Posted on 18 February 2011
At risk of closure at the end of last year, we are glad to hear that only months later, the 100 Club has been saved.
The 100 Club is a legendary venue that first opened in 1942 as a jazz club. Through time it has become a venue associated with blues, rock’n’roll and punk music, and is renowned for helping to launch the Sex Pistols.
Music legends such as BB King, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, The Who and the Rolling Stones have all performed at the club. The threat of closure at the end of last year, due to rising costs, increasing rent and decreasing revenues, would have been a great loss to London’s musical heritage. Footwear company Converse saved the venue last week by signing a sponsorship deal which will keep the club running. The club will remain independent with Converse standing beside them as a sponsor and partner.
Over the past months, many different groups of people joined together to support the venue - punks, politicians, and even Sir Paul McCartney. In spite of their efforts and over 19,000 people on Facebook, the club needed a more stable benefactor and Converse stepped forward.
Club owner Jeff Horton believes that the trainer company are a perfect fit for the club’s needs, and he has high hopes that through continual efforts, the 100 Club will be around for many more years. This relationship seems to be mutually beneficial to both the venue and the corporation. Perhaps in the future, in the midst of so many arts cuts, other important venues will be saved by such partnerships.
To find out more about the 100 Club, visit the100club.co.uk.