folk history
• Songs about the city
• Folk music venues
• Sessions, singarounds and social dance
• Folk studies
• Morris sides and traditional dance
• Folk industry
• Local folk celebs
• Local folk landmarks
• Nearest folk festivals
• Folk media and keeping in touch

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A brief guide to Sheffield’s folk history

Sheffield boasts a rich and vibrant folk history, with roots stretching back centuries. Some of the most beloved traditions have not only survived but thrived, passing from generation to generation in sometimes odd and out-of-the-way corners.

That Sheffield is one of, if not the, foremost centres of folk music and dance in the country today is more-of-less universally accepted, but it’s not entirely clear why this is the case. Perhaps it’s simply because it is so geographically central. It’s a natural, national crossroads where music from the north-east meet morris dancing from the south; where working class songs from the pits, mills or steel works, mix with ditties from the ports of Hull and Liverpool and traditions from Ireland.

This melting pot of historic folk cultures, together with more modern influences like a vibrant university, a culture that gives sanctuary to strangers from near and far, and a strong history of left-wing protest, seems to have left us with one of the most embedded and self-sustaining folk scenes of anywhere in the country.

One of of Sheffield’s most famous folk traditions is the local carol singing, unique renditions that have been sung in the villages to the northwest of Sheffield for over 200 years. This custom continues every winter, bringing communities together in pubs and local gatherings. Sheffield’s other tradition is the longsword dancing in Grenoside and Handsworth. This ancient custom was already a century old when English folk music revivalist Cecil Sharp visited in 1910, and both dance sides remain active today as two of only five ‘traditional’ longsword teams in the country.

The 1960s folk revival brought a surge of popularity to Sheffield’s folk scene, with numerous clubs popping up around the city. Among them was the folk club held above the Three Cranes pub on Bank Street, started by Malcolm and Jenny Fox. The club quickly grew popular, packing in far more than its 40-seat capacity. Folk icons like Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger performed there, with song sheets handed out to encourage audience participation – a practice continued today at the Royal Traditions Club in Dungworth. Later, Pete Smith took over the club, relocating it to The Grapes on Trippet Lane. Around this time, the University of Sheffield Folk Song Society launched the city’s first official folk club in November 1961.

The folk and blues club at The Highcliffe (now The Greystones), started in 1967 by Win White, became a major draw with acts like Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span, Ralph McTell, and Barbara Dickson all performing. Other regular guests included Tony Capstick, Dave Burland and Billy Connolly. At the height of the revival, Sheffield had a folk club running every day of the week. Some of these clubs have endured to this day, including the Beehive Folk Club in Harthill and the Kiveton Park Folk Club.

During these years, Sheffield’s folk enthusiasts frequently ventured to folk festivals across the UK. Sidmouth Festival even held a “Sheffield Night,” where Sheffield-based groups performed dances, gigs, and traditional mummers’ plays.

In 1969, Ian Russell began his dedicated work collecting and documenting Sheffield’s unique carol tradition, sharing it with a wider audience and helping cement its reputation.

The 1970s saw a shift, with dancing becoming a central part of the scene. The Hefts and Blades Ceilidh Club offered weekly dances, initially at Cannon Hall, then at The Highcliffe, and later at Brincliffe Oaks. New morris and dance sides like Sheffield City Morris, Yorkshire Chandelier, and The Famous Sheffield Clog emerged, bringing traditional dancing to the forefront of local events.

In the mid-1970s and 1980s, the Sheffield folk scene took on a more radical edge, reflecting the sociopolitical climate of the era. The “People’s Republic of South Yorkshire” saw a rise in contemporary folk songs with political themes, and numerous benefit gigs were held to support striking miners, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), and other causes. The women’s movement was also active within the folk scene, with the all-female group Footloose hosting regular women performers’ nights at The Union pub on London Road. These nights later moved to The Leadmill and evolved into all-female events. The all-female ceilidh band Airs and Graces also became a notable fixture.

