Soul in the City

Gone

Closed at the end of March 2016

There now

Not established

Address

18-22 Lonsdale Street, entrance to the rear on St Paul's Lane

Where exactly

At 18-22 Lonsdale Street, entered from St Paul's Lane at the back; the pin marks the building.

A soul club, and by every account a good one. It opened on Friday 25 November 2011 in the old Buskers premises off Lonsdale Street, entrance round the back on St Paul's Lane, and it knew exactly who it was for: an air-conditioned late venue for 200-odd people who had grown up on sixties, seventies and early eighties soul in the Cosmo, Flopps and the Game Bird at Newby Grange. Ninety-nine per cent of the records were played on original vinyl, requests taken across the board, the first Friday of the month given over to Northern Soul, and talcum powder on the floor. Friday and Saturday only, a three o'clock licence, open for bank holidays and the festive weeks.

Reviewers who found it could not quite believe the city had it: best music in town, very 1960s inside, staff who were friendly and a floor that filled. It closed at the end of March 2016, and its own website still carries the notice under the heading End of an era. The name outlived the room. Soul in the City became a travelling night, put on in venues around Carlisle and the north, among them the Carlisle Ex-Service Men's Club until that shut in June 2026. Which is why listings for it still look current a decade after the doors closed.

Also lost on Lonsdale Street

• Buskers
• Trendies Bistro
• Post Office Club

40 other lost pubs stood within 250 m of here. See them on the map

Still serving, near where it stood

• Aretha's Lounge Bar

  City Centre
  80 maway

• Coco Mill

  City Centre
  110 maway

• Spencer Street Social Club

  City Centre
  120 maway

• The Last Zebra

  City Centre
  130 maway