Chess Night
2025-06-09 20:00 - 23:00, 2025-06-16 20:00 - 23:00, 2025-06-23 20:00 - 23:00, 2025-06-30 20:00 - 23:00, 2025-07-07 20:00 - 23:00 (Europe/London)
All welcome for this casual but serious evening of chess.

French Fridays
2025-06-13 17:30 - 18:30, 2025-06-20 17:30 - 18:30, 2025-06-27 17:30 - 18:30, 2025-07-04 17:30 - 18:30, 2025-07-11 17:30 - 18:30
An informal group to practice your conversational French – Everyone welcome!

Outside The Box
2025-06-14 21:00 - 23:00
“Spirited trad, Scottish themed folk/bluegrass tunes with three part harmonies and shenanigans”
Outside the Box are a Calderdale based group featuring Mark Paramor on guitar, Justin Graham on accordion, David Insua-caoand on percussion and Daz Jones on bass. Coming from a background of ceilidh, strict time Scottish Competition, New Orleans Second Line Jazz, Folk and Punk bands they put their own feel to songs and tunes old and new. Add beautiful and full throated three part harmonies, Outside the Box bring foot tapping energy, glorious tunes and sing-along choruses.
You can check out some of their work here:https://www.facebook.com/outsidetheboxband3/

Improv @ The Puzzle
2025-06-15 13:00 - 16:00
Audience and players VERY WELCOME. These are open playing sessions where weird and wonderful pieces are improvised by the group using some light direction and guidance on the playing.
Donations welcomed: Bring Instruments and if needed little amplifiers and come down and join in with the improvisations. Arrive by 1.30pm to be ready to play at 2.00pm.
No previous experience needed. Any questions? Feel free to message.

Technical Difficulties
2025-06-18 19:00 - 23:00
Technical Difficulties is Sowerby Bridge’s original experimental music open mic held on the third Wednesday of Each Month.
FREE ENTRY
Please send us a message if you want a slot!
We have a PA installed, two tables and somebody to plug you in…
Whether you’re into alternative hip hop, dark ambient, free jazz, freak folk, beat poetry or drone rock come on down, plug yourself in and let your freak flag fly!

Open Mic with Maddie Brooks
2025-06-19 20:30 - 23:00, 2025-07-10 20:30 - 23:00
Open mic & Jam hosted by Maddy Brooks at the Puzzle Hall Inn – Sowerby Bridge 8.30pm onwards and upwards…
This night is an Open Mic with Jam session capabilities where everyone is pretty much guaranteed a chance to play & are peppered with moments of absolute joy & magic!
Everyone and anyone welcome, get yourselves down to play, sing, say and listen!
We have a PA installed, plus mics, stands and DI boxes available to use.

Mora & The Fabulous Wonderfuls + Vincent Whyte
2025-06-20 20:00 - 22:00
Born backstage, and raised by a VOX AC30, MORA was always destined to be a performer who makes the ground shake. With her band The Fabulous Wonderfuls she brings a unique blend of righteous anger and soul-lifting songs to channel the pain and rage of this crushing existence into a communal connection. Together they send audience spirits soaring, ready to face the next sunrise reborn with dazzling sparks of defiance and empathy.
“This is protest music which tugs at the heartstrings rather than calling to arms, and it would take a hard soul indeed not to be moved by Mora’s plaintive voice” – Louder than war
“A bewitching blend of soulful vocals and lively stage presence that would ignite any room from the first note to the curtain call.” -Arenaline
https://www.instagram.com/morasnaps/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6qpbN7YH_3tqIMxaAIYTUQ https://
www.tiktok.com/@mora.fabulouswonderfuls https://www.x.com/MoraMusic1
A self-styled ‘Anglo-Chanteur’ at his core, Vincent Whyte’s prevailing ambition is a simple one – to sing songs worth remembering in an increasingly forgetful world. Taking inspiration from a continent spanning gaggle of bards and storytellers, Vincent’s tragicomic songwriting and idiosyncratic Spanish guitar chops may well do just that. Having previously opened for Half Man Half Biscuit, The Wave Pictures and The Fugitives he now brings his talents to The Puzzle Hall Inn.
“Vincent’s songs combines drollness, sincerity, tragedy, comedy and musical prowess.” The best of Shrewsbury
https://www.vincentwhyte.com/about
https://www.facebook.com/vincentwhytemusic/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnFhC9g77m8

Steve Reich In The Afternoon
2025-06-21 13:00 - 16:00
“Steve Reich In The Afternoon” An afternoon of minimalist & ambient music in the Puzzle Hall Community Pub beer garden (Weather permitting).Enjoy the drones, loops and repetition as you sup on your ale as fish stir on the surface of the Calder and Sand Martin tumble in the deep blue sky…… or something like that.