From 1990 to 2010, Sheffield saw an influx of professional folk musicians relocating to the city. Artists such as Martin Simpson, Fay Hield, Nancy Kerr, and James Fagan moved to Sheffield, drawn by the city’s thriving folk scene and its convenient location for touring. Sheffield also became a hub for folk music students, with the University of Sheffield offering a Folk Music Master’s program that attracted students from across the country, many of whom stayed on to build their careers in the city, while the Ceilidh Society became the centre of much of the folk social scene.

Around 2010, Kit Bailey and Fay Hield founded the Bright Phoebus Collective, a community of professional musicians hosting gigs at venues like The Boardwalk and The Greystones. With an impressive house band – dubbed the “Bright Phoebus Allstars,” including names like Martin Simpson and Jon Boden, the collective fostered a festival-like atmosphere at its shows, often including morris dancing and stalls, encouraging audiences to discover new artists and explore folk culture.

Sheffield Folk Sessions Festival, a free festival held every Easter weekend in some of Sheffield’s best pubs, was launched in 2011. This continued and enhanced Sheffield’s reputation for participation in folk (read more about the festival below).

More recently, Sheffield has seen a second folk dance revival, with several new teams starting since the turn of the century, including Pecsaetan, Boggarts Breakfast, Sheffield Steel Rapper, Five Rivers and, most recently, Cutlers Gate. Sheffield now has more folk dance sides than any other city in the country and, indeed, the world.

Across 65 years, Sheffield’s folk movement has grown into a close-knit, welcoming community, steeped in tradition yet always evolving and constantly refreshed by new arrivals to its universities. The scene has maintained its politically conscious roots, with musicians, dancers, professionals, and amateurs alike all contributing to a uniquely dynamic cultural landscape that continues to draw new generations into Sheffield’s folk history. Perhaps the most enduring and unique thread of Sheffield’s folk history and current scene is its strong participatory culture. From pub carols in the 19th Century, to the folk clubs of the ‘60s and its current thriving sessions and dance scene, folk in Sheffield has always been as much about taking part, as sitting and watching. 

Songs, albums and performances about the city

Sheffield has spawned a number of songs about its inhabitants, geography and industry.

Traditional songs

Sheffield ‘Prentice [Roud 399]
Probably the best-known traditional song featuring Sheffield, Sheffield ‘Prentice tells the rather sad tale of a young apprentice who travels to Holland with his rich mistress. The rich lady falls in love with the apprentice and offers him riches, but he refuses to renounce his love of her maid. Having rejected his mistresses’ advances, she frames him for theft, bringing about his execution. It’s all very jolly. 

The song was first recorded on a cylinder recording in 1908, but there were broadside publications of it throughout the 19th century in the UK and across the United States with remarkably little variation compared to many traditional folk songs.

Glossop Road [Roud 13158]
Glossop Road tells the tale of a Rifle Corps soldier who finds himself wandering up Glossop Road (the main street out of Sheffield to Manchester, for those not familiar with local geography) and entertaining, er, a lady. It’s a classic of Sheffield singing sessions.

Well at length Mr Brown and this girl settled down in a neat little inn* close by,
Where he ordered a drain of draught champagne and a quarter of a cold pork pie;
Then he huddled and pressed, close cuddled and caressed and kisses he gave her a load,
And he fell upon his knees just as swoony as you please with the girls up Glossop Road.

The song is attributed to Joseph B. Geoghegan, a music hall composer who worked in Sheffield in the 1860s and who also wrote such folk titans as 10,000 miles away [Roud 1778], A Drop of Good Beer [Roud 1502] and John Barleycorn is a Hero Bold [Roud 2141]. 

*By modern reckoning this could refer to: The Harley, The Broomhill Tavern or The York. There’s probably rather a lot of pubs that have disappeared since 1860. I suspect we can discount the Itchy Pig micropub (est. 2016).

The Sheffield Grinder [Roud 23140]
The Ian Campbell Folk Group sang The Sheffield Grinder in 1972 on their album Something to Sing About. The sleeve notes state that:

In the 1860’s the Sheffield steel industry was notorious for the abuse of child labour, made necessary by the underpricing of Government contracts for Army goods. This song expresses the bitter contempt of the Sheffield men for the Government enquiry commission who reported that bad working conditions were largely the fault of the workmen.

