The Leadmill launch official petition against their eviction

Iconic music venue The Leadmill have launched an official petition to Parliament against their landlord's decision to evict them from their building next year.

The petition calls on the government to reform the Landlord and Tenant Act to make it harder for landlords to evict tenants who have made substantial investments into a property.

If the petition, which has already received over 3,000 signatures, receives 100,000 signatures it could be debated in Parliament.

A spokesperson condemned what they said was "an appalling attempt to shut down and evict The Leadmill by an unscrupulous landlord."

They went on to say that it is "likely to continue happening to others unless we can get this changed in law."

The building that The Leadmill is located in (but not the business itself) was bought by London-based property company Electric Group in March 2017.

The company, which own run music venues in Brixton, Bristol and Newcastle, plan to take over the building and create a new venue, which recently filed documents suggest will be called 'Electric Sheffield'.

"Everything that currently makes our venue what it is will be gone," tweeted The Leadmill. "The sign will go, the staff will go and the building will be stripped of everything that makes it unique, including our name."

The new petition was created by Ian Lawlor, The Leadmill's general manager, and will run for six months until 11 October 2022.

Dozens of performers have supported the campaign to save the venue in the last week, including Eddie Izzard, Lucy Spraggan, Jarvis Cocker, Richard Hawley and the Arctic Monkeys.

Over the weekend, Izzard performed two shows in support of the venue, including a solo performance of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations.

Cocker has shared artwork riffing off the original promotional campaign for 'Common People', adding that it was a response to the "planned gentrification" of the venue, which opened in 1980.