The Sugarmill

The Sugarmill, often referred to simply as Sugar Mill, is a nightclub and live music venue on Brunswick Street in Hanley, the city centre of Stoke-on-Trent. It sits in the city's Cultural Quarter, close to its smaller sister bar Sugarcane and opposite the Fiction nightclub, and has a capacity of around 400.

The venue opened its doors in 1994 and has run continuously since, building a reputation as one of the city's grassroots music spaces. Over three decades it has hosted a long list of touring bands who went on to much bigger things, with the venue's own history citing acts such as Coldplay, Muse, Elbow, Daft Punk, The 1975, Bring Me The Horizon and The Libertines among the hundreds who have played there early in their careers.

Alongside its gig programme, The Sugarmill is known locally for its club nights. Electric Fridays is its long-running weekly alternative night, billed as the longest-running alternative club night in Staffordshire, with an Electric All-Nighter running until 6am on the last Friday of each month. On the dance music side, The Move takes over the venue on occasional Saturdays and every Bank Holiday Sunday, bringing in internationally known house DJs; past guests booked for the night have included Todd Terry, Skream, Steve Lawler, Patrick Topping, Pete Tong and Dimitri From Paris, with Mella Dee also appearing as a guest at the night's sixth birthday party.

Within Stoke-on-Trent's nightlife scene, The Sugarmill occupies a slightly different niche to the city's bigger rave-era venues like the now-closed Shelley's Laserdome: it is primarily known as an intimate, independently run live music venue that happens to also run well-regarded club nights, covering indie, rock, alternative, hip-hop and house music across its programming. It remains open today, continuing to combine touring bands with its weekly and monthly club nights, and is still described by local promoters as a cornerstone of Hanley's live and nightlife scene.