In August, developers will demolish our premises. We cannot trade past July 2025. Despite this proposed scheme expecting to generate billions of pounds, we feel like an afterthought. The two sites offered by our landlords as alternatives were both wholly unsuitable. We have only been offered a small financial contribution, which will aid in winding down our business with staff redundancies. It is a fraction of the cost we face to move site, recover lost business and keep staff employed.
It feels wrong that we have essentially only been offered basic "business funeral costs" when we are still very much alive and ready to continue doing what we love. This mentality completely ignores everything we have built up over the past 7 years under my stewardship.
We have the necessary equipment and a wonderful team of driven people ready to go. All we have requested from landlords throughout the past 12 months has been an alternative space to relocate to and continue. We have taken it upon ourselves to carry out this extensive research, and good progress is being made.
Throughout this process we’ve been led to believe that there would be a fair outcome presented where we didn’t face the total loss of our business; but our future has now been thrown into complete uncertainty. The current reality is business extinguishment.
Retro Bar (an integral Grassroots Music Venue) should not be collateral loss in the wake of this development.
HERITAGE
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Retro has, in various guises, been an integral and cherished cultural space in Manchester city centre for over 35 years. The venue hosts in excess of 200 live gigs and club nights per year. We present an expansive cultural offering that incorporates theatre, comedy, film screenings and spoken word events. We frequently collaborate with local academic and cultural institutions. Annually, the venue welcomes over 20,000 customers to its events and maintains an extended team of 20 people.
Influential artists such as Frank Turner, Everything Everything and The XX, amongst many other household names, treaded the boards at Retro for their first Manchester shows.
Retro is the official birthplace of The Chemical Brothers and the space where they started DJing in the early 90s.
The club has focused on ska, punk, rock and alternative scenes in Manchester, becoming an essential destination for bands on the national circuit. In recent years, there have been notable sold-out shows for nationally recognised alternative punk bands, alongside US touring artists.
We held multiple runs of our in-house festival, R-FEST, which saw 100+ bands play the venue over 7 days across our 2 stages. We’re yet to find another venue that has done this.
(Annual R-FEST Festival lineups)
ARTIST STATEMENTS
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FRANK TURNER
"The Retro is where I played my first solo show in Manchester (show #20, 20th November 2005!). Without venues like this, I would never have been able to build my career up to the point of headlining the Academy earlier this month. The people at the heart of organisations like Retro dedicate their lives to developing skills and theirs are the first ears on new music discovery for the future of our music scenes. What these vital spaces provide are stages for musicians to develop their skills, learn their craft and a pipeline on to bigger things. They run off passion.
The cultural value of this space alone cannot be underestimated. It is becoming a common thread seeing city centre grassroots music venues forced to close due to redevelopment plans. If we don’t raise our voices on this matter, it won’t be long before emerging musicians will wonder where they can play their first gig. They cannot start without them.
What is often sadly overlooked is not only the loss of the venue itself, but the tightly networked teams and communities that rely on and operate within them. They are efficient, professional and passionate individuals. It is common sense that Retro should be relocated as its rich musical history and cultural output speaks for itself."
Frank Turner @ Retro Bar, 2005
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EVERYTHING EVERYTHING
“Everything Everything played two of our very earliest gigs at Retro Bar, and before that we’d played it in more embryonic bands, embracing Retro’s vital training ground. There are fewer and fewer of these essential resources nationwide, and Manchester must protect Retro Bar and her ilk, if we want to remain the music city we are celebrated as globally.”
Flyer for Everything Everything’s early Retro Bar show, 2007
BEHIND THE SCENES
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In addition to our core activities, we went on to:
- Develop skill sets for sound engineers, promoters, designers, event reps and stage managers.
- Create an educational outreach programme strongly linked with all surrounding music colleges.
- Offer our basement space free of charge during the daytime for bands to rehearse, record and hone their craft.
- Showcase artistic works within our walls from illustrators and photographers whose work we think is truly brilliant.
- Host one of the most vibrant LGBT club events during Manchester Pride.
- Hold numerous charity fundraisers supporting issues important to us, such as homelessness and support for refugees.
- Launch our own brand of sustainably sourced beers.
We want to carry on doing all of this and serving our communities...
WHAT ARE YOU SUPPORTING
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We plan to relocate our activities to another city centre Manchester venue, where we will continue to stage grassroots musicians. These startup costs are substantial, and the losses incurred as a result of the closure mean we can only do it with meaningful financial support. For perspective: from the setup of Retro, it took over two years to become viable.
We are currently searching extensively for alternative premises where another venue can be created.
Every supporter is valued. This is as much about demonstrating support for the venue as it is about raising money — whether that's £1 or £100. Let's show that Retro is here to stay. By being vocal and united, we can overcome these challenges.
Support this campaign and you’ll be showing that creative businesses stimulate cultural and economic growth, whilst protecting the future of live music.
Let’s Save The Retro!