Help protect the Witchwood in Ashton Under-Lyne!

The Witchwood in Ashton Under-Lyne needs your support. Our doors are closed for the first time in decades as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we need your help to ensure they open again.

We are asking you to contribute to this appeal so that we can guarantee a secure future for the venue & pub, and to make sure that we come back stronger.

As of COVID-19, the Witchwood has been unable to open. Even with potential help from the government, we face uncertain and challenging times, and as we write this, do not know the precise extent of the financial support that we might receive. 

Any money you can donate to us will help ensure the future of the Witchwood and will be gratefully received.

Where your money will go?

Your donations will primarily be used to pay our running costs until we are able to re-open. After securing our future, we would use any additional funds to undertake long-overdue refurbishments, which includes potential works to make the Witchwood a better place.

About the Witchwood:

The Witchwood is a pub and live music venue in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, England. Located in Ashton's town centre, The Witchwood has been a hub for live indie and rock music since the 1960s, and features on North West England's pub music circuit.

Previous performers at The Witchwood include The Coral, Snow Patrol, The Seahorses, Chas n Dave Uk Subs , Wilko Johnson , Ash, The Fall, Lostprophets, Muse, Opeth, The Damned, Sean Ryder, Glenn Tilbrook, Cockney Rejects , the Hamsters and The Ordinary Boys; as well as popular local bands, including cabbage, The Blinders and Callow Youth!

In 2004, Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council served a compulsory purchase order on The Witchwood, as plans for the regeneration of the surrounding area required the building to be demolished. After a campaign to save the venue, supported by local musicians and businesses, and live music fans from across the country, Ask Developments agreed that The Witchwood would stay, on condition that "the exterior would be re-rend ered and new windows put in". The campaign to save The Witchwood was led by Tom Hingley and supported by musicians such as Bert Jansch, the Fall, and The Chameleons.

It has become very clear recently that music venues will be one of the very last businesses to be able to reopen and the possible restrictions that come with it could be severely damaging to the long term future of the Witchwood.

Please help us to make sure we reopen the club's doors when the time is right and keep them open for many years to come.

Lots of love to you all, and stay safe from the Witchwood Team.