Some sections of this article also appear in A Beginner’s Guide To Grassroots Music in Calderdale. Keep an eye out for a copy in venues throughout the borough. You can also read it online and download to your device. The publication is part of CultureDale’s Youth Music Takeover initiative.
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The Puzzle Hall Inn is a truly unique creative space. A rare gem in the Calderdale live music scene.
Situated on Hollins Mill Lane in Sowerby Bridge, the live venue-cum-pub is a 17th-century building that is community-owned and run largely by volunteer. The Puzzle hosts everything from local folk sessions to international hardcore bands, from electronic open mic nights to chess club on a Monday and French lessons on a Friday.
In some respects, it’s a miracle The Puzzle is even with us today, let alone doing all that. The venue was shut down in 2016 and its future looked decidedly gloomy. Until, that is, Sam Irvine and a very big bunch of locals stepped in.
Sam: “A pub company owned it back then and they were raising the rent, so the tenant was priced out and it closed down. I found this bit of legislation and applied to the council to get the pub listed as an the Asset of Community Value. That meant that, when it came up for sale, it would trigger a moratorium, and the community could get six months to raise the money to buy it.”
To purchase, renovate and relaunch The Puzzle, it cost over a quarter of a million pounds. There was a significant amount of campaign work in raising the funds, much of it coming from within the local community.
Anything Goes
The venue is steeped in musical history. Young local bands and underground touring acts have been playing there for decades. And the events team embrace the complete spectrum of genres. Expect anything from delicate noir ballads to ear-mangling doom metal.
There are open mics too – one of which, Technical Difficulties, is for electronic and experimental music – as well as regular folk and jazz nights.
The Puzzle has stages indoors and out and a free entry policy. Artists are paid from bar takings and audience donations.
A number of different promoters regularly put on gigs at The Puzzle. Gareth Scott of the band Kimber’s Men heads up the schedule for the monthly Lore Night, a showcase for regional folk and roots artists. Geoff Amos uses his well-honed connections for the jazz nights.
Andy Abbott of ADRA Promotions organises gigs for a lot of underground and experimental acts, many of them connected to the international DIY scene. He’s had artists from Latvia, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Pakistan and America play The Puzzle.
Andy: “It is unique. You’ve got a very open-minded crowd. The volunteers on the committee are really supportive.”
Seizing The Initiative
A key figure in the Yorkshire live music scene, as both promoter and musician, Andy started putting on gigs in his hometown of Matlock when he was 15. He then discovered the DIY scene in Leeds when he was 18.
“I found there were all these gigs happening outside of the known system, away from proper venues, in social clubs, function rooms, pubs, squats and temporary spaces. And these bands were decent and interesting. They sounded great, they could play. Sometimes they were from Chile, or America, or France. For me, as an 18 year old, it was amazing. It was an epiphany.
“I soon got very heavily involved. I was playing in bands, organising gigs as a collective, and doing a record label with friends. It was very much about taking control of the means of production and doing things in an ethical, transparent way.”
Andy has since played gigs around the world and booked bands at countless UK venues, but to him, The Puzzle remains a special place.
“Because all the gigs are free entry, as a promoter you’re putting on an event with very little financial risk. You can kind of do what you want, within reason. It’s a small indoor venue, so if there’s six people in there, it still feels like a nice, busy gig. If you’ve got 70 or 80, it’s thriving.”
The Puzzle is very open to new or wannabe promoters staging their own events too. Many of Calderdale’s seasoned promoters started out at the venue, or have staged specific events there over the years.
Sam, now Director and Treasurer, has seen a vast number of those gigs. His mum ran the pub back in the 1990s and has been largely responsible for ramping up The Puzzle’s reputation for live music ever since.
Sam: “We’re happy for anyone to come and do whatever, really. If people want to try it, to see if it works, yeah that’s fine.”
Become A Piece Of The Puzzle
The Puzzle’s events committee are looking for people to join the team and help run their many gig nights and festivals. There’s the chance to get involved with just about anything you want – booking bands, promotion, sound engineering, event logistics, you name it.
For more info, get in touch with Sam:
@puzzlehallinn
01422 835237
21 Hollins Mill Lane, Sowerby Bridge HX6 2RF
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