As far as the Roud Indexes go, this song seems to have been mainly collected in the Newcastle area as early as 1790, as Tally O The Grinder, and the transition to Sheffield seems unclear. 

Honourable mention: Sheffield Park [Roud 860]
Sheffield Park is in Sussex which, while I’m sure is very lovely, is not South Yorkshire. 

Sheffield Carols

There are several carols in the Sheffield Carols repertoire that are named after areas of the city, or villages or landmarks close by:

Stannington [Roud 17707] and Bradfield [Roud 46424], named after local villages, were both written in the 1950s by Mina Dyson, a resident of Stannington. Both carols are still sung at many carol sessions in the Sheffield area, the former usually as a solo.

Malin Bridge [Roud 46432] is a tune composed by another Stannington native, Mr Drake, and named after the area of Sheffield where the rivers Loxley and Rivelin meet. Fern Bank [Roud 936] (also composed by Mr Drake) and Worrall [Roud 936] are both versions of While Shepherds… named for local places (a former hotel in Wisewood and another carolling village respectively).

Back Lane [Roud 3225] and Spout Cottage [Roud 17704] are also local carols, although no one is quite sure where they are (but there is a Spout Lane in Stannington). 

Several years ago a folk/walking group started a tradition of spending a day touring the carol locations singing the appropriate carol at each spot.

Contemporary Sheffield folk songs

As well as traditional songs about Sheffield, there has been a whole catalogue of material written about, or that references, the city.

Ethel
Sheffield is known as the Outdoor City for good reason; a third of the city boundary lies within the Peak District National Park. Ethel Haythornthwaite was an early pioneer of the national parks movement who lived and campaigned for the greenbelt in Sheffield and subsequently gave her name to the “Ethels”; 95 hills over 400m above sea level in the Peak District. Ethel is a tribute to Ethel Haythornthwaite, written by Rosie Hood during her time spent in Sheffield’s Peak District borders during the pandemic.

Sheffield Wassail
Written by local folk legend Pete Smith after his wife received a letter from the Department for Work and Pensions commiserating his death and subsequently confirming that his pension would end, Sheffield Wassail has become a firm festive favourite in the Sheffield folk scene. As well as appearing on Smithy’s own CD, Basking in the Sun, Melrose Quartet do a version on their Christmas offering, The Rudolph Variations.

Sheffield in a Trench
Also amongst Pete’s catalogue of songs is Sheffield in a Trench, a poem written by a Sheffield soldier who died in the Battle of the Somme, put to a tune by Pete. The local lad had sent his poem to the Sheffield Register in 1916 and Pete uncovered it in Sheffield Central Library in the 1970s. 

But here we are! – “What for?” You Say –
To teach the Boche the time of day,
And keep him far enough away
From setting foot in Sheffield.
O’ Loxley, Rivelin, Porter Sheaf!
Flow onward to the Don your chief!
And ripple out your challenge brief –
“Men must be free in Sheffield!”

Other mentions go to Melrose Quartet’s Santa Georgia, which binds rural and urban imagery to celebrate a modern British city and comes from an album of the same name which features artwork of the city’s skyline. Surprise View by Sam Carter, another Sheffield resident, is also influenced by the city’s connection with the Peak District, specifically the spectacular view point above Hathersage. And Neil McSweeney’s London Road is a love story about a night out which ends with a trip home along the song’s titular street. 

Finally, the tune Porter, written by Chris Taylor of Five Rivers Morris, is named after one of Sheffield’s synonymous five rivers. As well as being used by the team to accompany its dance of the same name, it is also now regularly heard at tune sessions in the city and at folk festivals.

Floodplain Trilogy
Jon Boden’s solo albums Songs From The Floodplain, Afterglow and Last Mile Home form a post-climate-change trilogy that is heavily influenced by the Loxley Valley. The valley features many derelict and abandoned factories and other industrial infrastructure that form the backdrop to songs including Going Down to the Wasteland and Dancing In The Factory.

The Songs of Steel
This 2006 BBC Radio Ballads album was produced by John Leonard and John Tams as part of a series documenting the impact of social and political issues on specific communities as a follow-up to a similar series produced in the 1950s. This album told the stories of the men and women who worked in the steel industry in the Don Valley.