This event does not feature a performance by Steve Reich. This event is not in association with Steve Reich.It is however, in the afternoon.

Chill Out.

Pepperjam
2025-06-21 21:00 - 23:00
Pepperjam are a 9-piece ‘old-school’ band playing all original material rooted in reggae, dub, rocksteady, ska, funk, soul and jazz, but with a rocky twist. They create a unique but easily-identifiable sound of their own which is guaranteed to get you up and dancing.

Andrew Turner & Lucy Speller
2025-06-22 16:00 - 18:30
When Andrew Turner met Lucy Speller they bonded over a shared love of folk music and classic prog rock. They became fast friends and collaborators and played in folk band Spinning Jenny and Flag Crackers Border Morris together and now work together as a duo. In their latest work this collaboration between generations draws on their rich and eclectic range of influences, spanning their time together in ceilidh, Morris and traditional folk bands as well as being grounded in a shared love of prog, experimental and new wave music. Proudly out of step with current trends and following their own wayward path Andrew and Lucy make magical music that is strange, wistful and at times a little bit sinister.
www.goathouse-music.uk

Knome + Solderer
2025-06-23 20:00 - 22:00
KNOME Punk rock inna hardcore style from Glasgow.
https://knomeknome.bandcamp.com/album/demo-2025
SOLDERER Dirgey alien anarcho-no wave from Leeds.
https://solderererer.bandcamp.com/album/normal-style

Poetry & Spoken Word Evening
2025-06-24 20:00 - 23:00
On the fourth Tuesday of the month the music stops and we pay attention to the spoken word. There has been poetry at the Puzzle Hall since the Nineties, with breaks when the pub was closed.

Sometimes we are a small seminar group bringing work we love, and want to discuss, including our own writings. If we get bigger numbers we can get out the microphone and make it an open mic. Everyone is welcome.

There are many kinds of poetry nights: poetry slams, formal invited poets with an audience, open mics, spoken word events. We are often another kind of gathering: talking about poetry, why we write, what we read, themes and differences.

Jazz Night with Revival Room
2025-06-26 20:00 - 23:00
REVIVAL ROOM
Revival Room (album)…
”One of the best UK-derived albums of the year to appear” – Stephen Graham, Marlbank
Revival Room are:
Adam Fairhall, (organ), Mark Hanslip, (tenor saxophone), Johnny Hunter (drums)
The band offer a fresh and distinctive take on the classic organ trio format, three equal
and creative voices, playing vibrant new tunes, unhurried and engagingly original, they
create a subtly new approach for a long-established format with influences outside of
the world of jazz.
“Excellent mix of tradition and experimentation” – Tony Dudley-Evans – London Jazz News
“…bristles with ideas, delivered with a sly wit and unruffled confidence” – Daniel Spicer, Jazzwise

