Bongo Club asks university to support Old Kirk move

A CHARITY behind a closure-threatened arts centre and nightclub in Edinburgh wants university bosses to agree to the takeover of a derelict old church to prevent their venture going out of business.

Out of the Blue, which has ran the Bongo Club since 1996, has asked for a year-long stay of execution from the threat of eviction from its current home on Holyrood Road while it refurbishes the neighbouring “Old Kirk.”

The university had pledged to help find the Bongo Club a new home after warning that its current premises, which are leased out to Out of the Blue, were needed for office accommodation.

Dating back to 1881, and home to teacher training classes from around 1945, the Old Kirk building has been lying empty since being vacated by the university five years ago, although it has never been put on the market.

Out of the Blue, which uses cash generated from the Bongo Club to run another arts centre in Leith, told The Scotsman that it is now looking for an extension on its lease for 12 months, until September 2013, to give it time to fundraise and refurbish the former church.

It emerged last month that Out of the Blue had been given notice to quit the site the Bongo Club has operated from since 2003 after this year’s festival. The move triggered fresh concern about the grass-roots arts scene in Edinburgh following the demise of other venues like the Roxy Art House, the Forest Cafe, GRV and Cabaret Voltaire over the last year.

A spokesman for Out of the Blue said: “Through our ownership of the listed drill hall in Leith, we are experienced at working with funders such as Historic Scotland, Creative Scotland and the Big Lottery Fund. Given ownership or a long lease of a building for the Bongo Club we would do likewise.”

Councillors, MSPs, student leaders and Edinburgh University’s rector, Iain Macwhirter have condemned the threats hanging over the Bongo Club.

A Save the Bongo Club campaign has also been backed by Fringe chief executive Kath Mainland, actor Ewen Bremner and comedian Mark Thomas.

Matt McPherson, president of Edinburgh University Students’ Association, said: “Students have made it clear to me that the Bongo Club is far more thna just an evening space.

“It is a venue which plays an important part in the international, deeply cultural and diverse social fabric of Scotland’s capital city.”

No-one from the university, which is converted the current Bongo Club building into part of a new home for its Office of Lifelong Learning, was available to comment.

It has previously insisted that it would be “happy to help the Bongo Club in its quest for a new venue.”

However it has also insisted it has given Out of the Blue more notice than it is contractually due to provide that it needs access to the site in September.

The Bongo Club, which started life in small premises on Blackfriars Street, was forced to move from a former bus depot on New Street in 2003 to make way for a new development, which is still to get off the ground,

The venue has been has been a mainstay of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, partly due to its celebrated late-night cabaret shows.

Acts that have appeared at the venue include the Scissor Sisters, Kasabian, KT Tunstall, Aberfeldy, Mark Thomas and Rob Newman.