Did you click this? ….I’m surprised that title hooked you in. But hopefully I can provide a little nostalgia.
Why did I start Scunthorpe Nights?
Ultimately, websites, graphics and making videos was my favourite thing to do, even from a young age. There weren’t many opportunities for that kind of work in the area after leaving college and even now it’s few and far between and unfortunately no one is going to invent a job for me to do this as a paid career in Scunthorpe, but back when I launched Scunthorpe Nights in late 2013 this was also a time when I was actively looking for gigs to attend, meet new friends and also let other people know what events were on too. It became obvious venues and bands were struggling to get word out because if you don’t follow their social media, or your friend didn’t tell you about it then you probably didn’t know. Of course, there were the good old fashioned printed posters about on venue walls and I remember the fantastic little booklet someone used to print and place in pubs, with gigs and events in, I want to say it was called Scunthorpe Entertainer, but I could be wrong so feel free to correct me. But I always remember that guide and how I’d browse through looking for the next gig to attend and when that stopped, there was nothing.
So, Scunthorpe Nights was born from a passion of wanting to promote the area and it’s offerings, venues and talented bands. Back in 2013 it seemed like we had a really vibrant music scene growing again and The Lincoln Imp was a home from home for so many. Don’t get me wrong, we are so lucky to have Café INDIE still carrying the torch for original live music and it is an excellent venue and clearly the top local venue for grassroots music but I’ll still always miss the Imp.
So, 2013 seemed a busy year for me, I started taking a more active offline role too, organising gigs and acting as a promoter to get more live music gigs spread across the town. I’d already previously organised entertainment events at Geneva Bar Cafe but I moved across the town to host a live music Black and White party at The Wortley House hotel, which sold out!
In this period, I’d also hopped aboard to become the voluntary promoter of Party In The Pines Broughton to help them launch this new festival in the woods, the role was then later taken on by my late friend Casper Croft, who did a fantastic job, pushing it to another level. Such a talented guy and he shared my passion and love of live music and the local scene, he was also a big part of Scunthorpe Nights, helping me review and accompanying me to gigs.
I’d continued to organise gigs and this led me to hosting busy gig nights at The Light Nightclub, a night I called “Sanctuary Live Sessions” and later in 2014 “AlterEgo” at Café INDIE even a rap and RnB night at Class 6. I’d also be quite keen to attend a lot of gigs and interview different bands along the way, as well as judging Scunthorpe Rock Open a few times over the years and more recently for it’s return.
Prominent local bands dominating the gig scene in 2013-14 included, Chris Cooperband, Dirty Sterling, The Marras and Ameira plus lots more.
I continued to support with many local events over the years, even to this day, I make free graphics and websites and shout about the local area’s good points, food and events.
Over the years, I took a couple of breaks, got bored of the stick, because there were some very rude people, but equally some very lovely people and I probably lost a bit of passion for the cause and became less active online. But I think over more recent years, especially after lockdown, Scunthorpe Nights has become needed, maybe now more than ever and it shows in the stats, I mean the website got thousands of hits every day even when I wasn’t posting regularly and I’d sort of abandoned it and then this month it’s had 124.5k views and a Facebook reach of 907,550 currently, which is mad.
There is always the issue that a lot of people won’t pay to see bands they’ve never heard of but are quite happy to pay £80+ to see a well-known one from a far distance in a huge arena with £12 pints of beer. But as you know, these known artists probably started out playing smaller venues and you missed that close and personal performance, so fork out a tenner, buy a ticket and go watch some bands you have never heard of in your life. Surprisingly Scunthorpe has seen a lot of the bigger names pass through the town over the years and if you are considering it after reading this, then great, check out Westview Live at Cafe INDIE, because that’s a promoter that continuously delivers for Indie music fans. Also if you prefer heavier music, the metal scene is making a comeback with newer promoter Black Tongue Events and the return of Lizard King Promotions. There is also a quite active bounce and techno scene emerging at The Britannia.
