Sankeys New York, the first U.S. outpost for the globally known Manchester, England club brand, has announced the closure of its Brooklyn club. The news comes a month after Sankeys relocated from the former Club 36 space in Manhattan to the former SRB space in Brooklyn. In a statement regarding the club’s closure, Sankeys founder David Vincent blames the venue’s failure on franchise partners, describing them as “people we thought were up to the job who clearly were not.”
Sankeys entered New York City with high hopes. In 2010 the club the announced it was expanding to the Big Apple, but the opening was plagued with delays and didn’t open until 2013. Still, the principles involved had high hopes.
“For Sankeys it’s not about the names of the artists, it’s about the music that is played,” co-owner Antonio Piacquadio told us before the club’s opening’s in 2013. “That is the significant difference between Sankeys and the other New York City nightclubs.
Sankeys will continue its various operations in Ibiza and beyond. Vincent did not state whether Sankeys will try another New York or U.S. venture in the future. Maybe it’s best to let sleeping does lie.
“Today we announce that Sankeys Brooklyn will close for business. We will no longer be involved with the former venue, SRB.
Sankeys Manhattan failed because our franchise partners were unprofessional on an operational, promotional and musical level and we as franchisors were inexperienced and naive in our initial approach. We gave far too much control and trust to people we thought were up to the job who clearly were not.
In September we were eventually persuaded by our franchisee and very much against our own better judgement, to help with their new venue in Brooklyn.
We were promised direct and full control of all aspects of the new Brooklyn venue. We relocated key personnel from Ibiza to ensure the club would immediately come across as Sankeys, a social experiment rather than a franchised brand as in Manhattan. In order to create that true Sankeys magic it was essential for us to have complete control, the sound, the artistic vision and the management being fundamental to our success.We were lied to, we never had control of any of these things and for that matter on pretty much anything in reality.
Once we committed to the move and started work, the franchisee failed to deliver on any of the agreed terms and we soon found ourselves in an untenable position being both unsupported financially and operationally. When we arrived we were told a week before the club opened that there was no money for promotion or production, making our job impossible. We were always told we would be given 3 months to make this work, we actually had less than 3 weeks with no support as promised. We were therefore left with no other alternative than to terminate our relationship with the franchisee immediately.
We know we would have made this work, but we cannot work with people who do not share our vision or stifle our creativity.
We will still continue with all Sankeys activities in Europe, the remainder of our 20th anniversary tour and first ever Sankeys UK festival. 2014 was our best season to date and we are looking forward to showcasing our “Next Generation” in 2015 for an even bigger season.
We are sorry for the inconvenience caused to our US fans, DJs and artists on this chapter, but as the say “The show must go on” and it will but in another part of the world for now.”
David Vincent.