100 Club Threatened with Closure.

The legendry venue has witnessed the West End debuts of Oasis, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Buzzcocks, while Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Mick Jagger and Paul Weller still tread the sacred boards.
Aerosmith's Joe Perry described the Oxford Street downstairs night spot as "the finest rock'n'roll club in the world" but unfortunately as the world grows evermore expensive, it could close within a few months because of soaring overheads unless a buyer can be found. Its rates bill has hit £4,000 per month and landlord Lazari Investments now demands a rent of £166,000 a year reports the London Evening Standard.
The cellar club's owner, Jeff Horton, said "It makes me so angry. The Government, Westminster council and even some of the commercial landlords say they want to help small businesses, they say they want to preserve London's uniqueness, they want to help multi-cultural venues. Yet we're all that and all these organisations have all dumped on us from a great height."
100 Club was originally owned by his father who started running the venue in 1964, but it opened in 1942 as a jazz club.
Mr Horton sees few alternatives to closure after Lazari raised the rent by 45 per cent. "In 1985, when I took over, the rent was barely £11,000 In the US the rents are frozen at certain venues that have a bit of heritage. Here it's a total free-for-all."
He also added "What the 100 Club needs is a buyer or major sponsor to step forward. Barring that, we're closing at Christmas despite being as popular as ever. It really is insane."
So, it seems to me that the old types of music they used to have play here is either on the decline, or the club just isn't on such a popular demand like it used to be. The apparent future closure of this establishment could also be a sign that they either can't attract big day popular bands to play at their venue, or they are living in the past and only want to stick to 'old school' bands which aren't in the forefront as much nowadays.
Either which way, this seems like lovers of 100 Club will be experiencing the same tragic feeling they did when Woolworths closed. It's something we don't want to happen, but unfortunately the greed and hunger for money is tearing down yet another loved establishment.