Welcome to The Shed ® The Shed is a Registered Trade Mark
The Shed ® is a pint-sized music and poetry venue on the edge of the North Yorkshire moors created by Simon Thackray in 1992. “North Yorkshire’s hub of improvised happenings” (Jez Nelson, Jazz on 3), The Shed presents world-class music, comedy and poetry, from Stewart Lee to Carol Ann Duffy, Ian McMillan to Lau and Simon Thackray’s unique live-art events are the ‘essence of Shedness‘: The Yorkshire Pudding Boat Race ®, Lol Coxhill in a skip and Mrs Boyes’ Bingo featuring Mark Sanders are just a few of the ‘weird and wonderful’ gigs served with delicious pints of our trademark Shed Bitter ®.
NEWS: Mrs Boyes’ Bingo featuring Mark Sanders – Jazz Leeds Festival 2019
Mrs Boyes Bingo featuring Mark Sanders Photo © Kippa Matthews
Simon Thackray and The Shed ®
“No matter how strange they sound, there always seem to be people prepared to come from miles away to get in on the act – artists, musicians and poets, as well as spectators.. ..the art world could do with more of his kind of far-reaching woolly thinking.” Dominic Cavendish Daily Telegraph
Time Out: 1000 things to do in Britain
“Catch a performance in The Shed…”
“Near the market town of Malton on the edge of the Yorkshire moors, The Shed is one of few venues in the country with a location as inspiring as its programme of live music and performance art. The latter’s affinity with the surreal end of the creative spectrum is largely thanks to the boundless imagination of its creator, Simon Thackray, whose ideas are often too large to be limited to his makeshift stage: in 2004, for example, he had jazz saxophonist Lol Coxhill touring North Yorkshire market towns in a skip; one year earlier, improvising trombonist Alan Tomlinson did likewise in a fish and chip van, serenading customers as they queued for portions of battered cod. Other weird and wonderful outings have involved everything from knitted Elvis wigs to rowing down the river in over-sized Yorkshire puddings, although of course there’s plenty making more conventional use of the 100-capacity Shed’s candlelit interior – from the live comedy of Stewart Lee and the spoken word poetry of regular collaborator Ian McMillan to all manner of world, classical, jazz, blues and folk music.”
“For the past 20 years, The Shed, near the market town of Malton, has been responsible for some of the smallest and most inspired art events in the country.” Alfred Hickling, Guardian.
25 years of The Shed ®
BBC presenter Julia Booth, Simon Thackray and poet Ian McMIllan.
These are a few of my favourite things:
The Shed’s Greatest Hits
The Yorkshire Pudding Boat Race ® Art event copyright © Simon Thackray
The Yorkshire Pudding Boat Race ® – Big Breakfast Show to Sky News
Mrs Boyes’ Bingo featuring Mark Sanders (World Premiere 1999). Event copyright Simon Thackray. All rights reserved. Photo © Simon Thackray
Mrs Boyes’ Bingo featuring Mark Sanders – Jazz Leeds 2019
Sebastian Rochford’s VAN GIG. Event copyright Simon Thackray. Photo: Kippa Matthews
Sebastian Rochford’s VAN GIG – BBC Radio 3
Lol Coxhill in a skip © Simon Thackray. Photo: Tony Bartholomew
Lol Coxhill in a skip – Guardian feature
Knitted Elvis Wig! FREE Pattern to download and knit… (Brainchild of Simon)
Alan Tomlinson and the River Seven Event © Simon Thackray Photo © Tony Bartholomew
Alan Tomlinson and the River Seven – Art event by Simon Thackray.
Booking Terms and Conditions of Sale
Information
News: news and reviews
Reviews and Features – See news…
Booking Information – book tickets + hotels & B&B
The Shed Advertisers – cafes, restaurants, shops, hotels
Artist, Press and Media – some of it might be true!
Media Coverage Brawby UK (Unknown Kingdom) + a brief history
Musicians, Poets and Personalities – artists at The Shed
The Stage – when the lights go down…
Malton – a few photos including Malton Market Place
Ryedale – a few paragraphs about the area.Lol Coxhill in a skip © Copyright Simon Thackray. Photo: Tony BartholomewLol Coxhill in a skip
Just skip it – Guardian 20.10.04
Fish and Chip van tour – Yorkshire Evening Press – 12.11.03
Fish and Chip van tour – Yorkshire Post – 12.11.03
Fish and Chip van tour – Guardian – 12.11.03
Reviews and Features
Clogs and The Books – Evening Press 01.02.06
The Shed’s Greatest Hits – Evening Press 11.11.05
Stewart Lee – Yorkshire Evening Press – 8.03.05
Waterson:Carthy at The Shed – review
Hank Wangford at The Shed – British Medical Journal!
