Aldershut: West End Centre to close?
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Aldershot’s only venue of note – the council-owned West End Centre – may well be on its way out.
Reports the (illustrious) Aldershot News:
“The famous arts centre in Queens Avenue is one of four owned by the Tory authority, three of which have been earmarked for closure.
Proposals discussed behind closed doors suggest closing the West End Centre, trans-ferring responsibility for Win-chester’s Tower Arts Centre to Kings School and ending a programme of professional music at Ashcroft Art Centre in Fareham.”
No, I don’t know why those hyphens are in there either. The West End Centre is vital to the local music scene, which spawned such acts as Hundred Reasons, Reuben and Vex Red, as well as playing its part on the toilet circuit, playing host to hundreds of touring bands over the years. It’s not like this threatened closure is due to any rival venues either – as a largely military-based town, there’s not a lot of other music and arts stuff going on.
Being council workers themeslves, employees of the West End Centre are unable to get involved, and thus were unable to comment.
You can read the full story on the threatened closure on the here.
Blahblahblahblah online petition.
In the meantime, you could always vote with your feet..
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Would be terrible if it closed down...as you can imagine, there's not a lot of outlet for "alternative" tastes in the Aldershot area, and the West End Centre has always been a shelter from the storm.
Not just a "toilet" stop either...a long time ago, I saw the Stone Roses there..Primal Scream..Ride..Senseless Things..Mega City Four..ooh, happy days.
when I saw Million Dead
there it was one of the best gigs evah.
see also: Forward russia
they havn't had anything good on for ages though, and the boileroom in Guildford is a lot better/easier to get to
I have been to so many gigs there
It's a place which holds a lot of memories for me. Gigs at the Westie were a chance to escape from the mediocre surroundings and go into a more exciting world for a couple of hours. There just aren't enough venues in the local area, and a part of that is actually touched on in the Aldershot News story when they mention the need to raise the social care budget because of the elderly population.
While the town was largely military-based the disbanding or relocation of various regiments has meant that the town for the last ten years has been in a downward spiral. There's enough people to sustain a venue in the area as well.
Boilerroom
Isn't a great venue though, it's small, poky, poor lighting and the stage is in the wrong place.
This sucks
It would be a crying shame if they close the West End since to be honest there's fuck all else to do in Aldershot except get pissed or get beaten up by squaddies. I went to the Westie several times including the excellent comedy nights they held there and I remember seeing JJ72 there years ago and astonishingly they were very good. If that's not reason enough to keep it going I don't know what is!
Tragic
It's a artistic haven right in the middle of possibly the shittest town in the south of England. I've seen plenty of bands there. BSP, Forward Russia, Art Brut instantly spring to mine as being my favourites. It's great because in between bands you can go and sit on a sofa in the well-lit bar/lounge bit. One of the last times I went there was some art gallery thing and I had a wander round that. Very nice.
Even if you haven't been, sign the petition anyway. A solid example of why a local authorities should support art in the community.
CANNNNT SMILLLLE
CANNNT SMILLLE
This is a real pity.
But, out of interest.....would you have bothered to include the identity of the party that controls the local authority had it been Labour?
.
a. yes
b. its a quote from the article - ask them ;)
Fair
and indeed enough.
The Forward Russia gig was outstanding
Even the Pigeon Detectives sounded good that night.
The Boileroom is a fantastic place…
…bar the supporting pole in the middle of the stage view… but even that's being threatened having it's licence taken away which would really suck on a huge scale. See the full story here > http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/keepguildfordlive/
That Sucks
I've played there loads and it was always great...
forward russia
was the most amazing gig ive ever been too. it was at the westy.
long may survive :S
This would be absolutely awful
That place is/was such a lifeline to kids in the area (inc. myself) who wanted to go to gigs, but weren't really old enough/couldn't afford to go to London or Southampton.
It's a such a fantastic place, run by great people, who put on brilliant bands. This would be utterly heartbreaking.
I guess the hypehns are there because...
..when they put it on their website, the News just copied and pasted (including the formatting) from their print version.
Pah...in a post about grammar..
..it's usually best to spell "hyphens" correctly...I know.
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