FORUM: What's happening to the music venues in the West End?

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Published: 12 November, 2010

• LAMENTING the loss of the West End’s musical heritage, Henry Scott-Irvine is keen to stop the rot fuelled by the demolition of iconic venues and the dreaded c-word ­– cuts

Some weeks ago, I wrote to Boris Johnson about the death and demolition of the West End’s popular music heritage.

In essence, my point was this: 10 music venues in the West End have either been demolished over the past two years or they are about to be closed and pulled down. 

The two new Crossrail stations in Oxford Street and Soho were responsible for the demolition of the Astoria, the LA2, the Metro Club and the Black Gardenia Club. The redevelopment of Piccadilly has seen the demolition of two listed buildings, namely the Atlantic Bar & Grill and the Café Royal. The redevelopment of Upper St Martin’s Lane saw the demolition of the Marquee Club & Bar. Recently, The Flowerpot in Kentish Town Road closed. 

Next is the 100 Club in Oxford Street. It is London’s oldest venue dedicated to all forms of popular live music, and is now in financial trouble. It is due to close for good before Christmas unless huge funds are forthcoming.

Last week, the government closed Visit London, the body designed to preserve, promote and celebrate London’s cultural heritage in the wake of the Olympic Games in 2012, making 200 people redundant. 

In his reply to my correspondence dated October 29, Paul Broadhurst, the senior policy officer for music at the GLA, said: “The Mayor acknowledges the importance of London’s popular music heritage. And the contribution it continues to make to London’s economy. He recognises that London’s popular music scene is a vital part of London’s overall culture strategy, and that popular music sits alongside all other art forms as an essential element of a world-class cultural centre.” 

“Except in the West End of London and Soho in particular,” I’d say in reply to them both. 

Soon, the West End will be as bland and dull as Oxford Street. The main tourist draw to London is simply becoming a sea of stone frontages serving only to remind us of what once was, coupled with blue plaques offering us a vague reminder of this fact before we enter yet another faceless American-styled shopping mall.

Yet Westminster Council put ‘Live Music in Westminster’ at the top of a huge multicoloured advertising hoarding on the corner of Leicester Square. So we are talking West End musicals only, I presume? 

Aside from Ronnie Scott’s, the Twelve Bar Club, the Blues Bar and the soon-to-close Peter Parker’s, I’d say the rest are all now part of a fading memory of a vibrant West End.

In Scotland, the Members of the Scottish Parliament recently decided not to cut arts funding, recognising that it represents a huge financial return in terms of the numbers visiting the country. Yet in London it appears that the arts are going to have to mainly rely on the patronage of wealthy “angels”, be controlled by cynical corporate giants or simply end their existence.

I’d love to stop the rot. I have many ideas on how to preserve and celebrate our collective musical heritage, and this is based on a lifetime of working in music and arts programming for the film, TV and music industries.

If you’d like to join in the debate with constructive suggestions write in to your local newspaper.

• Henry Scott-Irvine is a music researcher and producer who has a regular Sunday slot from 3pm-4pm on Resonance FM 104.4. For more, visit www.henrysgigs.com