Tony is on a mission to make the Assembly Room even greater

A trip to the Howard Assembly Room (HAR) in Leeds is usually one to remember. Leaving aside its reputation for top-quality bookings, the room itself is something to behold, with its beautiful wooden features and lovely acoustics.

- by John Blow

It is a venue which seems to reflect the eclectic talents who take to its stage. Now a new era is upon the HAR after Tony Green has been appointed its general manager and programmer-and he is especially keen to remove barriers for other promoters and event organisers to use the space.

Tony, 51, grew up in Blackpool and, inspired by culture such as the DMC World DJ Championships, was part of a group of 'hip-hop kids'. "That led us into jazz, led us into funk, led us into soul, finding all the samples.

And DJing-we just wanted to emulate these world champions, so that was the start," he says.

"Blackpool's good for parties but not great for music culture so as soon as I got to Leeds, to university, I was away, just DJing in the clubs, DJing in the bars. I started putting my own events on, eventually started running the Faversham in the late 90s and never looked back from there really."