The Cluny building – England - Atlas Obscura

The Cluny building

This former industrial building is now a live music venu and home to artists and crafts people's studios. 

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The building started life as a flax spinning mill alongside the Ouseburn stream in 1848. Locally it was important for shipbuilding as the flax was used to make sailcloth. In 1860 it was converted to a steam powered flour mill (the mill chimney is  still present in a truncated state) and the building was extended out towards Lime Street to create a grain warehouse and a flour warehouse. This extension is the part of the building occupied by the Cluny live music venue and the old flax mill is occupied by artists and craftspeople under the name 36 Lime Street. The building was later converted to a Scotch Whisky bottling plant, storing barrels of  bonded scotch and bottling it under a brand name of Cluny from which the  venue gets its name.

In 1982 the building and it became an artists’ space and the former warehouses  section of the building was opened as The Cluny Bar in 1999. The same space was taken over by The Head Of Steam Limited in November 2002, when its current incarnation came about. The Cluny now operates as a bar and live music venue, with food service provided by The Cluny Kitchen. The 36 Lime Street building is a Grade 2 listed building.

The Cluny has been described as “one of the most important venues for breaking bands in the region”. Acts which have played the venue include Mumford and Sons, Danni Minogue,  the Arctic Monkeys, Duffy and New York Dolls. The Cluny has been voted Best Live Music Venue by the local music development agency known as Generator North East  (May 2009).

 

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