How Carlisle’s longest running indie music venue has remained so popular

We all have that one music venue that’s a total nostalgia trip and for many people in Cumbria, The Brickyard is just that.

It’s a venue that has been a big part of Carlisle’s music scene for over 20 years and has brought in countless big hitters like Arctic Monkeys, Buzzcocks, John Cooper Clarke, Kasabian, The 1975 and more to Cumbria.

Formerly known as The Richmond Memorial Hall, the building itself is over 100 years old and was built as Saint Mary’s Parish Rooms, named in honour of the late Canon Thomas Richmond of Canon Carlisle Cathedral.

The hall was renovated after a long absence and its doors officially opened on new year’s eve 2002 to the new name of The Brickyard.

But like many top indie music venues, it has also faced setbacks, including a brush with near bankruptcy, the COVID-19 pandemic and sudden changes in management.

While many independent businesses are forced to shut down during tough times – The Brickyard has stayed strong and has maintained its popularity with event-goers over the years.

Managing director Andy Bartlett, who has worked at the The Brickyard since it first opened its doors, said he felt love for the venue was part of the secret to its success.

Andy first started at The Brickyard working as a DJ and behind the bar when he was 21-years-old before becoming the managing director years later.

He works alongside Mark Howlette, who has worked for the venue for varying periods of time since he was 18-years-old and is responsible for some of its biggest bookings.

Andy, now 42, said: “When I started I was 21-years-old, so I’d finished college and had worked in hospitality and stuff, but I came to The Brickyard and never left.

“The place has been a labour of love for everyone involved in it and because of that we’ve been prepared to make personal sacrifices to make sure that the venue stays open.

“There has been quite a few difficult periods and it is a case of rolling with the punches. Most of us staff at the venue are musicians ourselves or played in bands, so it’s where our passions lie.

“But people have a lot of really happy memories of the place. We’ve had people meet here and go on to get married and young musicians come and play their first ever gigs here or people experience live music for the first time.

“A lot of different people come here frequently and it’s created a bit of a community. People come from Carlisle and we also have a lot of people come from other towns and parts of Scotland.”

While the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the closure of nightclubs, bars and restaurants across the UK and some experts claim the country is facing a decline in interest in nightlife – Andy said The Brickyard hasn’t experienced a drop in interest.

He said: “I feel like we are consistently against the grain with the trends for nightclubs and clubs. We can have a gig on a Monday and with the right band, it can be a sold out show.

“But on the flip-side of that, we can also have a bank holiday with around only 40 people in. So for us it’s less related to COVID and more that people aren’t going out as spontaneously.

“But I feel for people going to events, that has stayed the same as it was. Maybe since COVID people’s social habits have changed, but there’s no real alternative to going to a live event, so ticketed sales for us have been normal.

“Things have got more expensive, but so has everything. Working at our level it’s not about greed, it’s about covering expenses.

“Tour busses are twice as much money and everything is costing artists more money but I don’t feel like ticket prices at independent venues like us are astronomical like elsewhere.

“It’s just about making sure events we’ve got on are the ones people want to come and see.”

Mark, 39, who now works as a promoter at The Brickyard, said the art of scooping bands before they become household names is down to working with the geography of Carlisle.

He said: “I was 18 when I put my first gig on at The Brickyard. I had no experience, I just wanted to put a gig on and it just snowballed from there.

“I’ve booked The1975, John Cooper Clark, Arctic Monkeys, Foals, Kasabian, Slaves or Soft Play as they’re now known and smaller acts who are now massive in their own field.

“The likes of Baths they’re massive in their own field, they’re a huge electronic artist and first played to 20 people in Carlisle, they’re now headlining Pitchfork Festivals and stuff like that.

“Slaves are also a band we booked early before they had an agent and they came back three times because they just loved the venue.

“Our thing we say to the agents is, they’re always going to Glasgow, so we say well you’ve got to go past here anyway, why not stop off? We’re not a major city, so it can be a harder sell, but it does work.

“We got The 1975 on their first tour and now they’re selling out America, and we got Arctic Monkeys to play a gig here a few months before they had songs at number one in the charts. A lot of it is about timing, so we’ve had some bands here in the early days of there careers.

“We’ve also had legends like John Cooper Clark, so you do get to meet these people with amazing careers that are well respected across the world and they’re coming to play at our little venue in Carlisle.”

Alongside making sure they keep their finger on the pulse of up and coming musicians – finding ways to market gigs is also an evolving challenge.

Mark said: “It’s very much hand to mouth at The Brickyard, the main money generated is through ticket sales, so the more people that come to events the better the space we can create. We are looking at funding, but it is hard to look at with a small crew.

“We’ve been stepping away from social media a bit and looking at other ways to reach people. We’ve recently had Fatsoma build us a new website and ticket site, so we can send push notifications and reach people direct.

“Everyone is skint at the moment so it’s hard to get people to pay a year in advance, but for us it just comes back to trying to get those new bands in and the bands that have never been here before.

“Most times when we reach out to artist or agent it’s a no, but you’ve got to keep badgering them every year and if there is a plan for them to tour, you make a plan and make an offer based on ticket costs and work with their dates.”

The Brickyard is set to welcome The Vaselines – who Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain called his favourite songwriters in the world – later this year, after the band reached out and asked to play then venue via social media.

Andy added: “It’s always a gamble booking any band, but we’re in a good place now and we have a good understanding of what people want in Cumbria. I feel like as the years go by we get better and better at picking gigs.

“We’ve always had our next project and what we want to do to the venue on the horizon and we’re always working towards improvements.

“But I do think people support us because they have so many memories attached to us.”