HAT
HAT – the award-winning woolly spectacular…
“Why knitting is the new rock’n’roll” – Daily Telegraph – 12.10.02
Hat – Guardian – 23.11.01
Hat – Yorkshire Evening Press – 26.11.01
Shed and the art of knitting – Northern Echo – 28.10.02
Knitted Elvis Wig Pattern
Knitted Elvis Wig Pattern – FREE to download and knit!
North Yorkshire Elvis Bus Tour – Yorkshire Evening Press 19.05.03
Knitting together arts & business – Yorkshire Post – 27.02.03
Ian McMillan’s Wool Facts – wool in history
The Yorkshire Pudding Boat Race ®
Yorkshire Pudding Boat Race – as seen on TV!
Yorkshire Pudding Recipes by Sarah Beattie
Yorkshire Pudding Flower – very rare!
Recipe for disaster… – Independent on Sunday 11.06.00
Yorkshire Pudding Boat Songs by Ian McMillan – Part 1
Yorkshire Pudding Boat Songs by Ian McMillan – Part 2
The Shed ®
Simon Thackray – brief biography…
Simon Thackray – Artscene – September 2002
The Shed’s Teenage Radio Party – photos, playlist, listen again!
Birthday festivites at The Shed – Yorkshire Evening Press 10.06.05
Can this be it? – Guardian – 2 February 2002
The Shed’s 11th Birthday Party – Northern Echo – 09.06.03
Heart of Improvisation – Ian McMillan describes The Shed
Ian McMillan – The Shed poems
Suspense – New stories by Ian McMillan
A psalm for sackcloth Tuesday by Tom Chandler
David Thomas’ directions (to Brawby) – surreal but true..
Tale to Ponder – sermon about The Shed door Links
The Shed Links – to artists, poets, arts organisations
Simon’s special projects have toured to the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Union Chapel and Victoria & Albert Museum, London, and venues (including rivers and ponds!) in towns and cities from Halifax, Leeds, York, Newcastle, Gateshead and Sheffield to Belfast and Cork.
Alan Tomlinson and the River Seven. Art event copyright © Simon Thackray
THE GUARDIAN – TRAVEL
20.3.10 The insiders guide to the world’s best small music venues. Musicians, DJs and authors reveal their favourite hangouts. “The Shed was the inspiration for my tour of village halls around Britain, which I am currently writing up as a book. And, after 235 villages, The Shed is still the loony best.” Hank Wangford, Guardian.
“For the past 20 years, The Shed, near the market town of Malton, has been responsible for some of the smallest and most inspired art events in the country.‘ Alfred Hickling Guardian
“And no matter how strange they sound, there always seem to be people prepared to come from miles away to get in on the act – artists, musicians and poets, as well as spectators.. ..the art world could do with more of his kind of far-reaching woolly thinking.” Dominic Cavendish Daily Telegraph
The Yorkshire Pudding Boat Race ® Registered Trade Mark of Simon Thackray
The Yorkshire Pudding Boat Race ®
“I think it could be an Olympic sport…” Ben le Vay,
Bradt Guide – Eccentric Britain
Artist, press, media comments
“It’s fantastic” Simon Armitage “Britain’s liveliest venue” BBC Radio 4 “The UK’s most offbeat arts centre” Independent “The Shed is the best venue in England” David Thomas “The Shed – that says it all” Johnny Vaughan BIG BREAKFAST Channel 4 “some of the smallest and most inspired art events in the country.” Guardian “The Shed has an enviable reputation” Austin Mitchell, BBC RADIO 2 “I enjoyed it too!” Tony Benn MP “I muse on the idea of future cultural historians citing a shed door as the fulcrum of a rural arts renaissance” Ian McMillan “On a clear night the view of the stars from here is unparalleled” Yorkshire Post “A wonderful, warm space for great art to happen” Snake Davis”it is, in fact, a cultural phenomenon.” Northern Echo “It’s typical of Thackray that his handiwork should have serendipitously caught the mood of the moment…he has spent the past 10 years coming up with weird and wonderful projects.” Daily Telegraph “outrageously original” Gazette & Herald.
