The Blind Tiger Club, Brighton

The Blind Tiger Club
The building in 2015, after the music venue had closed and become a BrewDog pub.[1]
Map
LocationGrand Parade, Brighton, England
TypeMusic venue
Capacity250
Opened2010
Closed2014

The Blind Tiger Club was a mixed music, arts and community venue in Brighton, England, which opened in 2010. The venue closed in 2014, and Time Out described the venue as "semi-legendary", in its round-up of Brighton's live music scene that year.[2] In 2015, Gigwise included the club in their list of the UK's Greatest Lost Venues.[3]

History

The Blind Tiger Club was located at 52-54 Grand Parade, opposite the University of Brighton Faculty of Arts and close to the Royal Pavilion. The premises had been licensed for drinking and entertainment since they were originally built in the mid-1800s.

From its creation and for most of the 20th Century the premises traded as 'The Norfolk Arms'.[4] In the 1990s, the venue was renamed 'Hector's House' after the children's television show Hector's House which screened on the BBC from 1965 to 1970.

As 'Hector's House', the performance of live music and DJs became more important to the licensed premises, with the space gaining a reputation as "a showcase for up and coming bands" and one of Brighton's key small live music venues, regularly taking part in The Great Escape Festival and other annual arts events.[5]

In December 2013, the venue launched a membership scheme, stating that without support from members it could "fail in its mission to evolve the business into a stable social enterprise".[6] In April 2014, a Noise Abatement Notice was issued under the Environmental Protection Act 1990,[7] following complaints by a rental tenant in a one-bedroom flat on the floor above, over the preceding months. The venue closed in May 2014, with the local council's enforcement of a de facto music prohibition, since an unamplified drum kit was judged as illegally loud in the tenant's flat. After mid-May 2014, causing noise disturbance from music performance would have incurred automatic fines in excess of £25,000 for every occasion. More than 15,000 people signed a Change.org petition started by a clubgoer, calling for the club to be saved.

Outcry over the closure of the venue fed into national concerns which were building up by 2014, of the difficulties facing independent live music venues, that did not receive government funding or protection. Such concerns contributed to the creation that year of the Music Venue Trust.[8][failed verification]

The music venue is now a BrewDog pub.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b "BrewDog Brighton". Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  2. ^ "Best Brighton clubs and music venues - Time Out". 13 August 2014. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  3. ^ "CLOSED DOWN - 21 OF THE UK'S GREATEST LOST VENUES". Gigwise. Gigwise Ltd. 4 November 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  4. ^ "Norfolk Arms, 52 Grand Parade, Brighton". pubshistory.com. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  5. ^ Wallin, James (18 May 2014). "Pub that has hosted live music since 1854 closes after neighbour noise complaints". Morning Advertiser. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  6. ^ Davies, Gareth (8 December 2013). "Brighton's Blind Tiger Club asking punters to save it from closure". The Argus. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  7. ^ "Brighton's Blind Tiger Club closes after noise complaint". BBC. 20 May 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  8. ^ "Music Venue Trust". Music Venue Trust. 2017. Retrieved 17 June 2017.

50°49′28″N 0°08′08″W / 50.824548°N 0.135485°W / 50.824548; -0.135485


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