Steve nurtured Niche into the global brand that it is today, evolving it into a globally recognised symbol of musical eminence. For more than 20 years, it's been home to a truly distinct underground music sound and created millions of memories. In 1992, Steve opened the doors to a small, unknown backstreet club in the centre of Sheffield that went by the name of Niche. Little did he know, this clu
b would become one of the most legendary dance music venues in the world. It soon became a thriving success story on the underground clubbing scene. It was an all night dance club, opening at midnight and closing it’s doors at midday, serving up hard hitting doses of underground house and garage. As the years progressed, Niche came to the forefront of the UK underground clubbing scene as it began to fuse house, garage and RnB creating a unique sound all of its own. Clubbers would travel the length of the country just for a night at this legendary venue. But, in November 2005, South Yorkshire Police raided the Niche nightclub and forced it to close. This cost the tax payer over £600,000 and resulted in not one conviction. The closure of the legendary Sidney Street venue was a massive blow to the very loyal and extremely dedicated Niche clubbing community. But, they weren't prepared to take it lying down. In October 2006, Steve Baxendale opened a new venue called Club Vibe on Charter Row (Sheffield) after being inundated with messages of support from the clubbers that had fallen in love with Niche. During the three years that Club Vibe was open, it forged and shaped the bassline scene into what it is today. In particular, the now cherished era of 2007. The 07’ era to the nu-school ravers is cherished just as much as the late 90’s/early naughties are by the original Niche veterans. It was a time when little known producers burst out from their bedrooms and on to the main stages of clubs and events like The Limit, Twilite and Warehouse. These were the new kids on the block, producing the bangers that the new era of ravers were demanding from iconic DJ’s on the scene. It was a time when the producers were commanding almost as many bookings as the DJ’s themselves and this changed the scene forever. It’s no great secret that when Club Vibe first opened no one really knew how long it would be around. After Sidney Street and The Limit, things were on a tender hook with the authorities and everything needed to be run by the book with no mention of the dreaded ‘N’ word or widely recognised laurel leaves. But the crowds still flocked in every weekend, and with a lot of hard work and cooperation with the authorities, the trust and respect that Niche built with the authorities was promising. Summer 2008 was the next big step. With the scene receiving full hype, Steve Baxendale received a call about the possibility of producing the first ever commercially released bassline album. It was from non-other than the mighty Ministry Of Sound. After long discussions with Ministry, the deal was done and volume one of The Sound Bassline was released and went gold, selling in excess of 100,000 copies. For the first time ever, Niche was viewed as a brand and a music genre in its own right. At the start of October 2009, the contracts were signed for Club Vibe to extend into the empty unit next door. There was only one real option of what to do with the huge space; create a Niche replica! The brief was simple, to create a feeling as close as possible to walking into the original Sidney Street building; layout, colour scheme, sound system, toilets, chill out area; everything. So in Novemeber 2009, the clubbers waved a fond farewell to Club Vibe as it opened it's doors under the name of Niche exactly 4 years after the original Niche building on Sidney Street closed. The grand opening of Niche on Charter Row was without a doubt one of the biggest clubbing events Sheffield has ever seen. The doors opened at 9pm, and by 10pm they were closed because Niche was completely packed! Steve quickly took action and did an on the spot deal with the club opposite, the then Empire bar. Empire acted as an overflow club for those who couldn't get into Niche. But it wasn't long before Empire too closed its doors because it was operating at full capacity. All we can say is, sorry to those who didn't manage to get in. Whilst Niche was on Charter Row, it hosted some of the biggest bassline events to date, had some amazing DJs grace the decks, and created yet more memories for the clubbers. Unfortunately, Niche wasn't even open for one year at Charter Row before South Yorkshire Police placed restrictions on Niche which made it financially unviable to trade, essentially forcing it into closure. This was a very sad time for everyone involved. The clubbers once again rallied together and made their feelings known to the authorities, but it was no good. The city of Sheffield had to say goodbye to yet another legendary music venue that once called it home. In 2017, Niche opened at it's new home on Walker Street in Sheffield.
