Ben Davies’ comments have sparked correspondence from several areas. Not least from James Brown, the colourful owner of Lions Lair, whose venue has been subjected to a number of unfounded claims and visits from Sheffield City Council.

Lions Lair was re-opened by James and Graham Brown following the decision by Fuel, who had a strong city presence then, to close it and concentrate on a new venture. This turned out to be  Affinity on Campo Lane which has since been sold on to new tenants.

“Lions Lair was re-opened because we felt Sheffield was short changed on the amount of gay venues in Sheffield. Punch Taverns gave us a fantastic deal on the rent due to the fact of the pending Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO). I have said from the start that Lions is run for the community of Sheffield. This is also shown since the CPO has been delayed and our investment is clear in the sound, lights, fixing of toilets and the gas system, as well as the decorating of the venue.

“My income is the Devonshire Arms where I work from 11am till 7pm, 6 days a week. I take little joy in seeing somewhere struggle. Lions Lair was not opened to try and shut other venues down, as could be said of some previous business owners that have since left Sheffield. The reason that we are also so competitively priced comes down to low overheads and our need not to support ourselves from the income.”

Brown’s words will be endorsed by the owners of Dempsey’s Bar and Club who experienced first hand the need to fight against new competition. The opening of Fuel in 2005 signaled near disaster. A huge slump in customer numbers at the Hereford Street venue threatened closure but core customer loyalty and personal finance meant Dempsey’s survived. Matters were not helped by what might be called ‘under-hand’ tactics to close the place down. In the end it was customers who kept Dempsey’s going by voting with their feet and returning to a place which had no intentions of shortchanging customers.

Such is their integrity that the owners of Dempsey’s will not be drawn into the debate. Instead they choose to do their own thing but do state that they have a very good working relationship with all Sheffield’s gay venues and will support every business in whatever way they can. These are magnanimous words from people who experienced first hand attempts to put them out of business.

The resurgence of the Sheffield gay scene in recent years, with an emphasis on city centre entertainment, means that competition is now fierce. New venues have to offer something different which might be the case with Club Sanctuary, newly opened near the Cathedral. This place operates a different music policy and has seen the introduction of live music acts. This is not an accident as the business plan is to offer an alternative to what the city already has to offer.

This is also the policy adopted by Lions Lair who has turned the scene upside down by re-opening to customers between 3am and 6am on Fridays and Saturdays. The after parties are seen as an extension of what is already available to customers. Customers have flocked to Lions Lair in the middle of the night and visitor numbers show that the model is obviously working.

“I feel we have our offer right for our target market”, says James Brown, “Lions Lair is a great, intimate space. I personally am not a fan of 'dance along fixed dance routine' type music nor do I like show tunes or most of what can be heard on Galaxy FM! This is the reason for our use of top Sheffield DJ's and now for our monthly special Tyronnster who had a summer residency in Ibiza, I dont believe that any gay Sheffield venue has taken its music policy as seriously as we do, and from our late night turn out in recent weeks it would seem others agree. I have always said that I would rather have a bar that holds 100 with 80 people in it, than a bar that holds 500 with 80 people in it!”

The success might bode well with the accountants but less so if there are attempts to sabotage the progress being made. It is hard to believe that customers would go out of their way and object to what they seem to be buying into? This means the finger must be pointed at other venues who might feel aggrieved that business is being eroded by new challenges. Of course, there will be flat denials that this is the case but there is an undercurrent threatening the scene.

Older gays will point out that this might be a repeat of what happened back in the nineties. In those days the Sheffield gay scene was located in the Attercliffe area and was poised to emulate the success seen in other large UK cities. Instead, the gay scene was decimated by jealous rivalry which sent licensing officers into frenzy with repeated complaints against one another. One fire officer claims that Monday morning was put aside for a trip to Attercliffe. “The only thing we didn’t know was which venue we would be visiting that week.”

As Ben Davies states in his article the losers turned out to be the gay customers who ended up with virtually nowhere to go. Instead the initiative was handed over to Leeds and Nottingham who pulled customers away from Sheffield and were reluctant ever to return. The remaining customers migrated to the West Street straight scene where open-mindedness welcomed them. Only now are there signs that the city’s gay scene is growing and in possibly the right places. Younger crowds are keen to see the scene develop in the city centre and not out in the suburbs. This is a harsh fact that newly opened IDentity on Attercliffe Road found to its cost in 2008. Reluctance by younger people to visit the venue resulted in a premature demise.

This leaves gay observers hoping that the ominous signs will quickly abate. James Brown agrees and is keen to work through the problems.

“I have stated that I am happy to work with other venues to promote events and to advertise their venues on my facebook weekly messages. The fact I am barred from one of the gay venues without explanation, does not help the scene work together. I am sure you see that we fully support Dempseys, both in our attendance and by not flyering any competition nights that they run. We also poster and have flyers available in the bar for Climax, Rah Rah Rah and SpeedQueen. Sanctuary's opening night was also advertised by us posting their group for their opening night in our message for that week, even though it was on our halloween party night.”
Should anyone want to discuss anything in detail that could benefit the community as a whole, I am easily found”

Finally, there is a stark warning from a gay customer who has posted on the popular social website Sheffield Forum. The comments come from charliechalk who offers clear and concise words to venue owners. “I think all this talk of 'supporting venues' and being in some dream world where all the gay bars do equally as well is ridiculous! People vote with their feet, stop making gay venues sound like charities that need to be supported, they are businesses... and if they dont listen to, or pre-empt what the client wants, then they will fail.”