After launching an online fundraiser yesterday to stay afloat since its closure in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Glasgow institution Sub Club exceeded its fundraising goal of £150,000 in less than six hours.
As of this writing, the dance music community has donated more than £175,000 to keep the famed nightspot from going bust. Money raised will go to paying its expenses, which are detailed for transparency on the fundraising page.
According to the club, “We have faced countless other challenges over the years and are currently still fighting a long running and costly legal battle over noise issues arising from the grant of planning permission for a hotel development directly adjacent to the club, all of which has meant that the Sub Club has been very much a labour of love for all concerned for more than 3 decades. However, none of these situations hold a candle to the existential threat that the COVID-19 pandemic currently poses to the Sub Club, and indeed to Club Culture as a whole around the globe.”
Sub Club says it was denied financial assistance from the government, which forced it to turn to clubbers for support. The club says it was “told we didn’t meet the eligibility criteria for the Job Retention Scheme, as our payroll information had been uploaded 1 day late, resulting in the refusal of our rebate claim of £31,864 which we had already paid to staff.”
After exceeding their fundraising goal, Sub Club thanked supporters on Instagram. While the club is safe for now, it acknowledged it will be some time before it can open its doors.
“As lockdown is lifted it is abundantly clear that underground basement clubs will be amongst the very last things to reopen. We were the first spaces closed and we will be the last to open.”
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