Venuewatch: Cross Kings and Stags Head

Sad news from Snipe: The Cross Kings in, erm, Kings Cross has shut itself down in protest at the behaviour of the brewery:

it’s now boarded up after a dispute with Enterprise Inns, the Cross Kings’ management complaining about being “bled dry” by the firm on its Facebook page.
Despite the Cross Kings’ busy diary of events, they say they were given just a week’s notice before the bailiffs’ arrival on 9 July.

Snipe's Darryl Chamberlain also says that things are looking grim for the Stags Head in Hoxton, another Enterprise-owned venue whose management are finding things sticky.

Venuewatch: Turnmills ground down

London club Turnmills, a fixture on the scene for nearly quarter of a century, is to close in March:

Turnmills closing means that it is falling foul of a similar fate to that of Kings Cross clubs up the road (The Key, The Cross and Canvas). Turnmills lease is up and the landlord wishes to redevelop the site although in typical Turnmills style there's no hard feelings as the landlord has accommodated the club until they felt it was a good time to hang up their hats.

Home to Sister Bliss and Tall Paul, the club has hosted sets from nearly all the big names in UK clubbing - The Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, 'not a real' Judge Jules; it's going out with a bang over the Easter Weekend.

[via Lipstick Vogue]

Pony up

We're flittering through our inbox picking out items sent to us of interest, in case you couldn't tell. The Ponys, for example, whose PR team have been in touch to tell us they'll be playing the Water Rats, London on June 7th. Which is Thursday week.