Adelaide live music scene under threat
Adelaide’s vibrant live music industry will be looking around for pubs and other venues – the developers are moving in.
The signs of it happening are everywhere.
Performance venue Fowlers Live is due to close in 2017.
Developers have also targeted major performance venue and a city nightclub HQ.
Comedy and arts venue Rhino Room is being replaced by a 36-storey hotel complex.
And the Crown and Anchor hotel which has stood at its Grenfell Street location since 1853, has been acquired by developer Kardis Corporation. The company has secured approval to erect a 13-stroey apartment building next door.
“We knew the land alongside us was going to be developed anyway and we thought it was an opportune time to sell it to Gerry [Karidis],’’ Kevin Gregg, one of the Crown and Anchor’s former owners, told InDaily
“It has always been made clear to us that apartments are going to be built on that vacant site – ultimately – and we obviously had that in mind when we sold.”
For the time being, it will be business as usual for the Crown and Anchor because it isn’t clear what the fate of the popular local pub and live music venue will be. Adelaide Council has not been notified of any intentions for the site.
On the other hand, it isn’t all bad news for the music industry.
Australian Hotels Association SA CEO Ian Horne said difficult trading conditions had forced Adelaide hotels to be innovative and find new ways of attracting new and regular customers.
Musicians are the main beneficiaries, he said.
“We’re seeing a resurgence of [a] commitment to putting on regular, quality, live, South Australian offerings,” Horne told InDaily.
“There’s been a momentum building over the past three or four years – there seems to be a re-energisation [of the live music scene].”
by Leon Gettler, October 31st 2016
