How many of us have been shocked and/or appalled at the rate at which music venues have been closing down? Probably most of us. I remember feeling like I'd been punched in the gut when I was told that the London Astoria was being demolished in 2009. Having been to see many bands there as a teenager it was saddening to know that future generations would be denied such a great place to watch their idols. It was home to incredible memories and I wished it was still there but do you know what, I didn't do anything to help save it so I guess I just need to live with it.
One thing I was determined to get on board with was saving the SouthBank undercroft. The Long Live South Bank campaign was something it was my very great pleasure to have been a part of. I wrote letters to MPs and National Heritage and promoted the issue using this very blog and any other means I had at my disposal. The real heart of the campaign too was fought tooth and nail by the volunteers who took up the fight. Even the website on it's own is a beautiful thing, filled with passion and love for the cause. Celebrities were endorsing their fight, it was in huge amounts of media and they endured slander and relocation propositions and rejections until even the London Mayor himself endorsed them and helped sway them to victory. This victory was not easily won and despite all they made it happen. I look back on it all and smile knowing that I helped in the little ways I could and that the core campaigners never let the end goal slip, even when people called them pests and unreasonable and tried to rub their reputations through mud. The alternative scene took a collective stand against rampant gentrification and held their own against big business.I don't feel the same can be said for the loss of Denmark Street.
I have "researched" the Denmark Street closure and the most I can find online is a petition to stop with with 28,000 odd signatures (compare that to a similar one for the LLSB campaign that garnered almost 71,000) and a smattering of pieces in the BBC, talking about it going like it already had. I couldn't find a website or even a dedicated facebook page to the cause. I know there are a group called Save Denmark St but I can't tell you about their exploits or what they did to try to save things. I'm not saying that they did nothing I'm saying that there is nothing they have to show for it other than a few half assed articles and too many separate petitions knocking around.Why wasn't there as much of an uproar? are things so clear cut that they couldn't fight? was the relocation offer just too good to refuse (12 Bar opens back up in Holloway soon) or were people just not as passionate as they made out? I don't want this to come across as me saying that nobody cared about what happened here but what I am saying is that there doesn't seem to be any record of the battle. They say history is written by the victors and it seems like the victory was so absolute that the opposition was wiped away.
Earls Court is going soon too, I went to a bunch of conventions there but it's not something I did regularly enough to be any more than mildly annoyed about it, however there are places like the New Cross Inn and Birds Nest that I frequent regularly and perform at and my patronage is hopefully what will keep these places alive. I know I will move mountains to keep them as they are should the need arise. We can't save the whole world, but when someone threatens something that is a part of our lives and history in a big way we should kick up so much fuss that people just have to pay attention. Even if we lose we should have to be taken down kicking and screaming with a shrine to our struggles against higher powers left for people to view and improve upon next time someone with a big budget and re-dveleopment plans tries to pave over history.I hope I'm wrong. I hope the Denmark St. group went down fighting till their last gasp. Show me where I can see this fight and I will happily, enthusiastic admit I was wrong, but the entire point of this is I can't see a fight right now, all I see is an obligatory objection and the steam rolling of an iconic landmark.
