Another of the capital’s venues falls.
Established by a group of eager volunteers five years ago, Hackney Wick’s The Yard has been a central node for fringe music and theatrical performance. Since being converted from an empty warehouse is has primarily functioned as a theatre, but has also hosted plenty of club nights, including FACT faves Boxed, Stamp The Wax and FACT contributor Maya Kalev’s Wild Combination.
Today, The Yard announced via Facebook that it would be closing its doors at some time in the future, due to the redevelopment of the nearby Queen’s Yard area. The proposed plan involves building a number of new residences, but it’s not all bad news – there are also plans in place to house The Yard in a larger space.
“As part of these plans our current building will cease to exist,” a spokesperson for The Yard said. “But we hope this will provide us with the opportunity to build something new… to start a new phase for The Yard.” Adding, “We’re very much at the early stages of this process but we want and need you to be part of it. Thank you for all your support. We look forward to continuing on this journey with you.” Interested parties are urged to visit The Yard’s site to see the whole application and voice any thoughts or comments.
The rest of the month’s parties, including a Wild Combination show with DJ Haram and an appearance from dub techno pioneer Moritz Von Oswald will still go ahead as planned, and events programmer Dan Hampson took to Twitter to confirm that these shows are “definitely NOT the final few parties”.
The Yard isn’t the only venue in East London to experience trouble this summer – last week, Hackney’s Shapes condemned the local council’s “agenda against live music venues” after announcing its pending closure. [via Resident Advisor]
Update: The Yard clarifies its situation in a statement
In a second statement posted to Facebook today (August 3), The Yard has said that it is not being closed down by developers, and will move into another building in the Queens Yard area of Hackney Wick.
The venue’s management has also stated that the current venue will be open for the foreseeable future, with nothing happening “until 2018 at the earliest.”
On the venue’s future programming, the venue said: “You can expect us to run as normal right up until we vacate our current building and begin a programme in our new space.”
