Full premises licence granted & a new gig room on the horizon!

We’ve got some big news.

Boom at Canalside Community Music Space is officially licensed. After months of planning, building, fundraising, and form-filling, we’ve secured our permanent premises licence.

To celebrate all these achievements, we’re inviting you to join us tomorrow, Saturday 20th September, for Mr Boom’s Pub Quiz - a party and a thank you, sign up here: https://forms.gle/E4jXYULqWX5s5U7Z6

If you’ve ever run events in the UK, you’ll know about Temporary Event Notices, or TENs. These short-term licences allow small-scale events to take place without a full premises licence. They cost £21 a go and sound manageable, but venues are limited to just 15 per year, covering a total of 21 days.

We hit that ceiling fast. It meant we could only do so much before gaining our full premises licence.

Securing a premises licence for a space the size of Canalside meant tackling everything from fire safety to CCTV, security, insurance, and soundproofing. The money you helped raise, along with the incredible number of volunteer hours this community put in, made a massive difference. But we knew those resources weren’t endless.

This is why we held a few sober gigs, or events moved to spots like Eiger Music Studios. Without a premises licence, we were hitting a wall. We simply couldn’t operate at the scale we wanted, and it held a lot back.

To keep the momentum going (and a bit of cash flowing in), we’ve been hosting select gigs since May, including standout nights with Bodyweb, Angel Du$t, and more. People have asked why there haven’t been more events, or why we’ve been relatively quiet. The truth is simple: we weren’t allowed. With only a handful of Temporary Event Notices (TENs) to work with, we booked what we could, but we were always limited by the number of days we were legally permitted to operate.

Back in July, we submitted our application for a full premises licence. It was a huge job and we couldn’t afford legal help. So we did it ourselves, with guidance from our community and the brilliant team at Music Venue Trust. When we finally hit "submit", it was a real relief. We were buzzing at the thought of running full-time.

We thought (maybe naively) that it would be a smooth process. We’d already invited both West Yorkshire Police and Environmental Protection to visit the site. They inspected the building, we agreed on clear conditions, and we’d done our homework. We ran noise tests, wrote and tested our policies, and streamlined how things worked while running under Temporary Event Notices. We felt confident that Boom Leeds and Canalside Community Music Space wouldn’t be a problem for the local area.

But once the consultation opened, local concerns started coming in. Some worried we were planning large-scale, noisy events. Objections started stacking up. And we’ll be honest - it was scary. We asked ourselves: Are we going to make it? Can we survive this? Do we even have enough money to keep the doors open?

We never wanted this to feel like an "us vs them" situation. We plan to be here for the long haul - and having a good relationship with our neighbours is really important to us. When we arrived on Armley Road, people understandably didn’t know who we were or what we were about. Yes, the building is big, but the actual capacity of our spaces is modest, and there's so much more going on here than just gigs.

Throughout this whole process, we’ve been lucky to have the support of some proper incredible people, and we need to give a special shoutout to Jay, the England Support Co-ordinator at Music Venue Trust. Jay provided us with reassurance, guidance, and, crucially, connected us with one of the charity’s licensing specialists. That support proved invaluable, and because we’re part of the Music Venue Alliance, it came at no cost to Boom or Canalside. We’re so grateful for that.

On a sunny weekday evening (feels like a lifetime ago now that autumn’s properly kicked in), we hand-delivered letters to every residential house in the area. We wanted to explain what we were building, share our plans, and most importantly, invite people in. We weren’t looking to steamroll in and just “put on gigs.” We wanted neighbours to feel welcome, to come for a cuppa and a chat, to see the space for themselves. Leeds City Council also helped us out by emailing a copy of our letter to everyone who had submitted an objection.

In the end, we had just one response from a local resident, who then withdrew their objection. Beyond that, we didn’t hear much. Which meant it was time for the next step: a licensing committee hearing.

Leeds City Council organised the committee, inviting all those who had objected, alongside a licensing officer, a council solicitor, and local councillors who would ultimately decide the future of Boom Leeds at Canalside.

Thanks again to Music Venue Trust, we were introduced to Sarah Taylor at Keystone Law, a specialist licensing solicitor, who properly knows her stuff, and stepped in to represent us at the hearing. Without MVT’s help, this is something we wouldn’t have been able to afford in our current position with limited trade.

This week, we attended that hearing, and we’re absolutely chuffed to announce that our application has been approved in full. That means we can now run gigs, serve drinks, and operate every day, bringing in the income we need to secure Boom Leeds’ future at Canalside.

We want to take this moment to thank every single person who’s helped us get here. Our volunteers, our staff, gig-goers, the team at Music Venue Trust (especially Jay, Niall, and Sophie), Sarah Taylor at Keystone Law, and of course across the scene who backed us.

Canalside only exists because of what came before it. Boom Leeds has always been about more than just music. Over the years, you told us what Boom meant to you - in messages, DMs, at shows, and through the many of letters of support you sent when we needed them most.

Here’s just some of what you lot said:

"There are few places in Leeds, or the country, where you can walk in as a stranger and leave feeling like you’ve found your people."

"Boom is more than a venue, it’s a lifeline for many of us."

"I owe a huge amount of my development as an artist to the support and opportunities I’ve received at Boom."

"Even after losing their old venue, Boom didn’t just disappear. They adapted, they kept going, they kept creating."

"They supported us when no one else would, when we were just starting out and had nowhere else to go."

Right now, behind the scenes, something special is taking shape.

Our second gig space (which is much bigger!), is well underway. It’s got height. It’s got scale. It’s going to be LOUD.

We’ve stripped it back. We tore down the ceiling, patched up the roof, and gave it a shiny new coat of paint. Soundproofing and window boarding are next on the list, and we’re bringing in a proper PA.

None of this happened overnight. It’s taken weeks of graft.

Volunteers; mates, musicians, long-time Boom heads, brand new faces, have given up their days off, evenings, and weekends to help prep the space. They’ve dragged tools across concrete, masked walls, swept out dust and dodged rain through holes in the roof.

Why? Because they believe in what this could be.

This new room isn’t just for us. It’s for the next generation of bands. It’s for packed-out gig nights, DIY fests, and something that feels genuinely collective.

We won’t spoil the full line-up just yet, but trust us, the first gig in the new space is going to be a belter. And yes… it’s a Halloween show. You know how we do Halloween.

We’re pulling out all the stops, and it’ll be the first time you get to experience this new room in action. We can’t wait for you to see it.

Keep your eyes on Instagram, Substack, and your inbox… we’re announcing it very soon.

Thanks for sticking with us. For turning up. For volunteering. For spreading the word. For believing.

With this licence in hand, and two gig rooms nearly ready, we’re entering a whole new chapter, and it wouldn’t be happening without you.