Breaking Point?

Word has reached me tonight that the future of Cardiff's finest music venue, The Point, may well be under threat.

Apparently Cardiff Council is set to take legal action over noise levels following complaints from new residents. Yes, that's right, people who've recently moved into the new yuppie flats in the bay area and are now trying to close down a venue that was in operation long before they bought their soulless little box. There's only one word for people like that, and it begins with a 'c'.

I'd wonder if it was the curse of the Reasons To Be Cheerful series striking again, if it wasn't for the fact that somehow it's never actually featured. All the same, I've been smitten with the converted church ever since my first visit, to see Broken Social Scene and Los Campesinos! in August 2006.

If like me you're a huge fan of The Point, or even if you've never been but appreciate the value of unique, independent venues for a city's cultural vibrancy and health, then lend your support to the campaign to keep it alive by signing this petition. Take a look at the signatories - among them Radio 1 DJ Adam Walton, poet and novelist Robert Minhinnick, local promoters Carl of Forecast and Paul Clarke of Meltdown, and Gindrinker guitarist Graf, who recently supported The Fall there and who tipped me off about the threat - and the comments and feel the love, most notably even from some local residents.

The Coal Exchange is already no more - let's hope another of the jewels in the city's crown doesn't go the same way.