Sweet Williams + The Bricks
2025-06-27 20:00 - 23:00
Sweet Williams (Spain/UK – Wrong Speed Records)Slowcore Postrock Light Industrial feat members of Charlottefield / I’m Being Good / Hey Colossus https://sweetwilliams.bandcamp.com/album/four-five
The BricksYork-based postpunk garage rock feat members of Static Waves / Broken Arm / Red Monkeyhttps://thebricksband.bandcamp.com/album/modern-mirror
at Puzzle Hall Inn, 21 Hollins Mill Lane, Sowerby Bridge, HX6 2RF
8pm – 10pm (live music)
FREE ENTRY with donations for bands gratefully accepted. Live music done in time for trains back to Leeds / Manc.
—-
Sweet Williams
Thomas House has been busy in the two years since Sweet Williams’ last LP.
“I got very nervous about playing live, so I stopped. Quit all the bands I was playing in, stayed at home in Zaragoza with the cat and made tunes between classes.”
Tunes that grew from fragments on old tapes or came fully formed in dreams in the small hours. He was sending us (Wrong Speed Records) a fistful of new songs every couple of weeks. Nobody knew where this was leading. There was a half-joke about House releasing his own version of The White Album, until another artist close to our hearts beat him to it.
Then we realised: House turns forty-five in 2025. How about forty-five songs to celebrate?
Bringing in neighbour Carl Jehle to co-produce, the pair spent last summer putting Four Five together in long, delirious sessions, stretching through the forty-plus mid-afternoon heat into the balmy small hours. More than a hundred songs were on the table. A significant chunk of the work was completed while House recovered from emergency dental surgery – “the worst pain I have ever experienced”.
The results, House says, can be taken as a whole “if you’re mad enough,” or as three separate LPs. “The first one’s dark and dreamy, the second one’s got all the short and funny songs, and the third one wraps it up. I don’t wanna spoil the ending.”
What’s clear is that a triple LP has afforded the possibility to stretch out in directions Sweet Williams have not previously explored. Tape loops and warped, sampled voices butt up against brief, punky earworms. Influences are either worn on sleeves – PIL, The Amps, Beefheart – or nigh impossible to discern. Ever present, as ever, are repetition, space, and the sputtering growl of petrol guitars.
Four Five is a masterpiece. The perfect mix of spontaneity and obsession; of serendipity and sheer force of will. Not to mention maybe the only justifiable triple album ever made.
“I thought this might be the last one, obviously, but then again obviously not. I’m just getting started.”
—-
The Bricks
It’s clear from their live shows that there’s a musical chemistry between the four of them, but equally, the tightness they demonstrate is the kind that comes from disciplined rehearsal.
Here, the production is just right for the band: with a sound that’s from the heart of the gothier end of late punk – think early Siouxie, Skeletal Family, but also with more overtly punk leanings at times – theirs is the sound of 1979-81, and where so many contemporary exponents go wrong is applying 21st century production values in the studio. So here, we have songs which are fiery, choppy, edgy, and the recordings convey the energy and the raw dynamism, but without sounding rough.
Lyrically, The Bricks always achieve more with less, with snappy, declarative couplets consisting of the fewest words possible and uncomplicated but effective rhymes. And so it is that the EP closes with ‘Meantime’, another songs that’s well-established and road-tested. ‘Trickle trickle… you’re so fickle’ may well not be TS Elliot or Milton, but it’s all in the delivery, and to hear Gemma belting out the dismissive flick of ‘fickle! FOOL!’ with her immensely commanding voice is enough to wither even the most cocksure and arrogant of bastards. With Guy’s magnificent weaving guitar-line and rock-solid rhythm section, it’s a powerful finale.
The Bricks have always been great, but they’ve never sounded more solid, or more confident than here.
– Christopher Nosnibor

Dr Butler's Hatstand Medicine Band + The Tragics
2025-06-28 17:30 - 22:00
The Hatstand Medicine Band are a travelling troupe of musicological minstrels, peddling the good Doctors homemade tonic to all four corners of the land. Formed from a secret combination of early blues and jazz forms, a sprinkle of ragtime, a dash of folk tradition, the essence of old-time religion, a pinch of music hall wit and a teaspoon of vaudevillian showoffery.The result is a morally good music which is replete with harmonic tones of joy and fulfilment; a natural aid to titillation and a guaranteed restorer of vitality, vim and vigour.​This is music for foot stomping and toe tickling that joins hearts with flesh and invigorates the thinking mind. ​​
“​Dr Butler’s Hatstand Medicine Band continue to delight audiences across the country with their unique brand of good-time music. Every performance delivers an exciting range of audial treats.” – The Bridgewater Hall
https://www.hatstandmedicineband.com/
https://drbutlershatstandmedicineband.bandcamp.com/

The Tragics : Americarnage Pie with a deep rock filling.
The Tragics were born on a Friday afternoon in the Sowerby Bridge of long ago when, fuelled by a crippling overdose of tea and cheap tobacco Jim Tragic (Guitar, Vocals) and Andy Greaves (Guitar, Vocals) all of a sudden started to play ‘country music’ by mistake. Shortly afterwards Andy learned to play the mandolin, this time on purpose.
The Tragics have long since swollen to a five-piece band – Expect songs in a wide variety of styles, delivered with cheerful savagery, memorable melodies and most importantly, not too many chords.

Sowerby Bridge Town Festival
2025-06-29 13:00 - 23:00
Details to follow.