The Stirrings in Sheffield on a Saturday Night
Written in 1966 by Alan Cullen, folk musical The Stirrings of Sheffield on a Saturday Night tells the story of the struggle between the Saw Grinder’s Union and non-union labour, culminating in the murder of a non-union worker in the 1860s. Featuring a largely traditional score put to music by Roderick Horn (which was recorded as an LP in 1973 and occasionally turns up in charity shops and on Discogs), the play has had several runs at the Crucible theatre, as well as being taken up by various amateur dramatic societies across the city over the last 50 years or so.

Folk music gig venues

There are plenty of venues across the city that host folk gigs on a regular basis. Here’s some of the top ones to check out.

The Greystones
Previously known as the Highcliffe, which hosted gigs by the likes of Fairport and Steeleye in their prime (see above), the Greystones remains one of the city’s top venues for visiting and local folk artists alike. Plus as a Thornbridge Brewery pub you can also guarantee cracking beers. 

Shakespeares
Another venue that combines great beer with folk is Shakespeares on Gibraltar Street, where you can not only find  gigs but also regular social dances, workshops, tune sessions and the occasional touring rapper team.

Cafe No.9
A cosy, convivial venue where the audience is arrayed on a variety of seating surrounded by hanging plants and eclectic artwork, booking early for folk gigs at Cafe No.9 is essential. But it’s worth it for an intimate and magical musical atmosphere. 

Crookes Social Club
At the larger end of the venue spectrum is the Crookes Social Club, which often plays home to bigger touring bands as well as folk socials, ceilidhs and parties of all kinds. 

There are of course dozens of other venues, large and small, that host folk gigs, including Firth Hall, City Hall, Yellow Arch, Hagglers Corner, St Andrew’s Psalter Lane and Bishop’s House to name but a few.

Folk clubs

Beehive Folk Club
Head to the Beehive in Harthill on the first Friday of every month for the Beehive Folk Club which hosts a range of local and national folk artists.

Booit Straps Folk Club
Every Monday at the Commercial in Chapeltown you’ll find the Booit Straps Folk Club, which hosts both artists and singers’ nights.

Crookes Folk Club
Weekly free folk gigs are put on by Crookes Folk Club upstairs at the Princess Royal in Crookes every Thursday. Donations encouraged, plus there’s a raffle (everyone loves a raffle).

First Friday Folk Club
Also at the Commercial in Chapeltown is the First Friday Folk Club which, as the name suggests, meets on the first Friday of the month and features both guests and floor spots. 

Kiverton Park Folk Club
A weekly club meeting on Tuesdays at the Kiverton Cricket Club. Unfortunately the club’s website is down, but it is definitely still running.

Loxley Folk Club
An unplugged club that meets monthly at the Wisewood Inn. 

Nether Edge Folk Club
The Nether Edge Folk Club is a weekly singers/players night held on a Wednesday at the Nether Edge Bowling Club, with occasional guest artists.

The New Musical Traditions Club
Like so many fokies before it, the New Musical Traditions Club has relocated from London to establish itself in Sheffield. Bringing artists from around Britain and Ireland to Alder bar in trendy Kelham Island, the club also puts on occasional ceilidhs.

Royal Traditions, Dungworth
Described as “a folk club with a difference”, Royal Traditions is run by Jon Boden and features regular guest artists, house songs and tunes, and a late night singing session. Previously held at the Royal Hotel, Dungworth (see below), it now meets half-a-dozen doors up the road at the Old Band Room.

Sessions, sing-arounds and social dance

Generally in Sheffield there’s some sort of participatory folk event happening every night of the week, spanning slow and steady sessions for beginners, English, Irish, old-time, singing sessions and open mic. Plus all sorts of social dance, including contra, eurosession, playford and ceilidhs.

We’ve picked out a few specific sessions below, but generally Fagans and the Grapes in particular will have musicians playing almost every night of the week. Check out Sheffsessions.com for a comprehensive calendar.

