The owners of popular/infamous central London rock pub The Crobar have blamed the UK’s “idiot government”, “greedy insurance companies” and “greedy, short-sighted landlords” for the fact that it will not be re-opening.
Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl has been a regular visitor to the bar over the years – drinking there with Jack Black, Pink, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and actress Juliette Lewis following Led Zeppelin’s historic O2 Arena gig in 2007, and hosting a party at the venue after his Sound City Players performed in London in 2013 – and the bar has also been frequented by members of Slayer, Machine Head, Anthrax, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber… and the entire staff of Metal Hammer, Classic Rock and Prog on countless occasions.
Crobar owner Richard Thomas posted the news of the bar’s closing on The Crobar’s social media channels on September 20. His statement reads:
“Dear All, It is with more sadness and anger than I have the words to express that I have to announce that The Crobar will be unable to re-open at its current location. If the insurance companies had paid out, we could have paid the rent and the staffs wages and survived. If the landlords had given us a rent discount or holiday, we could have survived. Sadly, our idiot government did not make either of them do what’s right, and now the bar and music industries are in tatters. Years and years of hard work by pub, bar and venue owners across the country have been destroyed in the blink of an eye, and all because of the greed of a few ‘land barons’ Why did our government let this happen? Oh, that’s right, they are the land barons! On the upside, my 7-year-old daughter pointed out to me that all I have to do is open a new Crobar, so that’s what I’m going to do. I aim to open a new Crobar with both a bar and a live music venue. It will require crowd funding, and I suspect it will be a year or so before opening will be viable, but fuck the greedy insurance companies, fuck the greedy short- sighted landlords and fuck our brainless government… we will be back! Long live Rock n’ Roll.”
Our sympathies are extended to The Crobar family.
