Fibbers has had a stay of execution.
The legendary live music venue on Toft Green will close on Sunday (30 June) – but it will reopen for Freshers Week in September and host a lively programme of gigs until at least the New Year.
We revealed in May that the building that houses Fibbers is set to be demolished, to make way for another hotel.
But that development has been postponed.
Aaron Mellor founded Tokyo Industries which runs Fibbers along with many other music venues. He told YorkMix that the closure from Sunday would just be a summer break:
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We’re just closing for the summer, like we do pretty much every year.
Fibbers is a very student-focused live music venue. So for the last three summers we’ve closed when the students leave and reopened again in Freshers.
He added that lots of bands aren’t available in the summer months because they are performing at festivals.
But Fibbers on Toft Green will reopen when the students return this September – and keep gigging there as long as possible.
Rock and rolling lease
Aaron said a planning application for the site has yet to be submitted to City of York Council.
And although the building will be demolished at some point, it won’t happen any time soon. Aaron said:
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We’ve got an extension until at least January.
The freehold’s been sold to the developer. And while the developer works out his plans – and it’s a large development and these things take time to get through planning – we’ve got a rolling, six-month lease.
We were told originally that the end may be in August, but he hasn’t put an application in so he’s now pushed it back to January.
And I suspect in January he’ll push it back to August again.
He pointed out that Fibbers has been rocking York for 27 years “and has featured shows from Nirvana to Sonic Youth – pretty much every fledgling band on its way up has been through that venue.
“It would be such a shame for Fibbers to lose a full-time base in York. It feels part of the tapestry of York.”
They were actively looking for a new permanent home. “If anyone’s got anything that they think might be suitable, get in touch.”
Contact details are on the Tokyo Industries website.