Arctic Monkeys, Drenge Working To Save Independent Businesses In UK Hometown

Independent stores in the Artic Monkeys' hometown of Sheffield, UK, are facing an uncertain future, so drummer Matt Helders decided to take a stand on social media.

According to NME, properties in the Devonshire Street area under threat include secondhand music and book store Rare and Racy and the vintage clothes emporium Syd&Mallory.

Drenge singer Eoin Loveless is from nearby Castleton, and he let loose on government plans for new developments on Devonshire Street.

From a statement on the band's official website:

The bloodthirsty council clearly can't get enough of the apartments and restaurants and cafés clamouring for space in the city centre. What with the proposal to demolish a large proportion of the city's Cultural Industries Quarter, it's as if Sheffield's arts and design heritage is of no interest in the face of more Costas, Gregg's and Subways.

Rare and Racy is a second hand book and music shop that smells of burning incense and always plays free jazz whenever it's open. It's a hugely important place, not just to me but to anyone else who has been introduced to a novel or a record, not through recommendation, but through complete fluke. It's presence in the city is silent and composed but vital and enriching all the same.

Syd&Mallory's is an independent clothes shop that specialises in handmade and vintage clothes. They're responsible for the wonderful outfits we both wore at Reading Festival this year. It's the third time they've changed premises in the 8 years I've been aware of them and when I popped my head in recently it seemed that - right next to R&R they'd found somewhere to settle (with a stunning shop front).

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