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VENUEWATCH: London Astoria under threat
Following the purchase of the building by local property business Derwent Valley, there are fears that the Astoria, one of the capital's longest running live venues, could be about to fall to the gentrification of the neighbourhood. ("Gentrification" is spivtalk for 'ripping the heart out of a place and whacking the prices up by 50%')
Fifty Foot Woman has launched a MySpace campaign to save the place; it's worth throwing your weight behind even if your visits to London are only rare on account of the smogs.
7 comments:
let it burn! stupid shiney gotholite kids hanging round there from 2pm on a crappy emo gig night. eugh!
Gentrification?? Have you ever BEEN to Charing Cross Road? It's a low-rent, grubby piss alley and knocking out the Astoria won't help.
Refusing to let the 12-year-old whining shitehawk emo-twats within 20ft of the place might, though...
Well, anon #2, if it wasn't a low-rent piss alley, you wouldn't be able to gentrify the area - there's not much cash to be made tarting up, say, Kensington Palace Road...
Weren't they going to knock it down anyway to build the new crossrail station? What's the title of this campaign anyway? Save the Shithole? Amnesty for the Arsetoria?
I have to agree with the other comments. The Astoria is a charmless dump, and I'm constantly astonished that it even has a public safety certificate, given how long it takes to get out of at the end of the night.
the astoria's a cultural landmark. and it doesn't need 'gentrification' when there's nowt wrong with what's there at the present.
'Gentrification' implies they're actually doing something to the area to tart it up, which they're not. It really is a grubby piss alley. The area's not falling prey to gentrification but homogenisation.
I fully expect the Astoria to be turned into another f*cking Cafe Nero within the year.
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