London's Black Heart venue in "serious trouble" and needs £100,000 to avoid permanent closure

London venue The Black Heart has revealed that it’s in “serious trouble” unless it raises £100,000 to avoid permanent closure.

It comes after the Camden bar and live venue, which has had no financial help from the government or its landlords, spent a year adapting to meet government guidelines so that it could continue to trade through the coronavirus pandemic.

“We were closed for months only to reopen at less than half our capacity and with hardcore restrictions,” the venue said in a statement. “We still managed to successfully put on 11 socially distanced gigs and 8 live streams, but it was not enough to keep us going.”

“After a year of adapting our bar and venue to meet government guidelines due to this awful pandemic, we sadly can’t go further on our own,” the venue tweeted. “We need to raise £100,000 by the end of March 2021 to avoid permanent closure!”

The grassroots venue, which is independently owned and operated, has launched a Crowdfunder to help raise funds, which will see a various prizes released each week.

 

“We are now reaching out to our extended Black Heart family for support as we launch our #savetheblackheart Crowdfunder,” the venue tweeted.

“By supporting our Crowdfunder you’ll have the opportunity to win something. Simply donate towards the prize you’re keen to win and you will be entered into that raffle. Every week we will release a new round of prizes and we’ve priced it to cover all budgets.”

Some of the prizes have been donated by local and international bands. The first round of goodies include Orange amplifiers, a Ritual Productions bundle pack, some collectible posters, and tickets to Bristol’s Craft Beer festival with a tour of a brewery. Also available are a couple of Black Heart prizes, including golden guest list tickets.

You can visit the Crowdfunder here.

“The Black Heart is an integral part of the UK underground heavy music scene and international touring circuit,” a statement reads. “We are a host venue for festivals such as Desertfest, Incineration Fest and Camden Rocks. The list of incredible bands that have played in our venue includes Idles, The Bronx, Lightning Bolt, Every Time I Die, Venom Prison, Red Fang, Crowbar and YOB – to name just a few.”

“Can you imagine a UK heavy music community without The Black Heart? Yeah, neither can we,” the venue tweeted. “We love you, we miss you, and we cannot wait to reopen and see you all again.”

In December, the Music Venue Trust announced that its #SaveOurVenues campaign had raised over £3.8 million in 2020 for crisis-hit grassroots music venues across the UK.

Launched in April after music venues up and down the country were forced to close their doors due to the coronavirus pandemic, the ongoing campaign is aiming to offer both financial and human support to venues during the health crisis.

Earlier this month, UK Music shared a new report, Let the Music Play: Save Our Summer 2021, outlining its recommendations on how to restart the UK’s live music industry once it is safe to do so.

Meanwhile, a second study conducted in Germany has reportedly shown that there is minimal risk of COVID-19 being transmitted at an indoor concert venue.

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