Like almost everywhere, we have seen numbers decline at Broughton over the past 18 months - the reasons probably the same as elsewhere, too many events, greater popularity of weekenders and nighters, less money around, people needing a break from the routine of attending the same venue on a regular basis.
We've been running now since June 2000, so into our 9th year. Sam and I started running things on a bi-monthly basis with our first attendance of around 40 rising sharply in the first year to some packers with well over 200 people coming from various parts of the country.
There were many requests from our regulars to run Broughton on a monthly basis and negotiations with management there saw monthlies commencing in 2002. We continued to have great numbers of people supporting us every month.
Sam's and my vision was to run an event where we would try 'push the boundaries' as far as a music policy was concerned; not a 'rarest of the rare' night but one with an eclectic mix and where no one would be too worried to try somthing new. We used to get many travellers coming some distances to hear what they often described as a 'breath of fresh air' and so different to the usual diet offered at so many other venues.
However as the popularity of Broughton grew we started to attract more people who were returning to the scene and with it the demand to 'play something we know', 'are you going to play this disco shite all night mate', 'this is crap, play us The Snake', 'have you got Third Finger Left Hand'.... you get the drift.
So increasingly more oldies were starting to appear on playlists; this attracted more 'returners', but we started to lose those who were prepared to travel for something a bit different. Overall numbers however remained high.
All of these changes have occurred very gradually - we can't put a date, or even a year on when it changed, but the playlists of the past year are much different to those of 2002/3.
But what has really happened, and is quite depressing, is that the people for whom we gradually changed our music policy have very quickly deserted us in the past 18 months or so. This has left Sam and me with some major decisions to make. We've given it a great deal of thought and have arrived at the decision to go back initially to the 2-monthly formula to see whether 'absence will make the heart grow fonder' and encourage people to support Broughton with the new schedule.
We'd also like to get back to our original music policy, but we feel we do need to do this gradually as an overnight shift might see us alienate a number of those who continue to support us currently. If things do pick up then it is our determination to start pushing the boundaries again.
So this is quite possibly a 'make-or-break' year for Broughton. If we can't pull it around then Broughton will slip into Northern Soul history - and like lots of things NS that have disappeared, people will say 'Wish Broughton was still running'.
So we guess it's a case possibly of 'use it or lose it'.
Like almost everywhere, we have seen numbers decline at Broughton over the past 18 months - the reasons probably the same as elsewhere, too many events, greater popularity of weekenders and nighters, less money around, people needing a break from the routine of attending the same venue on a regular basis.
We've been running now since June 2000, so into our 9th year. Sam and I started running things on a bi-monthly basis with our first attendance of around 40 rising sharply in the first year to some packers with well over 200 people coming from various parts of the country.
There were many requests from our regulars to run Broughton on a monthly basis and negotiations with management there saw monthlies commencing in 2002. We continued to have great numbers of people supporting us every month.
Sam's and my vision was to run an event where we would try 'push the boundaries' as far as a music policy was concerned; not a 'rarest of the rare' night but one with an eclectic mix and where no one would be too worried to try somthing new. We used to get many travellers coming some distances to hear what they often described as a 'breath of fresh air' and so different to the usual diet offered at so many other venues.
However as the popularity of Broughton grew we started to attract more people who were returning to the scene and with it the demand to 'play something we know', 'are you going to play this disco shite all night mate', 'this is crap, play us The Snake', 'have you got Third Finger Left Hand'.... you get the drift.
So increasingly more oldies were starting to appear on playlists; this attracted more 'returners', but we started to lose those who were prepared to travel for something a bit different. Overall numbers however remained high.
All of these changes have occurred very gradually - we can't put a date, or even a year on when it changed, but the playlists of the past year are much different to those of 2002/3.
But what has really happened, and is quite depressing, is that the people for whom we gradually changed our music policy have very quickly deserted us in the past 18 months or so. This has left Sam and me with some major decisions to make. We've given it a great deal of thought and have arrived at the decision to go back initially to the 2-monthly formula to see whether 'absence will make the heart grow fonder' and encourage people to support Broughton with the new schedule.
We'd also like to get back to our original music policy, but we feel we do need to do this gradually as an overnight shift might see us alienate a number of those who continue to support us currently. If things do pick up then it is our determination to start pushing the boundaries again.
So this is quite possibly a 'make-or-break' year for Broughton. If we can't pull it around then Broughton will slip into Northern Soul history - and like lots of things NS that have disappeared, people will say 'Wish Broughton was still running'.
So we guess it's a case possibly of 'use it or lose it'.
Brian & Sam