Camden New Journal - News: Roundhouse joins club support band

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Camden New Journal - by RICHARD OSLEY
Published: 04 October 2007

Roundhouse joins club support band

Boss hails threatened music venue as ‘a treasure’

ROCK United! The Roundhouse has offered its support to a fellow music nightspot in need.
The Chalk Farm venue’s chief executive, Marcus Davey, has indicated he opposes any plan to demolish the Electric Ballroom in Camden High Street, the iconic nightclub facing an uncertain future in the face of London Underground’s plans to revamp the neighbouring Tube station.
He said: “The nature of the heart of Camden Town needs to be preserved and this scheme would compromise the character of the area completely.”
The congested Camden Town Tube station is in need of refurbishment but a planning brief for the site – to be discussed by councillors tonight (Thursday) – gives little protection for the Electric Ballroom, which opened in the 1930s.
Instead, the brief indicates officials are working towards a scenario where the nightclub, along with nearby Buck Street Market and United Trinity Reformed Church, would be flattened to allow work to go ahead at the station.
Ballroom manager Kate Fuller has made it clear she does not want to lose the nightspot. She was among protesters who successfully stood up against London Underground’s developers at a public inquiry two years ago.
The nightclub’s celebrated reputation for live music was summed up recently when Sir Paul McCartney chose it for a secret gig.
Ms Fuller’s name heads a petition demanding that developers stop sizing up the club’s land.
Support is also on hand from just up the road, where The Roundhouse – which like the Electric Ballroom has hosted legendary gigs over the decades – is worried by the latest developments.
Mr Davey, who oversaw the Roundhouse’s celebrated restoration, has said he has “wholehearted support for the Electric Ballroom and Buck Street Market”.
In his comments for a consultation survey run by the council he described the ballroom as “a local treasure”. For the same survey, Labour ward councillor Pat Callaghan described the club as a “landmark”.
Lib Dem councillor Libby Campbell said she would “begrudgingly” accept the demolition of the nightclub as long as its owners were given a fair deal. “What is important is that the Electric Ballroom is involved,” she said. “It is their land and they should get it back when the work is finished and have a say in what the new building looks like.”
A report prepared by officials in the Town Hall’s planning department says: “It is recognised as an important cultural building but the brief needs to balance this against a range of other objectives and competing issues.”

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