follow us on instagram @friendsofthepiehouse
Last year the Piehouse, our beloved community venue, was threatened with closure. Despite a huge amount of support and community fundraising, the venues operating company entered liquidation and Matchstick Piehouse closed its doors. We all thought this would be the end, but we are THRILLED to announce that, after a year of hard work behind the scenes, we have agreed heads of terms for a new lease with the landlords, which means that the Piehouse is coming back, and with your help we will be kicking open the doors early in 2025!
Who are we?
We are Friends of the Piehouse - a group of ex-Matchstick staff and Piehouse resident artists, who have been working to secure a future for the Piehouse. We have formed a new workers co-op, and we’ll be registering a not-for-profit legal structure which will be the operating company for the venue. All funds raised on this crowdfunder will be received by Friends of the Piehouse (a not-for-profit voluntary association), and either spent as outlined below, or passed to the newly registered co-op once we can open a bank account in the co-ops name.
Why do we need the Piehouse to come back?
South East London needs a DIY wheelchair accessible venue and community space, and we cant open without your support. The Piehouse offers a space for artists, activists, and community organisers to come together and create new work. The Piehouse provides a space for marginalised communities who are left out of other lineups, and at a time when venues are closing weekly throughout London, we need this space more than ever.
What we will spend the money on?
Piehouse Workers Co-op has been successful in receiving a capital grant from Lewisham Council’s allocation of UK Shared Prosperity Fund (now closed), the fund is supported by the Mayor of London and part of the national UKSPF scheme from Central Government, but we still urgently need to raise at least £15,000 to open the venue. We are moving into a totally empty building, so we need to cover all the fit out and furnishing costs, as well as some pre-trading costs such as staff wages & business support. Here’s a breakdown of what we expect to spend the money on, this might be subject to change but we are committed to being transparent about how the money has been spent, and will share this in an update on this crowdfunder page in due course.
£5K approx to cover worker co-op staff time between Dec-Jan on planning & pre-trading work
£2.5K on professional consultancy to support co-operative development & business planning
£2.5K on venue equipment (We have identified and applied for a couple of grant funds that will cover most of the furnishing and fit out costs for the space, but this will act as a contingency incase costs run higher than predicted)
£5K on rent (this will cover the initial rent due on the property to give us a security buffer in the first few months of trading so that we can ensure healthy cashflow)
Stretch target:
£5K contingency fund. This would cover additional costs such as insurance, accountancy fees, ongoing business support, utilities, and other costs that might arise, which gives us more security in the first few months of trading while we find our feet.
What happened to the money raised last year?
The initial fundraiser was started by Matchstick Limited, the company that ran Matchstick Piehouse, and was intended to cover the rental arrears owed by Matchstick Limited to the landlords. Although this fundraiser nearly reached its goal of £36K, the debt was ultimately more than this, and after seeking legal advice the directors of Matchstick Limited decided to file for insolvency. As there was no feasible route for Matchstick Limited to continue operating the venue, the money raised had to be refunded.
For those of you that donated to a second fundraiser that totalled £8000, this money is largely untouched and will be used for our initial deposit.
We are so thankful for all the money and time everyone has poured into this project, and we hope you can continue to help us as we work towards opening the venue!