Trippets Lounge Bar: popular Sheffield jazz venue announces it is closing down after 10 years as costs rise
A decade of live music, loyal crowds and late-night sets comes to an end 🎷
- Much-loved Sheffield jazz venue Trippets Lounge Bar will close on April 18
- The owners cite rising costs and unpredictable trade as key reasons
- The bar has hosted local and international jazz acts since opening in 2015
- Fans and musicians have paid tribute, calling it a “gem” of a venue
- Reduced opening hours will run until its final week of trading
The owners of a much-loved Yorkshire jazz bar have announced they will close their doors next month, in the face of the growing “financial and mental” strain of running an independent live music venue.
Trippets Lounge Bar, on Trippet Lane in Sheffield, will serve its final customers on Saturday, April 18, bringing an end to more than a decade at the heart of the city’s cultural scene.
Run by husband-and-wife team Carl and Debbie Shaw, the venue opened in 2015 with the ambition to create a dedicated space for live jazz in Sheffield and across South Yorkshire.
Over the years, Trippets became a regular fixture for both local performers and international artists, evolving from a modest programme of one live night per week into a bustling schedule of performances on most evenings.
Announcing the closure in a statement online, the couple described the decision as “a long time in the making”, driven by rising costs and increasingly unpredictable trade.
They said the challenge of sustaining a bar and restaurant while supporting live music had become too great.
“Running a bar and restaurant that supports live music is becoming increasingly difficult; financially and mentally,” they said. “Escalating costs and unpredictable trade [have] played their parts.”
‘A gem of a venue’
Despite the difficult circumstances, the Shaws thanked the community that formed around the venue, from musicians and staff to loyal customers who helped define its atmosphere.
Trippets occupied a site with a long hospitality history, previously known as Trippets Wine Bar in the 1990s, and was seen by many as a continuation of that legacy.
News of the closure has prompted an outpouring of tributes on social media, with patrons and performers alike describing the bar as a “gem” and a place filled with “special memories”.
In the weeks leading up to its final night, the venue will continue to operate on a reduced schedule, opening Thursday to Saturday evenings and for Sunday brunch.
The owners have urged customers to continue backing independent businesses, as mounting pressures force more venues to make similar decisions.