Landmark Music Venue Delays Reopening

04/04/2008

The re-opening of one of London’s most iconic music venues, The Garage, has been delayed.

The indie rock venue in Islington is one of a handful of London's fading landmark music venues including the Jazz Cafe, The Mean Fiddler and The Borderline, to be sold for £8 million in August last year. The sale also included a majority stake in Britain's best known gay club operator G-A-Y.

The London venues were bought by Mama Group, a small British music promotions group listed on the junior Aim market.

The Garage had closed down several months earlier but Mama Group – which also has seven small Barfly music venues around Britain – chose to restore the historic music venue that hosted several big names in its heyday.

The Garage was scheduled to reopen on in the Spring of this year, but the discovery of an asbestos issue has delayed the reopening until the Autumn.

Indie Rock band The Rifles had been scheduled to perform at The Garage in June but fans have been told the gig is cancelled. The venue is to refund all the monies paid out so far for tickets, and the band has apologized to fans on their website and promised to return to London soon.