The owners of popular/infamous central London rock bar, The Crobar, which was forced to announce its closure last month, has today launched a crowdfunder for the bar to re-open at a new Central London venue.
Last month, the bar blamed the UK’s “idiot government”, “greedy insurance companies” and “greedy, short-sighted landlords” for the fact that it will not be re-opening at it's Manette Street home, which was popular with the likes of Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, Jack Black, Pink, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and actress Juliette Lewis and members of Slayer, Machine Head, Anthrax, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber… and the entire staff of Metal Hammer, Classic Rock and Prog on countless occasions.
Today, owner Richard Thomas says: "Back in June, when I realised there was no way we would survive, I was heartbroken.
"As well as the obvious loss of all our jobs, I was hit hard by the thought that there are Crobar friends that I've seen on a regular basis for donkeys years, that I would never see again. This made me very sad. I also realised from texts and Facebook comments that most of our customers felt the same way.
"Back then I thought I'd make it out of Manette St. with enough cash to buy a new bar. Sadly, that was wishful thinking. The landlord had other ideas and now we need your help to raise money to start again, and to be bigger and better than before. This time the plan is to find a premises that can accommodate a better shaped bar, a separate live music venue, and more than 3 toilets!
"By the time Covid and government policy has finished destroying the bar and music industry, there won't be many small venues left. As music has given me so much throughout my life, this seems like the perfect opportunity for me to give something back to music, as well as give our regular customers back their office, social club, meeting room and Rock n' Roll hangout.
"To achieve this we will need at the very least £200,000. The aim of this campaign is to raise a minimum of £95,000, in order to borrow the rest from the bank. Obviously, the more we raise here, the less we will need to rely on the bank, 'cos let's face it, they're nobody's friend!
"As for the time frame of the project, Covid willing we are aiming to reopen towards the end of 2021, but in a world where we don't know what will be happening next week, we cannot as yet promise a date."
The Crobar recently raised over £20,000 in a raffle to raise money for staff who'd lost their jobs by auctioning off both artefacts from the bar and guest submissions such as signed drum skin from Dave Grohl. Remaining bar items, such as the very last bottle of unique Crobar Whiskey, now form part of the new crowdfunder, along with other incentives such as £3 drinks for an entire year.
