HOME OF GYPSY JAZZ; LE QUECUMBAR, LONDON - PLEASE HELP TO SAVE IT!

LeQSteve

You may well have heard that our rent has been increased by 50%. This is disasterous for Le Q, and it's already had a knock on affect as our doors are temporarily closed now on a Wednesday night.
We really don't want any further negative consequences on our music venue; that we know you love.
To battle through the tough times ahead, and to ensure we get to being London's favourite jazz venue, we need to change. We have established a crowd funding (Kickstarter) project that sets its sights high but encompasses many exciting projects as well as addressing some historical issues.

Here's a link to the crowdfunding project:

Please do take a look at the page above, and do assist us on our way. You will notice that there are rewards against any donations. This Kickstarter project also describes the reasons why we're doing this, and what the plans are. As well as the website listed above, here's a press release that is working its way around this world this afternoon!
Thanks in advance for your support; we appreciate it. Steve xx

Press Release: London’s home of Gypsy swing, ‘Le QuecumBar: The Hot of Club of London’, has in the face of adversity come up with ambitious plans to take the top spot of becoming the UK’s favourite live music venue and jazz club.
Le QuecumBar was established from a dream and a glass of wine on the banks of the Seine in France, and since then, for 13 years it’s been showcasing the music of the maestro, Django Reinhardt and other musicians from the vintage era, 7 nights a week! Le Que has become a hot spot for regular customers and tourists from all over the world. It showcases Django’s Jazz Manouche, vintage swing as well as other forms of early nostalgic jazz.
However, a recent hike in rent by over 50% has not dampened spirits in achieving their goal but they’re looking towards crowd-funding to enable this further dream to materialise.
The crowd-funding initiative is essential for Le QuecumBar to survive. The rent has not only been increased but back-dated too. The innovative project that Le Que are seeking sponsorship for, in return for ‘rewards’, addresses historic issues the live music venue has as well as ambitious projects that’ll secure existing and new audiences for it’s music.
Steve Tennison, general manager at Le Que said ‘The increase in rent is a blow to a small independent music venue that only just manages to keep its head above the parapet. The increase places an enormous pressure upon us to get new people through the door, as well as returning customers. We’re having to think outside the box to become more forward thinking and progressive whilst retaining important traditions and relationships with the Sinti community who remain the Masters of this genre of music. This Kickstarter crowd-funding opportunity will see us hopefully gain new support and strengthen existing support with some exciting opportunities. We want to substantially invest in our food; it’s always been an issue delivering this from a domestic-style facility. We need to address this once and for all. As well as other material upgrades, improving the look and feel of Le Que, the successful crowd-funding will see a festival celebrating the music of top Gypsy swing artists being organised in London in 2016, a subsequent recording and album of this festival, the formation of a Gypsy jazz school, as well as providing a much needed budget for advertising ticketed events to ensure our musicians and bands get maximum exposure. It’s certainly ambitious project but I’m the luckiest manager with a committed team of staff, musicians and supporters to deliver this. We’re passionate and all believe so much in the original dream and we want to see the UK’s only original Hot Club succeed to continue showcasing music from around the world’.
For further details about Le QuecumBar’s crowd funding campaign, follow this link:
For further enquiries please contact:
Steve Tennison:
T: +44 (0) 207 787 2227
M: +44 (0) 7494442997
E: [email protected]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/le.quecumbarlondon
Twitter: @quecumbar
Instagram: lequecumbar
YouTube: GypsyswingSW111

jonpowl

The Kickstarter link does not work.

LeQSteve

https://kickstarter.com/projects/111238720/preserving-the-uks-temple-of-jazz-manouche-le-quec/posts/1312934

LeQSteve

Hi, thanks for that. I just updated it above. Steve

Russell Letson

Someone might mention to Mr. Tennison that keeping one's head above water indicates surviving, while keeping it above a parapet generally invites having it shot off by the besiegers. Not that this has anything to do with the value of the club or the greed of landlords (raising the rent retroactively? HTF does that work?), but careless application of metaphors might draw attention away from the worthiness of the cause, if only momentarily.

jonpowl

Are there no rent control regulations in London? Good luck with your Kickstarter program, but I believe you would be better served to find a new location.

LeQSteve

jonpowl wrote: »

Are there no rent control regulations in London? Good luck with your Kickstarter program, but I believe you would be better served to find a new location.

Hi John, a better location would indeed be better but were stuck where we are! And no, England is one of a few countries without regulated rent control.
Thanks for your good wishes.