• Monday
  • Irish only, Fagans
  • Old time, Cafe No.9 (last Monday of the month)
• Tuesday
  • Mixed, Fagans
  • Tuesday Tunesday, Shakespeare’s (first an third Tuesday of the month)
  • Singaround, Chantry Inn
• Wednesday
  • Term Time Tunes (University of Sheffield CeilidhSoc), Dog and Partridge
• Thursday
  • Playford in the Pub, Shakespeare’s (last Thursday of the month)
  • Eurosession dance, Shakespeare’s (second Thursday of the month)
  • Scratch Contra, Forbes Road Memorial Hall (first Thursday of the month)
• Friday
  • Mixed session, Fagans
  • CeilidhSoc ceilidh, University residences (once a month – check Facebook page for dates)
• Saturday
  • Anything Goes Theme Time, Fagans
• Sunday
  • Steady tunes, Kelham Island Tavern (first Sunday of the month)
  • Steady tunes, The Lescar (third Sunday of the month)
  • 4th Sunday sing and tunes, Kelham Island Tavern, (last Sunday of the month)

In addition to year-round sessions, from November-January many of the village pubs around the edge of the city host Sheffield Carol sessions on an almost nightly basis. 

Folk studies

The University of Sheffield’s Department of Music consistently ranks in the top ten in the UK for studying music and undertakes a variety of folk-flavoured teaching and research.

It regularly offers online learning courses in Transcultural and Traditional Music Studies and Traditional and World Music, which attract students from around the world. The university’s ethnomusicology research programme is one of the largest in Britain, with around forty postgraduate students as well as four academic staff and a world musician in residence and a strong focus on British traditional music. 

Access Folk is a UKRI-funded research project led by Professor Fay Heild which is working to increase and diversify participation in English folk singing and reverse the decline in participation in folk music since the 1960s.

For the less academically-inclined, Soundpost is an artist-led organisation that coordinates a range of participatory events, exploring folk traditions through practical workshops, performances, debate and discussion. Since launching in 2011 (led by Fay Heild, Sam Sweeney, Andy Bell and Jon Boden), the organisation has evolved and now offers weekly Folk Factory music, song and dance sessions for 5-18 year olds and Forge and Fledge sessions for new and experienced adult musicians and singers.

Morris and folk dance sides

As everyone knows, Sheffield is the morris dance capital of the world (probably), so this is going to be quite the list. Some of these teams come from slightly outside the official city limits, but are close enough to reasonably commute to and spend a lot of their time dancing in Sheffield itself.

Although most famous for its traditional longsword teams, Sheffield boasts just about every style and demographic mix of dance sides you could think of. A ‘quiet’ weeknight pub dance out in Sheffield can often involve two or three festival-level dance teams.

• Border Morris
  • Boggarts Breakfast (Mixed)
  • Cutlers Gate (Mixed)
  See also

  

  Folk Cities

  A Folkie’s Guide to Birmingham

• Cotswold Morris
  • Darlow’s Enigma (Mixed)
  • Five Rivers Morris (Male)
  • Harthill Morris (Male)
  • Lord Conyers Morris Men (Male)
  • Pecsaetan Morris (Female)
  • Sheffield City Morris and Sheffield City Women (Male and female teams)
• Longsword
  • Handsworth Traditional Sword Dancers (Mixed)
  • Grenoside Sword Dancers (Mixed)
  • SHH Sword (Male/non-binary)
  • Six Jolly Miners (Mixed)
  • Twin Sword (Mixed)
• Rapper Sword
  • Black Swan Rapper (Male)
  • Kelham Island Rapper (Male)
  • Last Stripe Rapper (Mixed)
  • Sheffield Steel Rapper (Female)
• North West Morris
  • Liberty Hill North West Morris (Female/male musicians)
  • Lizzie Dripping (Female)
  • Silkstone Greens North West Morris (Female)
  • Yorkshire Chandelier (Female)
  • The Rumworth Morris (Male)
• Step Clog
  • Strictly Clog (Female) 
• Other
  • Mr Fox (Mixed)

Folk industry

Sheffield has a tradition of little mesters; self-employed master craftsmen who worked in the cutlery and tools trade when the city was made world-renowned for its steel and metals industries. Today, this heritage still shines through, with many industries and crafts people making use of the little mesters’ former workspaces, including some in folk circles.