Right, we will fast forward to 2019, after hosting a particular event, I did get approached by a local town centre venue “The Penny Bank” to act as their PR and Promoter part time, I did this alongside my day job, but it was very rewarding to see this little pub grow and people change their view on it. Different crowds were coming in and we were catering to different tastes and some nights it was wall to wall people, this ultimately led to attracting great names like “The Sherlocks”, “The Kingcrows” and “Lucy Spraggan”and the very early days of “The Molotovs”. Sadly, the venue did eventually close a couple of years ago, as have many others in the town centre but maybe things are looking up? I’m being optimistic because we have some great places to eat in town, some decent venues and people investing in opening new businesses and bars in Scunthorpe, this seems progress to me.
Now to the present day, I’m about 13 years in to promoting the local area. Admittedly, I don’t go out as much and I don’t attend anywhere near as many gigs and events as I perhaps should but I’m aiming to improve that. My passion to promote is in full swing and i’m back reviewing local food and events so send them in.
Food reviews and montage videos have become increasingly popular so I have been focusing on these alongside advertising as many events as I can find online. I have been reviewing food for a number of years on and off and it’s always nice to showcase what the local area has to offer aside from just the chains, that we are guilty of reverting to when we want to pop out to eat. Obviously some places are more “special occasion” rather than a last minute dinner out. But you can quite easily go for a nice meal and attend a show or gig in the same night, because there is variety, you just have to find it, which is where I try to help you.
A question I always get asked is, don’t you make any money from this?
And my answer to that is, No, and I’ve never tried to. You need a heck of a lot of post interactions to earn money and it’s not worth the hassle for 2p return, but it’s something I may look into to keep the network running. Some people probably think I’m a bit strange that I like to do all this as a hobby but I’ve had support over the years to help with some of the website costs through sponsorship and I’ve had some guest reviewers along the way to cover more events when I was spread thinly. I’ve got to see some great shows, gigs and try some amazing experiences and food from it, so that seems worth it to me, whilst also helping local businesses, music and people. I’ve also made some lifelong friends along the way.
It often gets assumed Scunthorpe Nights is some large team of people, it’s not, of course people support me by sending in events or donating and I drag my partner along to events and reviews but it is just me and I think people also assume I’m male, I’m not, I’m female but it’s OK I don’t mind being called mate or pal lol.
So, the origin of Scunthorpe Nights, is born from a mixture of the above and my strange love to showcase our town for the good and not the bad. I’d like to think the majority of my page followers agree that Scunthorpe has something worth being kind about (even if it’s something small) and if we show support where it’s needed maybe it wouldn’t seem so bad. It’s only a lost cause if you make it one.
If I have time, I’m pretty happy to help any local bands, events or venues and even though I haven’t done it in a LONG while I’m happy to discuss collaboration on a future project or event if you need some extra hands. The summer months are the busiest for me because I’m also one of the board members and organisers of Scunthorpe Pride festival but I’ll help you where I can and if I can.
Most recently, aside from all the Pride promo, I’ve helped brand new local festival “Winterton Campfest” with their promo and logo design to help get them launched.
So if you managed to read all of that and you’re now thinking, why did I read that and why do I care?…the answer is, I don’t know, but thank you for reading and make sure you like Scunthorpe Nights, follow it on Instagram, TikTik and Facebook, even X if you like then react to posts, comment, share and send in events you host or find and let’s keep hopeful for Scunthorpe and North Lincolnshire.
There is seriously a lot worse places you could be! So if you call it home, make the most of it and support your town, take pride in it and if you struggle to do that for whatever reason, maybe think how you can contribute to change or what could change your view on it.
Feel free to share any gig memories in the comments or let people know about any local gigs they should consider attending.
I’d also like to give a special shout out to Gez at the Wortley House Hotel because his continued support and friendship over the years has been so much appreciated and he’s always so happy to help local causes.
Peace,
Leanne 🙂
Scunthorpe Nights 
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