From: ANGELA KIRKPATRICK Date sent: Mon, 1 Nov 1999 11:22:12 -0000 Subject: Article in Sheffield Weekly Gazette This article appeared in the Sheffield Weekly Gazette on Thursday 28th October 1999. Millionaire rocker Joe Elliott has pledged never to set foot back in the bar he helped finance after an after show party rumpus. The singer with top UK rock act Def Leppard is preparing to strip out priceless memorabilia his band has loaned or borrowed on behalf of the troubled Players Café. Joe, born and bred in Sheffield, was left fuming when a private party organised to follow the band's concert at the nearby Sheffield Arena turned ugly. Revellers were kicked out of the £2.5m Attercliffe bar and police called. The band's record company had put £500 behind the bar to cover around 60 family and friends, but when more guests than expected turned up people were made to leave. But Joe told The Star: "There were nowhere near 300 people as the bar was claiming. That's absolute garbage. We never asked them to keep the bar open after hours. If they needed an extension they should have applied for one, they should have contacted our record company if there was not enough money. We are talking about people who are mums and dads around 60 and 70 years old, they are not going to be there until 5am." The frontman claimed today he was "offered out" by a member of security and his mother Cynthia, in her late 60s and partly arthritic, was refused access to a lift. He said the band's press officer suffered a cut wrist after being thrown out of the bar, which is in receivership. Players Café manager Peter Yates said he was put in a "no-win situation" - "People were just turning up in their droves. We were not licensed in the VIP lounge for that many people."