Save The Cellar

makv

makv

Level: Dave Roberts
(176 Apps, 8 Gls)
For those of you who ever go to see live music in Oxford, you’ll know how important The Cellar has been (in various guises) and continues to be.

It is now under threat (again) and basically needs to raise £80,000 to put in a new fire exit after the current one was deemed to be too small, thus reducing the capacity to an non-viable 60 people.

There’s a crowd-funding project trying to raise the money by November 28th and if this doesn’t happen, the last remaining independent venue in Oxford will cease to be in December.

I know we’ve all got multiple pressures on our hard earned-cash, but if you can see your way to pop them a few bob you’ll be doing the Oxford music scene - present and future - a great service.

If the target isn’t reached, you don’t lose anything.

Details here:

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/cellar-forever

Currently standing at £19,150…

Cellar Forever!
 
Anyone who does, or has in the past, enjoyed live music, especially that of up and coming local, national and international bands will realise just how important this campaign is

a very worthy cause and well worth supporting IMO

As it was the council who (finally) noticed the fire exit was very marginally under the required width, it would be good if the council could, in someway, either directly or indirectly , 'help' in the raising of the required £80k too
 
Sarge said:
Anyone who does, or has in the past, enjoyed live music, especially that of up and coming local, national and international bands will realise just how important this campaign is

a very worthy cause and well worth supporting IMO

As it was the council who (finally) noticed the fire exit was very marginally under the required width, it would be good if the council could, in someway, either directly or indirectly , 'help' in the raising of the required £80k too
Click to expand...

Yeah, right!
 
I see Phil Selway has “donated” a snare drum that you can snap up for a measly £5k. Cheeky fucker could probably pay the whole £80k with spare change down the back of his sofa.

#stumpupphil
 
Currently standing at £52,365 (a jump of over £7k since yesterday), but only 7 days remaining. Time really is running out.

Please share the crowdfunding page on your social media (especially if you have rich, music-loving Oxford friends!).
 
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Foley said:
Why the 7 day deadline? Any idea?
Have the drums and various celebrity items been sold already?
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I guess the deadline is simply to do with getting the work done so that they can get capacity up and not go bankrupt! I don’t know why they couldn’t have started sooner though. Pretty sure they would have reached the target then.

They dropped they idea of trying to get £5,000 for the drums and instead offered unlimited people £20 to go into a raffle for it.
 
437c9ff30eb371d94ac6f8c9d4f2646a.jpg


Woah. A huge jump of £10k in the last 12 hours. People are contributing every 1 or 2 minutes. There still must have been some hefty sums in there though! This is actually looking game on now!

EDIT: yup - found it. £5,000 from www.wegottickets.com. Props.
 
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On the subject of Oxford live venues.... due to noise complaints, the Wheatsheaf have had all manner of restriction imposed on their live gigs, including an earlier curfew time, and gig goers n pub users alike are now no longer allowed to take their drinks into the alley outside!


nobody seems to have informed Oxford City Council about this? ....https://www.local.gov.uk/about/news/councils-win-backing-help-protect-live-music-venues

or Oxford city has declared itself a republic & this LAW doesnt apply 'here'?

two thoughts 1) if you move in next door to a farm dont complain about the rooster!

2) IF Oxford city council put as much effort into dealing with a certain slum landlord as they do playing fun police
and doing their utmost to decimate Oxfords live music infrastructure, a certain grade 11 listed building, owned by Oxford
City Council, and leased by a tax exile, may not be in the disgraceful state of disrepair it current is in.
 
I think with crowdfunder as well you have to put a deadline to raise the money, and the funders only pay up if target is met.
It wouldn't surprise me if the landlord pulls some stunt like putting the rent up after the tenant has improved the property.

In Guildford we've got a similar issue in that there is a back room venue at a pub called the Star. This previously only backed onto commercial premises on a historic street, but a developer converted a building into flats, and then filed for noise abatement.
 
MarkG said:
I think with crowdfunder as well you have to put a deadline to raise the money, and the funders only pay up if target is met.
It wouldn't surprise me if the landlord pulls some stunt like putting the rent up after the tenant has improved the property.

In Guildford we've got a similar issue in that there is a back room venue at a pub called the Star. This previously only backed onto commercial premises on a historic street, but a developer converted a building into flats, and then filed for noise abatement.
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Yes indeed. If (if!) they don’t reach the target, people get their money back. It goes to crowdfunder initially.

Update: under £10k to go!
 