(All our great advertisers are listed here):
The Shed Media coverage
Simon’s ideas and media friendly creations have been featured on Front Row, Jazz on 3, Sky News, Big Breakfast, Channel 4, BBC 1 Newsround, BBC 2, ITV, Channel 5, ARD (Germany), Independent On Sunday, Yorkshire Life, Vogue Knitting International, BBC Music Magazine, Richard and Judy Show, Yorkshire Post, Yorkshire Evening Post, The Week, Sunday Times… BBC Radio 1, 2, 3, 4 and BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio York, Humberside, Sheffield, Newcastle, Cleveland, Leeds, Minster FM, BBC North FM, Yorkshire Coast Radio, Armed Forces Radio, Newsbeat, Newsround, Three Counties Radio, Steve Wright in the Afternoon, Mo Dutta, Wogan, Sarah Kennedy, Classic FM, Brian Hayes, Take A Break, Guardian, Dalesman, Daily Telegraph, Independent, Daily Express, TES, Yorkshire Evening Press, Gazette & Herald, Ryedale Mercury, Scarborough Evening News, Radio Times, Northern Echo, Children In Need…
Musicians, poets and personalities..
Acoustic Ladyland, Sarah Allen, Simon Armitage, Gilad Atzmon, Roy Bailey, Iain Ballamy, Dylan Bates, Martin Belmont, Tony Benn MP, Baka Beyond, Ric Bolton, The Books, Ed Boyd, Mrs Boyes, Bhundu Boys, Four Brothers, Stian Carstensen, Martin Carthy, Eliza Carthy, Tom Cawley, Bob Cobbing, Christine Collister, Dave Cousins, Kevin Coyne, Snake Davis, Elton Dean, Andy Diagram, Jim Diamond, Chris Drever, Carol Ann Duffy, Ian Duhig, Paul Dunmall, Max Eastley, Hassan Erraji, Simon H. Fell, Sigi Finkel, Martin France, Bronagh Gallagher, Renaud Garcia Fons, Tim Garland, Dick Gaughan, Gordon Giltrap, David Gordon, Martin Green, Clive Gregson, Mike Harding, Matt Harvey, George Haslam, Adrian Henri, Arve Henriksen, Boo Hewerdene, Paul Hession, Terje Isungset, Bert Jansch, Billy Jenkins, Jackie Kay, Julian Joseph, John Joe Kelly, Thad Kelly, Nancy Kerr, Kitchen Motors, Jan Kopinski, Sonja Kristina, Pamelia Kurstin, Katia Labeque, Lau, Stewart Lee, Jackie Leven, Rosa Liksom, Liz Lochhead, Mornington Lockett, Mark Lockheart, Steve Lodder, Michael Marra, Iain Matthews, Julie Matthews, Tina May, Mzwakhe Mbuli, Rory McFarlane, Ian McMillan, Reg Meuross, Phil Minton, Keith Moline, Mondriaan Quartet, Tony Moore, Pete Morgan, Rory Motion, Jim Mullen, Les Murray, Sevara Nazarkhan, Chris Newman, Aidan O’Rourke, John Otway, Pete Oxley, Brian Patten, Perfect Houseplants, Dudley Phillips, Simon Picard, Mike Pickering, Polar Bear, Brendan Power, Hovis Presley, Mark Radcliffe, Tim Richards, Andy Roberts, Phil Robson, Tom Robinson, Sebastian Rochford, Kenrick Rowe, Mark Sanders, Andy Sheppard, Labi Siffre, Martin Simpson, Satnam Singh, Chris Smither, Spiers & Boden, Dave Swarbrick, Jake Thackray, Keith Tippett, Kubryk Townsend, David Thomas, Alan Tomlinson, Theo Travis, Justin Vali, Mal Waldron, Hank Wangford, Pete Wareham, Huw Warren, Steve Waterman, Norma Waterson, Ben Watson, Helen Watson, Steve Watts, Chris While, Andy White, Annie Whitehead, Alan Wilkinson, Brian Willoughby, Dhafer Youssef… are just some of the musicians, poets and personalities to perform at The Shed.
