Glasgow's Sub Club sets up crowdfunding campaign to help avoid closure
The Glasgow institution, temporarily shuttered during the coronavirus pandemic, has launched the Save Our Sub campaign to help the venue avoid closing for good after more than three decades. On the Crowdfunder page, the venue’s team shares a breakdown of its costs to account for the goal of £90,000 (which it’s now close to meeting) and discloses the UK Home Office administrative errors that put them in an even more precarious position.
“We have faced countless other challenges over the years and are currently still fighting a long running and costly legal battle over noise issues arising from the grant of planning permission for a hotel development directly adjacent to the club, all of which has meant that the Sub Club has been very much a labour of love for all concerned for more than three decades,” the venue organisers write. “However, none of these situations hold a candle to the existential threat that the COVID-19 pandemic currently poses to the Sub Club, and indeed to Club Culture as a whole around the globe.”
“The level of UK government support has fallen woefully short of what is required to protect the future of the Sub Club. [This week, long after other countries announced extended relief packages for cultural industries, the UK government committed shared a £1.75 billion pandemic support package for the arts.] We are very aware that many people are experiencing real financial difficulty, and for some the threat to their health and wellbeing is profound. We have had to think long and hard before reaching out to ask for your help. Nevertheless, if we want to Save Our Sub we find ourselves in a situation where we have to ask for your support.”
For more on the venue, revisit Ray Philp’s 2016 RA In Residence feature on Sub Club.
Photo credit: Brian Sweeney
