The Duchess of York ranked as one of the ‘UK’s most celebrated’ music venues

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Ranking in fourth place as one of the UK’s most celebrated music venues, The Duchess, or Duchess of York is well-known across the city as a spot to catch some of the UK’s biggest artists – many before their heyday.

Grass roots music venues have been in decline for the past 20 years or so (with a 35% closure rate, according to the Music Venues Trust), and now the number of pubs closing due to an increase in bills (rising by 50% according to Altus Group) – it’s more important than ever to shine a light on venues that allow up-and-coming artists the space to try out new songs.

In light of this, The Insurance Emporium has taken a trip down memory lane to look at some of the UK’s most loved music venues – and naturally Leeds’ was The Duchess.

Today the grounds of The Duchess are a Hugo Boss store. / Image: Google Maps

Known as The Duchess of York, the music venue was famous not just in Leeds but across the north – serving as an integral piece of the city’s music scene for many years.

Right up until 2000, 71 Vicar Lane was home to an iconic Leeds pub that hosted such bands as Nirvana, Oasis, Blur and the Manic Street Preachers.

After its closure in 2000, it was replaced by fashion giant Hugo Boss which still has a store on the site to this day.

Further big names to grace The Duchess’s stage over the years include Radiohead, Coldplay and Green Day – but its biggest claim to fame has to be welcoming in Nirvana as a support band back in the late 80s.

It’s said that the little-known band from Aberdeen, Washington came to support Tad – and that Kurt Cobain went and slept on the sofa upstairs afterward.

At the time, the band was in town to promote their album Bleach; but they also played some songs that would feature in their second album Nevermind, such as About a Girl, Love Buzz, Floyd the Barber and Polly.

For anyone who was there, it was surely a truly iconic gig to witness. We have to say, we’re rather jealous.

Here’s what The Insurance Emporium had to say about the beloved gig venue:

‘The Duchess’ or ‘The Duchess of York’ as it was also known as, on Vicar Lane, was one of Leeds’ most highly regarded music venues until its closure in 2000. One its biggest claims to fame was that Nirvana performed there before they were propelled to fame.

The venue has since been transformed from a pub to the designer clothing retailer ‘Hugo Boss.’ It’s hard to imagine that before this immaculate, high-end shop was a gritty Yorkshire pub that welcomed the likes of Blur, Manic Street Preachers, Radiohead, and Coldplay.

Bringing back a piece of nostalgia the pub was reincarnated in 2021 in the form of a pop-up in Leeds’ Kirkgate Market for the Compass Festival.

The Duchess became a pop-up bar inside Kirkgate Market in 2021. / Image: Compass Festival

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Some of the UK’s most celebrated music venues also included The Astoria Theatre in London, that also saw Nirvana and Manic Street Preachers play before closing in 2009.

The Roadhouse in Manchester, which only closed in 2015, saw Elbow perform their first ever gig, also made the list, as well as The Boardwalk in Sheffield – an institution that saw The Clash’s first performance, and Arctic Monkeys’ own Alex Turner used to be a bartender here, loving the place so much that the band’s first demo was called ‘Beneath the Boardwalk.’

You can find the full list of celebrated music venues here.

Feature Image- Leeds Civic Trust / YouTube

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