Salford Lads Club on The Smiths album cover gets status upgrade

A “remarkable” 123-year-old youth club building made famous after featuring on a Smiths album sleeve has had its listed status upgraded from Grade II to Grade II*.

Salford Lads Club was built in the city on Coronation Street in 1903 and has helped generations of boys – and later girls – by offering activities like sport, art and music.

It comes less than two years after the club was saved from closure after a fundraising campaign raised £250,000, including donations from local music legends like Morrissey and Graham Nash.

Meanwhile, Crossley House in Openshaw, Manchester, formerly the Crossley Lads’ Club, has been added to the National Heritage List for England at Grade II by the government.

Historic England said the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s decision, following its advice, recognised the two rare surviving examples of purpose-built lads’ clubs, buildings once common in industrial towns and cities but now increasingly scarce.

Historic England’s Emma Squire and Claudia Kenyatta said the “two remarkable buildings tell the story of a movement that transformed opportunities for generations of young people”.

The Salford club was built in 1903 to designs by architect Henry Lord, and the pair said it was one of the largest and most architecturally ambitious examples ever built, retaining an exceptional degree of survival both externally and internally.

The club is perhaps best known for being featured in The Smiths’ The Queen Is Dead album in 1986.