Oxford’s last independent music venue has begun an £80,000 crowdfunding campaign to stop it from closing in early December.
Music icons, including members of Radiohead and Foals, have supported the campaign to stop the closure one of oldest venues of its kind in Europe.
Radiohead drummer Philip Selway donated a drum worth £5,000 towards the campaign, according to the Oxford Mail.
He said: “The Cellar is an important part of the musical and cultural life of Oxford.
It is venues like this that are actually the life blood of music; they support and nurture new and emerging talent […] Let’s not loose it.”
In June, Cellar was forced to cut the maximum capacity from 150 people to 60, as the fire escape was 30cm too narrow for Oxfordshire County Council requirements.
Cellar is set to close on the 3rd of December unless it can raise enough money to widen the fire escape and to make up for financial losses.
This is not the first time Cellar has been faced with imminent closure. A year ago, over 13,000 people signed a petition to save the club from being developed into storage space for the shop above.
Yannis Philippakis from Foals said: “Oxford’s best small venue is under threat. It’s also my childhood bar and the place Foals first learned to rock out.”
Gaz Coombes from Supergrass, who played at Cellar, said: “We wouldn’t have got anywhere without these small venues, they’re really important for building up the vibe of a band when they’re first starting out.
It would be just disastrous if it wasn’t able to continue.”
You can donate to the crowdfunding campaign here.
