[sonicl]

"The Spitz has been given six months notice to quit our present site in Old Spitalfields Market by our landlord Ballymore Properties. In a worse case scenario this will mean that The Spitz will cease to exist at the end of September this year.

The campaign to Save The Spitz starts now and we need your support. Please go to www.spitz.co.uk and sign our online petition and/or make a donation to the Save The Spitz appeal.

If you would like to get directly involved in the campaign please email rupert@spitz.co.uk

The another important way to support The Spitz is to use it as much as possible so please don't forget The Spitz also has a fantastic restaurant and if you bring along a print out of this email we'll give you 10% off lunch between 12 & 2 pm. Also, all areas of The Spitz are available for hire including the gallery, terrace and restaurant. All ideal spaces for parties, launch nights, talks, etc. We have an excellent programme of live music in the venue including the current Spitz Festival of Blues and the forthcoming Spitz Festival of Country in August and Spitz Festival of Folk in September. The Spitz Gallery also has a very strong programme including the forthcoming Chernobyl exhibition by Magnum photographer Paul Fusco called "Twenty One Years of Fall Out".

Please show your support for The Spitz by voting with your feet.

SAVE THE SPITZ!"

[MellySingsDoom]

The Spitz deserves to survive and prosper. No doubt the landlords want to convert it into another fucking All Bar One or some shit like that.

[Iain]

Yes, a shame. This kind of nonsense is happening all across the country. A vast swathe of the centre of Cardiff is currently being knocked down to accomodate a monolithic glass shopping centre which is pushing rents up around it and affecting small business (Spillers records being the most obvious example).

Not only this country of course as we have seen with Tonic.

[pantophobia]

not even that, it's spread across the whole world, from the Tonic closing in NYC to The Talking Head in Baltimore

[tesla69]

Other than the Red Rose, isn't the Spitz about it in London? I saw Roy Campbell and Alan Silva there last summer...and just signed the petition.

[demonrail666]

I dunno, they won't let you smoke in their bar. Let it close.

[MellySingsDoom]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

I dunno, they won't let you smoke in their bar. Let it close.

Better smoke 'em while you got 'em, as you won't be able to smoke in any bar of pub from July 1st.

Save ye Spitz!

[demonrail666]

I'm predicting a few more bar closures when they bring that rule in.

[Toilet & Bowels]

Originally Posted by tesla69

Other than the Red Rose, isn't the Spitz about it in London?

no, there are other places, barden's, the luminaire, corsica studios, and then even smaller places where crowds of 20 or 30 people gather for improv shows.

I have walked it past the other day and the place was all dismantled. Has it closed down or are they just refurbishing it?

[sonicl]

No, it's closed down. They're trying to find a new venue.

Sad. I hope it's still going to be near home because it's a nice place to go to even if it wasn't a music venue. The good thing about that area in East London is that pubs put good bands on, occasionally. But The Spitz was The Spitz, innit guv?

[sonicl]

I hate East London.

Well, I don't actually. What I hate is that almost all of my favourite small venues in London are over that way, and I'd rather that they were closer to where I live. There only venue of that calibre that I can think of in South London is Corsica Studios, and the only one in West London is Bush Hall. You'd think that there would at least be a good venue around Notting Hill somewhere. I guess the rents are just too high.

[Florya]

Originally Posted by sonicl

I hate East London.

Well, I don't actually. What I hate is that almost all of my favourite small venues in London are over that way, and I'd rather that they were closer to where I live. There only venue of that calibre that I can think of in South London is Corsica Studios, and the only one in West London is Bush Hall. You'd think that there would at least be a good venue around Notting Hill somewhere. I guess the rents are just too high.

Easy answer - move to East London.
Rents are cheaper and you'll be near the venues that you love.

There are parts of East London that are complete dumps, but that area is not really one of them. I mean, you have Brick Lane just round the corner, and even Commercial Rd. (which is becoming popular because it's still relatively cheap, central and vivible) is in fact ok and fairly near the river and more residential areas. I am glad that I moved away from Stepney, Mile End Rd. and that part of London because it is not a very nice place at all. I fear the same fate for The Foundry, but there is much more self-indulgence going on in that place that wouldn't make me miss it too much.

[sonicl]

I can't help wondering whether East London's days as the cultural pulse of London are numbered though. I think that gentrification is going to hit the area quite hard and quite soon, and it's going to become a bit soulless. I can see the little pockets of central London that are migrating east killing the place.

That's not something I'm wishing on the place, just a prediction. If East London does cease to be the cultural pulse of the city, I reckon that status will head north, which would be even more of a pain in the arse for me.

Someone was once quoted as saying that Shoreditch died the minute you had people from Notting Hill migrating to it. HA!

I'm sure creativity is always going to find a place to inhabit, one way or another. East London is not only made of the places that we have mentioned, and I can really see parts of it remaing affordable to your average artist/student. The problem in the more popular parts of East London is that the yuppies have moved in en masse for a while, and they aren't happy about noise levels etc, but then, on the other hand, you have also the government that isn't going to be bothered about funding art projects as much as it was before because a lot of public money has been wasted on complete and utter horseshit.