Simon Brock Clogs
Simon is one of the country’s only two hand-makers that regularly supply traditional clogs to English and Welsh clog dancers. Clog making is listed as ‘Critically Endangered’ by Heritage Crafts. Simon works from a small workshop in Sheffield’s Shalesmoor area which, coincidentally, was the location of the city’s small shoe- and boot-making industry in the 19th Century. 

Simon’s clogs are in-demand by morris and clog dancers around the world, with around a six-month lead time for a new pair. He also supplies bell pads and other leather items for morris teams.

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Hardy Violins
The rambling Portland Works building has been home to craftspeople since 1879 and, in 1914, was the first place in the world to manufacture stainless steel cutlery. Now a centre for all manner of small manufacturing, independent artists and craftspeople, it is also home to Emma Hardy’s workshop where she makes, repairs and rents violins, violas and cellos. 

Recording and music production
Given the number of people making folk (and other) music in Sheffield, it’s perhaps not surprising that there is a vibrant music industry to support them. Hudson Records is an independent record label specialising in folk, indie and world music and counts Bellowhead, Moore Moss Rutter, The Young ‘Uns and The Furrow Collective amongst their roster. Scribe Records also specialises in folk and traditional music by the likes of the Wilderness Yet, Will Allen and Seb Stone.

Yellow Arch Studios is another building with a rich industrial heritage (it started out as a nuts and bolts factory supplying the bridge and shipping industries). It’s home to Tom Wright’s Powered Flight Music and Keystone Studio, where the likes of The Albion Band, Eliza Carthy, Richard Thompson and the Magpie Arc (of which Tom is a member) have recorded and had albums produced. Lismore Mastering also works with a host of folk artists.

Tyzack swords
Sheffield’s fame and wealth was built on cutlery, tools and steel, so it’s perhaps unsurprising that this trade also has links to the city’s folk scene. Tyzack has now been operating for over 150 years and today specialises in precision and industrial cutting blades. However, at some point in the late 1800s, the company must have been approached to produce swords for use in dancing because, according to the organisers of DERT 2002 in Sheffield, Joseph Tyzack actually registered the patent for making rapper swords in 1902 (patent no. 9835). There doesn’t appear to be an official record of this anywhere online, but it apparently exists in the archive at Sheffield’s Kelham Island Museum, which also features an exhibition on swords used in dancing.

Sets of Tyzack longswords and rappers, stamped with the company’s distinctive three-legged trademark, are still in use by teams around the country and the Tyzack Shield is still given out at the annual Dancing England Rapper Tournament (DERT) for the team that generates the best ‘buzz’ factor with their performance.

Although originating in Northumberland and Tyneside, many figures that started to appear in rapper dancing in the 20th Century were only possible because of the higher-quality Sheffield steel being used by Tyzack, giving the city a central role in the evolution of modern rapper dancing.

Today, Frank Lee is the only maker and repairer of rapper swords in the UK.

Sheffield folk celebs

Sheffield has created its own virtuous cycle in attracting folk musicians; people move here to be part of the folk scene, which strengthens the scene, which in turn attracts more people… At some point we’ll have to close the border.

As a result, a list of all of the folk ‘celebs’ who live in the city would be… extremely long (and we would undoubtedly miss someone off the list and get an earful in the pub). It would also be awkward, because if you attend any local session, event or morris practice and you’ll find artists who for much of the year are headlining festivals or selling out national tours. So the concept of a folk celeb doesn’t exactly exist in a city where performance and participation meld seamlessly. 

Local folk landmarks

There are a number of buildings that have become synonymous with the Sheffield folk scene (and they’re not even all pubs…)

Burton Street Foundation
Once an abandoned school earmarked for demolition, the Burton Street Foundation in Hillsborough is now a thriving community and disability support centre. Of more relevance to this piece, it is also where eight of Sheffield’s dance teams hold their weekly practices. By my reckoning (and having created the morris map to help locate teams, I’m pretty sure I’m correct), this means it holds the distinguished title of being home to more morris teams than any other building in the world. If you can believe it, there’s not even a blue plaque.

As well as hosting more morris dancers than you can shake a stick at, it is also where many other folk activities take place, such as the weekly Folk Factory teaching sessions, making it a real hub of the folk community.