West Echo Three + We Have Ghosts + Rock Paper Sister
2025-06-29 16:00 - 22:00
In honour of Sowerby Bridge festival we’ve got three very different rock bands :
First up is Huddersfield’s Rock Paper Sister. Influenced by Guano Apes, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Skunk Anansie they combine a classic rock sheen with a side order of funkiness and dramatic vocals. Expect huge riffs, creative bass lines, flamboyant drums and melodic vocals. With their energetic live performances and strong songwriting, Rock Paper Sister are quickly making a name for themselves in the local music scene and their recent appearances at Bands on the Square and the Longest Day Festival have garnered strong feedback.
“A dynamic female-fronted 4 piece delivering high-voltage rock.” – Kirklees Most Wanted
https://www.facebook.com/Rrock.Paper.Sister/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx4VUu8gW44
Next up we have Chester’s We Have Ghosts, a visceral punk rock trio known for delivering raw, riff-heavy anthems laced with lyrical intensity. Conjuring a storm of alt-rock, grunge, punk, and post-whatever chaos. With lyrics that cut deep and a sound that swings between hypnotic tension and raw catharsis, they blur the lines between vulnerability and venom. Think serrated riffs, explosive shifts, and raw emotion soaked in distortion.
“This is raw and visceral rock. A refreshing reminder of what guitar-driven music can still do” – Havoc Underground
https://wehaveghosts.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/wehaveghostsband/
https://www.youtube.com/@wehaveghosts/videos

And finally hailing from Oldham metallic digital rock duo, West Echo Three deliver some balls to the wall rock excitement for the modern age. With their winning mix of lo-fi beats, top drawer guitar shredding and snarled vocals have gained a reputation as a formidable live act, comfortable on any stage.
The band’s passion for live excellence translates to their studio output, too, with their one EP and three singles (so far) receiving praise for their signature approach to songcraft .If you like your rock bang up to date with the kind of innovative mix of punk, metal and electronica that make NIN seem like sedate old Grandpas ready for the retirement home then you’re in for a treat.
“West Echo Three are cut from a different cloth when compared to most indie-rock music.” – Analogue Trash
https://westechothree.bandcamp.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@westechothree
https://www.facebook.com/WestEchoThree/mentions/

The Frank Burkitt Band
2025-07-03 20:00 - 23:00
First Thursday of the month – LORE is our Folk and Roots music night hosted by Gareth Scott with special guests each month.
‘Frank Burkitt has been performing for 15 years with partner and vocalist/flautist Kara Filbey. They met in Edinburgh in 2004 and have since lived and toured extensively throughout the UK, New Zealand and Australia.
Playing a broad mix of original and traditional Scottish folk songs, Americana and country ballads, Burkitt’s highly intelligent songwriting is what sets him apart, as well as his relaxed stage presence and ability to tell great stories.
On moving to New Zealand in 2014, they formed The Frank Burkitt Band with whom they were awarded the Vodafone New Zealand Music Award (Tui award) for Best Folk Artist 2019. When not touring with the full band, they relish the chance to perform their intimate duo set. Two voices that have had 15 years to blend and produce the closest, most stunning harmonies that you’ll hear. Captivating and intimate performers that will entertain and enchant.’
**** Northern Sky Magazine 8/10 Americana UK 9/10 Liverpool Sound & Vision
Free entry, donations toward events and artists always welcome.

What Goes On .....
2025-07-05 20:00 - 23:00
Roll up, roll up!
A new DJ night at the Puzzle Hall from the folks that brought you Sneeze and Monster Soup back in the day.
Expect Psych, Funk, New Wave, Hip-Hop, Ska, and all manner of eclectic beats and pieces
Maximum party vibes guaranteed, so get yer sens down…

Acoustic Singaround Session
2025-07-06 13:00 - 16:00
Join us at the Puzzle Hall Inn, the 1st Sunday of each month for an acoustic afternoon informal singaround. All persons of all ages and skill levels welcome.
Hosting, will be the incredible Dave CalvertIn his own words: “Everyone is welcome to come along and sing, play, join in or just listen, the beer is great, as is the atmosphere. Its a lovingly restored, community owned pub which is continuing it’s long history of music events.”
Entry is free, hope to see you there.

Alpaca Redemption + Groves
2025-07-11 20:00 - 22:00
Alpaca Redemption are a four-piece Indie/New Wave Pop band from Kiel, Leipzig and Todmorden. The guitar swings from frantic electric climbs to soft intricate melodies. Vocals are inspired by the raw and mystical ways of Irish folk songs and the lyrics find beauty in the bittersweet of dreams that may never be fulfilled.
“Shouldered by the greats of new wave, disco and indie Aplaca Redemption are sometimes ornate, sometimes straightforward, but always sweet and hopeful.” – Norden Arts Festival
https://alpacaredemption.bandcamp.com/music
https://www.instagram.com/alpacaredemption/
Groves are a four-piece band from Leeds who inspired by the catchiness of pop melodies and the scrappiness of rock music create Emo pop for the depressed Zillennial. Their influences range from the dreamy vibes of The Cranberries, to the emotive guitars of American Football and the synthpop feel of The Midnight.
https://www.instagram.com/grovessongs
https://soundcloud.com/groves-82494346
https://www.tiktok.com/@grovessongs
