A much-loved Paisley music venue is being forced to reschedule events for a fourth time as the latest lockdown plunges its future back into uncertainty.
After months of closures and no hopes to reopen, popular Paisley venue The Bungalow had finally begun adding dates for events back into its diary for later this year.
Venue boss Tommy McGrory fears The Bungalow and other businesses will be pushed even further to the brink before they are allowed to welcome people back through their doors.
The Bungalow previously received a lifeline of more than £20,000 to stay afloat from the Scottish Government, but Tommy says cash like this only goes so far as he believes music venues have the longest wait for restrictions to be lifted.
He said: “Every time we think we see a light at the end of the tunnel we are knocked down time after time.
“There is always that worry in the back of our minds - will there be a venue by the time we are able to start back up?
“We are waiting to see if we can get some more help from Creative Scotland but we don’t have it
yet.”
The Bungalow, in Shuttle Street, has welcomed bands and artists across every musical genre to its stage for more than 40
years.
This year, Tommy and co-director Alan McEwan had scheduled gigs from the likes of hit tribute bands such as The Killers, The Marley Experience and Bootleg Boss - a Tribute to Bruce Springsteen.
But events set to take place in April and May this year are now being pushed further into 2021 following Nicola Sturgeon’s lockdown announcement.
All non-essential businesses, schools and nurseries are closed until at least February 1 as the country tackles a surge in covid cases.
Tommy added: “We have moved the events about three or four times now and every time it just feels like another blow.
“We had been hopeful that by May this year we may have had some hope of putting some kind of music event on but following the new announcement that hope is gone.
“It just keeps putting more spanners in the works for us.
“We understand that it will be a long time before we have 100 plus people in a room listening to a band but it is really frustrating to not be able to see a light at the end of the tunnel.
“During the summer we were able to operate as a pub with a capacity of about 66 people and I thought that if we could keep doing that we would be OK.
“But just as we think we might be getting somewhere everything changes again and we are back to square one.”
While they have remained closed throughout the majority of 2020, Tommy says he and Alan are using the time to make improvements to the historic Paisley venue, including trying to reduce the site’s carbon
footprint.
He added: “We have installed a new boiler and heating system and we have been switching all our lights to LEDs.
“When we first took over this venue it was a leaky building that was known for being freezing cold in winter.
“We are now adding heat and sound insulation too to try and make the place more environmentally
friendly.
“We are trying to take some positives from the situation we are in and get some things done while we are closed.
“And hopefully we can welcome people back to a freshened up and warmer Bungalow in the near future.”
