Bristol club Blue Mountain is closing after 28 years

Bristol venue Blue Mountain is closing for good after nearly three decades in operation.

The Stokes Croft club announced the permanent closure on Facebook Tuesday, saying the space will shut from mid-September. “We’ve been given notice from the owners of the venue who are now wanting their property back for their future plans to develop the site,” the club’s team says. “We have exhausted all avenues to try to allow us to remain open.”

In early March, Blue Mountain announced plans to make improvements to the venue’s lighting and soundsystems, according to the Bristol Post, after a struggle with the developer RedOak Property to turn the site into student flats. That plan was rejected by local city council in October 2019, a decision which RedOak Property appealed. In late 2018, the club initially announced it would be closing down after many rumours, though the property’s then-new owners granted the club an extension in early 2019. Now, per Blue Mountain’s latest statement, the property owners want to develop the site themselves.

The club addressed the property owners and developers at the end of this week’s statement: “Last thing we would like to also thank the developers for allowing us to [stay] here as long as we have, and wish them all the best with their future project of the site.”

While Blue Mountain’s main club spaces have been closed during the pandemic, the roof terrace has been open in accordance with current COVID-19 venue guidelines and will remain open until its official closing event, details TBA.

Since Blue Mountain’s opening in 1992, the venue has hosted the likes of DJ Q, Andrew Weatherall, Pinch, Roska, Joy Orbison, Dr Meaker, Hybrid, TSVI, Solid Blake, Jurango and Azari & III.

In April, the Bristol City Council approved plans to turn landmark local venue Lakota into offices and flats.

Read Blue Mountain’s statement in full.