Lads Club on The Smiths album cover gets status upgrade

ByLynette Horsburgh

North West

A "remarkable" 123-year-old youth club building made famous after featuring on a Smiths album sleeve has had its listed status upgraded from Grade II to Grade II*.

Salford Lads Club was built in the city on Coronation Street in 1903 and has helped generations of boys - and later girls - by offering activities like sport, art and music.

It comes less than two years after the club was saved from closure after a fundraising campaign raised £250,000, including donations from local music legends like Morrissey and Graham Nash.

Meanwhile, Crossley House in Openshaw, Manchester, formerly the Crossley Lads' Club, has been added to the National Heritage List for England at Grade II by the government.

Historic England said the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's decision, following its advice, recognised the two rare surviving examples of purpose-built lads' clubs, buildings once common in industrial towns and cities but now increasingly scarce.

Historic England's Emma Squire and Claudia Kenyatta said the "two remarkable buildings tell the story of a movement that transformed opportunities for generations of young people".

The Salford club was built in 1903 to designs by architect Henry Lord, and the pair said it was one of the largest and most architecturally ambitious examples ever built, retaining an exceptional degree of survival both externally and internally.

The club is perhaps best known for being featured in The Smiths' The Queen Is Dead album in 1986.

Meanwhile, Crossley House, which was built in 1912 as a memorial to industrialist and philanthropist Sir William Crossley, was a "rare and important survivor" whose architecture and innovative construction made it nationally significant, they said.

Designed by John Broadbent, it combines an Edwardian Baroque front with a rare early reinforced-concrete frame and still has many of its original features, including its gymnasium, lecture theatre, running-track gallery, parquet floors and decorative concrete structure.

Laura Slingsby, chief executive of the Salford club, said it was "incredibly proud", adding the recognition helped "secure its future for generations to come".

"This is a tribute not only to the building itself, but to the generations of members, volunteers and staff who have kept it at the heart of the community for more than 120 years."

Leslie Holmes, culture and heritage projects manager at the Salford club, said: "This is what I have been working towards since I first came into the building in 2002."

He said the creation of the Smiths room and the archive room had enabled the club to showcase the unique cultural importance of the building and it attracted thousands of visitors every year.

David Britch, of Architects Britch, said it had been a privilege to work on the Salford club over the past 25 years.

"Hopefully, my work has contributed to the resilience from climate change and the incremental improvements will allow the club to continue to flourish into the future."

Councillor Hannah Robinson-Smith, lead member for culture, heritage, sports and leisure at Salford City Council, said the building held "such a special place in many residents' hearts" having "played a huge role in so many people's lives".