Popular magic shop to close after 50 years

The Magick Lounge in Sheffield has been open since 1975

A magic shop where stars such as Dynamo, Derren Brown and Paul Daniels honed their crafts is to close after 50 years.

Sheffield's Magick Lounge opened in 1975 and has been run by Russell Hall, who is in his 80s and has decided to retire to focus on writing books and travelling.

A sale was agreed on the building on Broad Street, near Ponds Forge, last month after an attempt to run it as a cooperative fell through.

Mr Hall said he had received protests from people "all over the world" in response to the news, but felt now was the time to move on.

He said: "I shall wish it well, and hopefully people will have good times in the building and there will be a little spark of magic in there."

Russell Hall is retiring after running the shop for 50 years

Mr Hall opened the shop when he gave up a career editing construction magazines to work as a performing magician and write and sell magic books.

He said: "I had started to write a few tricks, sell a few tricks, writing scripts for people and that grew so I thought it was time to open a little shop in Sheffield and after a while it took off.

"So I packed my job in and went into magic full time, writing, selling, inventing, performing.

"I did a lot of university balls, I worked in clubs and pubs, in fact the old Sheffield Fiesta, I was one of the last acts. I played on the week it closed, though I wasn't responsible for closing it."

Russell Hall's library of magic books includes more than 4,000 volumes

Over the years Magick Lounge became a hub for Yorkshire musicians, with Mr Hall known for collecting and selling rare books.

He said: "Everyone from Paul Daniels to Derren Brown came in, he is a collector of rare books so he pops in from time to time.

"Dynamo used to come in from about eight or nine years old and practise his card tricks with the guys in the shop."

Mr Hall took up the skill when he was gifted a box of magic tricks for Christmas.

His retirement plans include travelling more, especially around Africa, and writing a book about storytelling magic.

He said: "The book is about how we can use the UK's rich legacy of folk tales, legends and myths and build magical performance around those.

"I think it's important we don't lose those, they're all part of the magic that's inside us all."

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