I was a tour manager / musician, a general 'Mr Fix It' within the music business mainly on the American Rock' n' Roll/ English Punk Rock scene.  I had no intention of going into a responsible job unless it was still within music.  But then I got married and I wanted a steady income.  I replied to an advert in the Yorkshire Evening Post for an events organiser at the newly refurbished Corn Exchange shops and and landed the job, beating over 100 other applications.  How?  I'd say a good deal of blaggin - but the position was mine.

The Corn Exchange has always been a main focal point in Leeds City Centre.  It was originally built to house the massive corn trade back in 1860 and the building is one of only two in the City centre with a Grade 1 listing.  It had fallen into disrepair over the years after the corn trade died, while still housing such events as dog shows and record fairs.  Before its five million pound refurbishment it was an old corpse-the Corpse Exchange.

I stated work at the building in February 1990 and put on the first event in June 1990-'D-Day 1'.  Absolutely everyone was against the idea of the shopping centre (which houses 45 permanent shops) becoming a nightclub for a dreaded 'RAVE' part.  Every shop within the centre, including  the dance record shop and the bars, objected to the event. Petitions were signed and the police stood up in court to tell the licensing committee that, not only were they objecting to the event, but it was the strongest objection they had ever made.  'Is it a shopping centre of a nightclub?. '  The Fire Department tried to limit the number of people in the building to 500!!! And building control tried to say that the floor would cave in.

At this time Janet Waddell- Vidal Sassoon's acting art director at the Leeds Salon-was organising a big fashion show at The Warehouse.  It featured all the stylish, trendy clothes shops in the town centre, including one or two from the Corn Exchange.  I got hold of a copy of her fax to the invited shops, and arranged a meeting to propose that we put on Janet's fashion show at the Corn Exchange to House Music of the day supplied by top DJs Mike Pickering and Jon DaSilva, along with our very own Leeds boy Dean White.  This was a deliberate ploy to involve all the shops in the centre and consequently to get them on my side.

Next we persuaded Yorkshire Televisions 'Calendar Fashion Show' to film this unique cross over of fashion and dance music (where the show was just part of the on-going night's attractions rather than a focal point at set time).   This highlighted the event so well that we were able to convince the authorities that it was a European type of event and would put Leeds firmly on the map as far as the club scene in this country was concerned.  We were granted an occasional entertainment license for this one-off event which was to be strictly monitored by the authorities.   Tickets went on sale at £6.50 and all 1,150 were sold out in advance.  There were 75 models on stage showing garments from 30 shops.  The DJs on the night were: Steve Luigi who played the first set, Jon DaSilva who played a 45 minute set,  Mike Pickering who got to play two records at the very end, and Dean White who played throughout the fashion show sets which took up almost all the night.  The crowd went berserk and the Corn Exchange as a venue was born.  Lots of credit must go to Janet Waddell from Vidal Sasoon and Glen Campbell who choreographed the fashion shows.  Both believed in the whole concept of a party in a shopping centre.

To follow the success of 'D-Day'  I invited London's Flying / Volante party organisers, Charlie Chester and Co, into the centre to put on the next show.  Again it included a fashion presentation from Vidal Sasoon, showing Michiko Koshino's latest range.  This time the show lasted only 7 minutes acting like a PA rather than dominating the night.  Live PAs were supplied by the Tyrell Corporation, and DJs on the night includes Paul Oakenfold and Terry Farley.  At this time Back to Basics were just starting up, Dave Beer (Basic's organiser) actually had to close down his night and bring the 60 people from his club into our night.  James Baille from Venus stood on the door monitoring the dress code and turning people away -ticket or not- unless they were dressed with style.  'D-Day II' came next.  It involved the Leeds Film Festival and was used as a tool to keep the council on our side.  The flying / Volante returned again and the venue was by now accepted, if not established, as a party venue.   SOAK came soon after and had some very successful night in the venue returning more frequently than any other night.

Ark opened a shop in the centre and, although they had at the time a reputation as a harder night, they also established themselves as a regular visitor.  There were some brilliant one off parties including SEXED which featured a line up of Danny Rampling, Jeremy Healy, Nancy Noise, MC Kinky, Connie Lush and two superb fashion presentations.  The Non Stop Erotic Discotheque was another class one off, as was Happy as Larry.

The best regular night at the centre had to be the ground-breaking 'L'America. It bought together the biggest DJs from America alongside some of Britain's best international DJs. Our first line-up on 10th April 1993 was Todd Terry, David Morales and Paul Oakenfold.  No PAs, just total Garage House music.  The night was completely sold out in advance.  The flyers again were ground breaking:  CD8 page booklets listing the DJs remix credits, photos of the DJs and general information for the punter:

Out of the 32 events held at the Leeds Corn Exchange I'm proud to say that I was personally involved with promoting half of them-'not a lot of people know that!"     Steve Hulme

Event CDs available

Fantazia held 2 events in conjunction with the Ark. The following live sets are available:

To buy these click here