Iconic London Venue May Close
The 100 Club may be shut by the end of 2010
London's 100 Club is facing closure due to a massive increase in rent.
The owners of the 68-year-old venue, which opened for business as a jazz bar in the early 1940s and became a leading punk hang-out in the '70s, have been hit with a rent increase - and are struggling to keep the club open.
According to Contact Music, the rent has gone up from £11,000 in 1985 to over £165,000-a-year.
Director Jeff Horton says, "The Government, Westminster council and even some of the commercial landlords say they want to help small businesses, they say they want to preserve London's uniqueness, they want to help multi-cultural venues. Yet we're all that and all these organisations have all dumped on us from a great height."
The 100 Club has played host to some of the most important musical acts of the 20th century. Here’s just a few that have played at the venue during its 70 years - The Kinks, The Pretty Things, The Spencer Davis Group, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, The Animals, Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, Sex Pistols, Fairport Convention, Roxy Music, Oasis, The Jam, Bo Diddley, Muse, BB King, Metallica, Muddy Waters, The Clash, Stranglers, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and The Who.
Here’s a statement issued from Jeff Horton:
"As you will probably now know, the Evening Standard ran a story on the 22nd September regarding the possible closure of the 100 Club in December.
"I can confirm that, sadly, this is true.
"The writing has been on the wall, so to speak, since the rent increased by 45% in 2007. It was an increase that was unsustainable. Just as pertinent have been the increase year on year in Business Rates that have now reached a ludicrous level of £1000 per week, and now the Government are increasing VAT to 20% from January. There have been over a dozen increases in duty on alcohol in the last two years or so as well, meaning that my supplier’s bills have increased some 40% in that period.
"The bottom line is that the club has a liability to it's landlords and HMRC that suck 80% of it's income out of the business. How can that possibly be right? The business rates, for instance, don't include refuse collection.
"In fairness to the 100 Club's landlords they have made two concessions on the rent in the past, one for signing a new lease last year, but have stressed that this is something that will not happen again. Besides, when you have a law regarding commercial rents that stipulate they can only go up, what is to prevent another increase happening again in 2012 when the next Rent Review is due?? Is the increase going to be 45% for the third review in a row? These increases do not in any way reflect the social or economic climate at any given time. It is purely a way of legally fleecing small, and in all probability, medium sized businesses, certainly in Central London. It is a practice that needs to be stopped......and now.
"In my opinion HMRC are using the same Corporate model in raising and accruing Tax.
"As a result the 100 Club, now the oldest live music and entertainment venue on the Planet, will shut its doors for the final time at the end of the year unless a sponsor, funding or a buyer can be found, after accruing losses of almost £100,000 a year for the last three years.
"Finally, I’d like to say that all of us at the 100 Club have been extremely touched and humbled at the strength of feeling shown by so many regarding all this. Thank you for the emails and text messages of support. I’d like to personally add a special word of thanks to the people at Craven Braves for the Facebook Group they’ve created. The response has been incredible.”