London landmark... the Astoria. Photograph: Dan Chung
Can a music venue be part of a city's lifeblood? Going by the passions aroused by the impending closure of two London rock landmarks, it appears so.
The Astoria, which has hosted gigs by Nirvana, Eminem and the Arctic Monkeys, and the Intrepid Fox, a frankly grotty pub patronised by the metal fraternity, are both facing identical futures as luxury flats, once they've been hosed down and decades of encrusted lager removed from the floor. An online petition to save the Astoria has 24,664 signatures, while 6,093 distraught drinkers have signed to keep the Intrepid Fox open.
The protests are fuelled by the kind of love that attaches to places where the music/grubbiness balance is exactly right. Both the Astoria and the 202-year-old Fox had the exact recipe - they mixed spot-on bands (or, in the pub's case, spot-on beer, consumed by such customers as Slash and Lemmy) with a relaxed attitude toward cleanliness, and people came in their thousands.
That kind of alchemy is impossible to pull off with brand new venues, no matter how much cash is invested in state-of-the-art sound systems and decent toilets. Neither does it work with corporate barns such as Wembley Arena, Glasgow's SECC or Manchester's MEN Arena - few would mourn the loss of the hideous Wembley, and even fewer would note the passing of places like the Islington Academy, a purpose-built club on the first floor of a north London shopping centre.
The Academy, by the way, was originally designed to house the venerable Marquee Club, which had been homeless since losing its West End premises in the late 90s. Despite the shiny new venue's lack of atmosphere, the management assumed that the Marquee's reputation would pull in the customers. A year later, they realised its intrinsic appeal had been its location in raffish Soho. They upped sticks and returned to the West End, where they made the mistake of putting the club on the third floor of an office building. It folded, almost unnoticed, after 18 months. Meanwhile, thanks to its policy of booking the up-and-comingest new bands, the Islington Academy is prospering, despite sharing mall space with Starbucks and FCUK. But would anyone set up a petition if it was threatened with closure?
What venues would you Vultures be devastated to lose? Does the cosy Fleece in Bristol twang your thang, or are you an open-plan type who just loves the Birmingham NEC? Confess here...