The Royal Hotel, Dungworth
The Royal is included in this section somewhat optimistically because, as we wrote last year, it’s actually now shut. There have been various plans circling to buy and reopen the pub, but unfortunately nothing concrete has so far emerged. Fingers crossed it remains a landmark rather than being consigned to the history section…

There are of course plenty of other village pubs and venues that continue to help the Sheffield Carols tradition to flourish (not least Dungworth’s Old Band Room, which hosted the carols half a dozen doors up the road in 2024), but the Royal remains close to the hearts of many carollers as offering the quintessential carols experience. 

Fagan’s
Fagan’s, located on Broad Lane in what was once Sheffield’s Irish Quarter, has been hosting traditional music sessions for more than 40 years and dates from 1790, making it one of the oldest licensed venues in the city.

Previously known as the Barrel Inn, it was renamed in honour of landlord Joe Fagan, a former WWII bomber pilot who had run the pub since 1947, when he retired in 1985. The new owners subsequently went on to run it until 2023, when it was bought by a local group including various figures from Sheffield’s hospitality, arts and music industries, including Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders, who pledged to preserve the pub exactly as it is.

Visit Fagan’s on any night of the week and you are likely to find traditional music or song sessions, with an ever-rotating cast of musicians drawn from across the Sheffield folk scene.

Nearest folk festivals

Sheffield Folk Sessions Festival
Originally organised by Jim McDonald, Paul and Liz Davenport and Richard Arrowsmith, Sesh Fest (as it’s colloquially known) is now in its 14th year and is now run by Rich Arrowsmith and Ray Cunningham.

The festival has grown from a small event in its inaugural year and is now attended by hundreds of musicians from around the world who come for over 180 hours of varied folk sessions over the weekend. Sessions are themed, everything from morris tunes, Irish, “Nasty Ballads” and Bagpipes, there’s something for everyone. 

There’s also family fringe events for those whose family commitments mean sitting around for hours in a pub is no longer a convenient social activity.

Inter-Varsity Folk Dance Festival (IVFDF)
Adding IVFDF to this list feels like a bit of a cheat, given the festival rotates around various university towns on an annual basis. However, Sheffield has hosted the festival more than any other city since it was launched in 1951, (which incidentally makes it the longest-running folk festival in the country), and it will return to the city for the 11th time 28 Feb – 2 March 2025. 

Hosted by Sheffield Students’ Union’s Ceilidh Society, the festival always features a morris tour around the city centre, ceilidhs, workshops and sessions. Primarily aimed at students from other universities, the festival nevertheless always attracts and is open to all ages.

Folk media and keeping in touch

Aside from being the home of Tradfolk’s editor, there are a few more Sheffield-based folk media

Thank Goodness It’s Folk (TGIF)
Since the BBC cut its local folk show on Radio Sheffield (along with those around the country), it’s good that there’s still the occasional independent show dedicated to folk music. In Sheffield, that’s Thank Goodness It’s Folk, a weekly show hosted by James Fagan and Sam Hindley broadcast on Sheffield Live! Radio. You can find it live every Friday, 10-12pm, or listen to past shows on catch up.

Access Folk Podcast
The Access Folk research project at the University of Sheffield produces a podcast which discusses the issues facing folk music and song participation, and how folk culture fits into wider issues such as UNESCO’s 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. 

Websites and social media
Sheffield Folk Guide is an online guide to the Sheffield folk scene including what’s on listing, weekly social media what’s on guides, and posts weekly events round ups on social media. sheffsessions.com has a list of local sessions and localcarols.org.uk has a list of carol sings. Facebook hosts a number of communities for local folkies, for example Sheffield Folk, Sheffield Morris Dancers, Sheffield Folk Musicians, Crookes Folk and All That. 

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Phew, and there we go; a whistle-stop tour of Sheffield’s folk scene. With thanks to Pete Smith, Kit Bailey, Val Civico and Martin Watson for sharing their memories and knowledge. And apologies to anyone we’ve missed out – do drop us a line to be included!

If you’re interested in writing a folk guide to your city, please get in touch! They really need local knowledge and expertise to write, but of course we can help with structure and formatting.