Stringswinger

Sadly, live music is not supported by those who have always supported live music, namely the young (20-40 year olds). Jazz venues have been the biggest victims. Until we see a paradigm change, this will keep on keeping on.

It seems to me that this kickstarter campaign may delay the demise of this establishment, but it will not be a permanent solution.

(as an aside, even uber-liberal San Francisco does not have commercial rent control. That requires full blown socialism)

The hard reality is this, if your business model does not provide the revenue to pay the market rent, it means that you need a different business model or a different location (and having been in the nightclub business, I fully understand the enormous cost in leasehold improvements that is required to set up or move).

Here is a personal anecdote that may or may not be helpful:

In the early 80's I had a very successful restaurant in San Francisco. Down the street from me was a small jazz bar that I went to from time to time. One day, the owner of the jazz bar came to my restaurant and asked if I wanted to buy his place. I asked the price and he gave me a number that sounded almost too reasonable. I told him that I had an interest but that I needed to see his books before making an offer. He invited me to come to his bar where the books were stashed. I quickly perused the books and saw that he was operating at a loss. His position was that the bar needed some kind of a "reinvention". As I did not have a vision that differed from what he was doing, I passed on the opportunity.

He sold the place to a new owner who turned it into a "new-wave" bar. The new owners had a line out the door every night and made out like bandits. I wish I had the vision to have done that. Perhaps some kind of vision is all that is needed in this case?

Good luck in sorting it all out Steve, I wish you all the best!

Cheers,

Marc

LeQSteve

stuart wrote: »

For sure there is no money in gypsy jazz, which is all the more to reason to support those people foolhardy enough to try - without them this would truly be a lonely genre outside of a few Sinti camps here and there.

Le Q is a great venue, a real destination for anyone who happens to be in London. I hope this campaign is successful.

Stuart, thank you as always, for your support.

LeQSteve

Stringswinger wrote: »

Sadly, live music is not supported by those who have always supported live music, namely the young (20-40 year olds). Jazz venues have been the biggest victims. Until we see a paradigm change, this will keep on keeping on.

It seems to me that this kickstarter campaign may delay the demise of this establishment, but it will not be a permanent solution.

(as an aside, even uber-liberal San Francisco does not have commercial rent control. That requires full blown socialism)

The hard reality is this, if your business model does not provide the revenue to pay the market rent, it means that you need a different business model or a different location (and having been in the nightclub business, I fully understand the enormous cost in leasehold improvements that is required to set up or move).

Here is a personal anecdote that may or may not be helpful:

In the early 80's I had a very successful restaurant in San Francisco. Down the street from me was a small jazz bar that I went to from time to time. One day, the owner of the jazz bar came to my restaurant and asked if I wanted to buy his place. I asked the price and he gave me a number that sounded almost too reasonable. I told him that I had an interest but that I needed to see his books before making an offer. He invited me to come to his bar where the books were stashed. I quickly perused the books and saw that he was operating at a loss. His position was that the bar needed some kind of a "reinvention". As I did not have a vision that differed from what he was doing, I passed on the opportunity.

He sold the place to a new owner who turned it into a "new-wave" bar. The new owners had a line out the door every night and made out like bandits. I wish I had the vision to have done that. Perhaps some kind of vision is all that is needed in this case?

Good luck in sorting it all out Steve, I wish you all the best!

Cheers,

Marc

Thanks Marc for your thoughts; much appreciated and some useful opinions there. We don't have the best location but we have to make do with what we do have. Ideally we'd be located next to Oxford Circus or Covent Garden tube stations but that's not going to happen. There's 8 million people living in the London metropolis, with an extra 3 million on the outskirts, and if just get 50 of them came to visit each night, we'd be winning, especially alongside the tourists who do visit also. There's a lot more to it but I believe that addressing some historic issues here, as well as getting the message out there, will help massively.
Take the Time Out magazine for instance. It used to support small, local and independent businesses, and now it's a corporate machine and we do not get a look in.We just need to carve a proportion of the profit into decent PR to reach out and get the venue on the map.
The business is sustainable but with some minor tweaking and forward thinking that encompasses much more than just Gypsy jazz but a business that remains true to our heritage, roots and traditions.
Thanks again Marc. I'm sure hoping we'll be successful. If not, we'll just have to buy the damn plot of land! Haha.
Steve

Jazzaferri

Wishing you success in your crowd funding and remerchandising your place. All the rest has already been said.