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makv said:
437c9ff30eb371d94ac6f8c9d4f2646a.jpg


Woah. A huge jump of £10k in the last 12 hours. People are contributing every 1 or 2 minutes. There still must have been some hefty sums in there though! This is actually looking game on now!

EDIT: yup - found it. £5,000 from www.wegottickets.com. Props.
Click to expand...

Aha. I’m guessing that this is where the £5,000 came from. “The Cellar, sponsored by WeGotTickets” [emoji6]

3e81e9dc49c4fba36ed46fce9227e9fe.jpg
 
MarkG said:
I think with crowdfunder as well you have to put a deadline to raise the money, and the funders only pay up if target is met.
It wouldn't surprise me if the landlord pulls some stunt like putting the rent up after the tenant has improved the property.

In Guildford we've got a similar issue in that there is a back room venue at a pub called the Star. This previously only backed onto commercial premises on a historic street, but a developer converted a building into flats, and then filed for noise abatement.
Click to expand...

Good friend of mine (Shep) is involved in promoting the fundraiser alldayer/ all eveninger at the Star Guilford area this Saturday
which as well as being a fundraiser could be the last live gig there!
 
Sarge said:
On the subject of Oxford live venues.... due to noise complaints, the Wheatsheaf have had all manner of restriction imposed on their live gigs, including an earlier curfew time, and gig goers n pub users alike are now no longer allowed to take their drinks into the alley outside!


nobody seems to have informed Oxford City Council about this? ....https://www.local.gov.uk/about/news/councils-win-backing-help-protect-live-music-venues

or Oxford city has declared itself a republic & this LAW doesnt apply 'here'?

two thoughts 1) if you move in next door to a farm dont complain about the rooster!

2) IF Oxford city council put as much effort into dealing with a certain slum landlord as they do playing fun police
and doing their utmost to decimate Oxfords live music infrastructure, a certain grade 11 listed building, owned by Oxford
City Council, and leased by a tax exile, may not be in the disgraceful state of disrepair it current is in.
Click to expand...
I think the issue with the Cellar is the fire exit, rather than noise. Whereas with the Star, the developer got his plans approved before the 'agent of change' rules came in (if they have yet).
 
MarkG said:
I think the issue with the Cellar is the fire exit, rather than noise. Whereas with the Star, the developer got his plans approved before the 'agent of change' rules came in (if they have yet).
Click to expand...
it is the width of the fire exit at the cellar.... wheras its noise ( following a complaint from a temporary resident who moved into a flat nearby the wheatsheaf in Oxford)....& yep real sorry state of affairs and a demonstration that property developers (& tax exiled slum landlords) seem to get preferential treatment from local councils everywhere re the Star ,
 
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statement from Tim n Cellar team (cut n pasted from Nightshift magazines fb timeline - cheers Ronan )

A statement from The Cellar on reaching their fundraising target today:
Dearest Supporters
WOW we are awestruck. Through the power of the people, thanks to you we’ve now got the crowdfunding we need to save The Cellar. Thank you so, so much because without this, The Cellar would definitely close this December.
It’s been an incredible journey and one we hope also communicates to people out there, just how crucial small venues are to our music and arts community.
This is a live situation and we have been working really hard to get all the other things in place before the building work can commence.
This is what we have achieved so far:
• Raised £80,000 to give us the opportunity to save The Cellar.
• We’ve got approval from the landlords to submit the plans, and consulted with structural engineers.
• The building has been surveyed and detailed drawings have been drawn up.
• We have consulted with building control, and submitted to the planning office (planning approval by 4th Jan 2019).
• We have received quotes from various building firms
In summary, there are many pieces of the jigsaw to slot into place to keep The Cellar alive. We are hoping that the building work will start in January 2019, and we are working flat out to ensure this happens.
It’s important to us, and to all your incredible efforts, that we do not accept the money until we are 100% sure we can deliver. We will keep you updated via the crowdfunder updates, every step of the way.
Thank you so, so for your patience on this, and we are so grateful we now have the chance to save our beloved venue.
#cellarforever
Much love from Tim and the Cellar team
 
Absolutely amazing really. I was working at the beer festival 2 weekends ago and telling people I thought they had no chance, but to go tell their mates to donate £5 if they had it.

I’d love to see a @Shosho style graphic of the pledge timeline. I reckon it massively spiked in the last 5 days.

People are still donating too.

And of course, it’s not over until the fat lady sings. And at least when she does, she’ll be able to get out of the fire exit.
 
Just got an email from the Stewart Lee mailing list and he leads with a plea to help save it, citing it as a venue that really supported him during his time in Oxford.

Nice one, Stew.
 
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