Jon Boden recently sent out an email regarding the future of Royal Traditions, a folk club that he and Fay Hield set up in 2009 at the Royal Hotel in Dungworth, Sheffield. As well as being a local pub in a small village hamlet and home to a folk club, it’s also home to a very popular carolling tradition.
Supporters are now looking to set up a Community Interest Company to buy the hotel to prevent it from falling into the hands of property developers…something that seems quite certain, as stated on the ‘Save The Royal’ website: “The sale-value has not yet been confirmed but will be high because it includes two integral three-bedroom dwellings, and is likely to receive change-of-use to convert the bar to another dwelling.”
You can read a personal message from Jon Boden about the future of the Royal Traditions Folk Club below. Clearly, his Plan A, a community buy-out, is the ideal solution – you can read more about this here: https://savetheroyalhotel.com/
Jon Boden on plans for the future:
Fay and I set the club up in 2009 primarily as our small way of helping to support the pub, which was struggling for custom outside of carols season. With the sad loss of Linda last year and with trading conditions for rural pubs going from bad to worse, Dave and Jo have decided to call it a day and put the pub on the market next year.
With the sad loss of Linda last year and with trading conditions for rural pubs going from bad to worse, Dave and Jo have decided to call it a day and put the pub on the market next year.
The pub already has partial residential status, so it is very unlikely that it will stay as a business beyond February next year. That doesn’t mean that Royal Traditions is over (I will come to that in a moment) but it does mean that there are probably only three more Royal Traditions in The Royal left. The Christmas Party on Dec 16th is sold out, and I’m really looking forward to seeing lots of you there :-)
That leaves Jan and Feb 2024. James, Nancy, Rich and Jess have all performed in various solo and duo iterations at Royal Traditions, but I have not been able to book the Melrose Quartet (they sell out rooms 10 times the size of The Royal, so this is no surprise!) But I’m really excited that they have kindly agreed to do our penultimate bash on Jan 27th:
Sat 27th Jan – The Melrose Quartet
That leaves February for a final Royal Traditions (at The Royal). As I say Fay and I set the club up together in 2009 and, although for obvious reasons she’s not been about so much of late, she is a huge part of the story of Royal Traditions, so I’m really pleased that she’s agreed to be our guest at the final RT at The Royal:
Sat 24th Feb – Fay Hield
I’m not going to do season tickets for next year – tickets for these last two gigs are now available from www.royaltraditions.co.uk
Future Plans
I’m obviously totally gutted that Dave and Jo are closing the pub. They’ve kept it going in difficult circumstances for 25 years and I think all of us who have enjoyed the hospitality of The Royal over the years owe them a big debt of gratitude.
Plan A
…but I (and many others) are not ready to give up on The Royal quite yet. There are many examples of community buy-outs of local pubs. The difficulty with The Royal is it comprises existing residential property, so is likely to sell for a great deal more than other similar pubs. On the other hand, it has the great advantage of The Carols, and we are hopeful if we can tap into that broader community, it might just be possible to raise enough capital through a Community Interest Company to buy the pub. The plan is to sell shares at £500. If you are able to purchase a share (or more than one) please pledge by filling in this Google Form. If we get pledges equalling £500k, we will set up a Community Interest Company and start selling shares for real.
For more information, please visit www.savetheroyalhotel.com
Plan B
If the pub does indeed close for good, my Plan B is to see how Royal Traditions might work in Dungworth Village Hall. My favourite thing about Royal Traditions is how it has managed to co-exist with local pub users and has brought in lots of locals as audience who would be put off by a conventional “function-room” style folk club. I am therefore not sure if the format will work (for me) in the village hall, but I’m interested to give it ago and try to find ways of making it feel as much like being-in-the-pub as possible. I have therefore booked the following days for Royal Traditions gigs at Dungworth Village Hall in 2024:
March 23rd | May 18th | June 15th | July 13th | Sep 21st | Oct 19th | Dec 14th
I haven’t booked any artists yet, and I can’t promise these will all happen, but please pencil them in!
Once again, thank you so much for supporting the club and the pub for all these years. It’s been a privilege to be able to bring so many great performers to The Royal, and they have all been full of praise for the environment we all create for them. I hope this can continue in some form, but if not, then I shall certainly look back on the last 14 years with pride and gratitude.
Get all gig tickets here: https://www.wegottickets.com/RoyalTraditions