Take a look at the upper Calder Valley's roar-some Golden Lion - the Todmorden pub that's becoming a magnet for music stars.

Todmorden’s Goldrn Lion is a venue like no other as likely to host a Scandinavian jazz night as a DJ set from Jarvis Cocker or Kevin Rowland, of Dexys Midnight Runners.

It has also added a vinyl record label to its portfolio too, with sales ploughed back into the pub, to ensure it can continue to provide a venue for local musicians.

DJ Andy Votel, a veteran of Manchester’s famed Hacienda in the 1990s, is just one musician who’s taken the Golden Lion to his heart. He chose Todmorden as the venue to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his own Manchester label, Twisted Nerve, staging a special event recently and releasing a limited-edition vinyl record on the Golden Lion Sounds label.

Votel says the pub could not be more important for the local music scene after the Covid pandemic: “I can’t overemphasise how important it is. But there's a definite sense of community there as well. The freedom, the vibe and the open-mindedness you get out of Todmorden, it's definitely becoming a hit list for people to want to DJ at.

“When the place first started out, they tried to get people to DJ and agents were saying, ‘no, I've never heard of it. I can't even pronounce the place.’ To now people actually contacting the Golden Lion saying, ‘I desperately want to play there’. You're talking big names asking to play there and accepting a tenth of their fee just to DJ in this remote club in the middle of Yorkshire. The answer’s there and it sings loud and proud.”

Putting the pub on the musical map has been a labour of love since 2015 for Matthanee Nilavongse (known as Gig) and her partner Richard Walker (known as Waka), a veteran of the free party scene.

The pair set out to rewrite the book on running a pub as a community hub and music venue. The reputation that Walker had built as a promoter and DJ in local pubs and his friendship with the late techno legend Andrew Weatherall proved pivotal.

“My dad was good friends with Andrew,” says Walker’s son Matthew Humphreys, himself a DJ, co-promoter and artist booker at the Golden Lion. “They got him to DJ here, and it stemmed from there. The respect a lot of musicians and artists have for Andrew; they saw he loved it here and that's why a lot of the big names come.

“We really look after the artists. They always go away happy. We had [ambient house band] the Orb play recently and Alex Paterson [from the band] came because he knew Andrew loved it. He said that was a big reason. Then it's just one big name plays and then another and they all go away happy.”

Indeed the buzz about the Golden Lion’s has largely grown through word of mouth. Votel first discovered the venue through an invitation from Rick Tomlinson, of Bolton-based band Voice of the Seven Woods. It offered an early clue that the Golden Lion was no ordinary venue.

“Rick asked me to come over to Todmorden to do a Swedish spiritual jazz night. I said, yeah, that sounds great. Sounds like a good thing for a Tuesday or Monday night. He said, ‘no, they want you to do it on Saturday night!’

"There's not a venue quite like that. I’ve done Welsh protest music, female punk nights. I’ve played rockabilly next to rural disco from Brittany, or records that have come out from some snooker club in Majorca. That can only happen at the Golden Lion!”

In turn, Votel’s friendship with Cocker brought the Pulp frontman to Todmorden, with the pair given free rein to play whatever they wanted. Undeterred by the evening clashing with the World Cup, they posted a fixture list and spun records from competing countries with cheers from the crowd deciding the winners of imaginary musical football matches.

DJ sets or performances by acts such as Cocker and Groove Armada sell out quickly, but most nights are busy providing a platform for local bands and DJs. The Golden Lion offers its upstairs live room to local bands to practise free of charge.

The record label too offers another avenue for local artists to make music, such as an upcoming record from Todmorden band Plank, due on January 20. A non-profit venture, Golden Lion Sounds is about the love of music, says Humphreys. It was also a lockdown project for Nilavongse which provided work for staff to help keep the pub going during lockdown.

Votel explains the background to his new Golden Lion Sounds release. He was asked to provide a recording “no-one would expect”. It was, he says, a tall order, given the table of contents he had already served up in his DJ sets.

He dove back into his teenage adventures with a dozen fellow rappers as Violators of the English Language, reconvening with his old friends and some new collaborators to make progressive new music without detouring from the parameters that still defined hip hop 30 years ago. The first release, the Hypocritical Beatdown rap tapes album, is now available through Bandcamp, while Magnetic Prophecies by spin-off groups Magnets, a rap group, and ProVerbs is available on yellow ten-inch vinyl through Golden Lion Sounds.

Says Votel: “The Golden Lion have this very forward-thinking multicultural outlook. It's a beautiful thing. If it wasn't people like that, these records wouldn't have life. It’s a cultural exchange of less likely music. There probably isn't a record label, with a roster quite like that. It's covering so much ground in the same way they do with the venue itself.”

Alongside this high-profile activity, the Golden Lion is equally proud of the role it plays in the community, organising free meals for the homeless and providing food parcels for those struggling financially. It acted as a community shop during the pandemic and offers free dinners and entertainment each Christmas. Nilavongse is also a part of the Incredible Edible Todmorden initiative which grows fruit, herbs and vegetables for everyone to share.

It’s busy too hosting classes ranging from art to health and wellbeing, as well as board games nights, comic groups and May Day celebrations – and befitting Todmorden’s reputation as a UFO hotspot, a meeting point for UFO spotters.

Those who visit are left with special memories. Votel describes as a “gift” the night he bonded over a love of obscure records with Weatherall. More memories were made last weekend as the Twisted Nerve label celebrates 25 years including an appearance by Badly Drawn Boy.

Above all, Votel says, the team at the Golden Lion understand there is an art to curating music and creating a mood.

“They treat you right and with respect. It doesn't matter if there's 10 or 150 people on the dance floor – or a dog! It doesn't make any difference. They reward you for that artistry, and treat you like a true artist. There are so many other clubs people wish they could go to and clubs that have been legendary over the years, where you’d rarely get a smile or a handshake. But there's absolutely no snobbery involved. I think that allows the fluid creativity to really come out, quite unlike anywhere else.

“It's like, you’re nestled in between the safe hills, and you can get away with doing things you'd never dare to elsewhere. It's almost like the dress rehearsal in Todmorden is better than the main show! It's a beautiful thing. It's like a melting pot with no holds barred.”

Andy Votel’s release for Golden Lion Sounds is available via https://goldenlionsounds.bigcartel.com/products while the Violators of the English Language record is available at https://hypocriticalbeatdown.bandcamp.com/album/violators-of-the-english-language