Know Your Enemy

"Just... no.

You might think that Music Venue Trust as an organisation is inherently against development. You'd be wrong. We have no problem at all with sensible, thoughtful, cleverly designed residential spaces coming into our towns and cities. Modern design means you can build them right next to music venues, working with the venue to ensure that residents can enjoy peace and the venue can enjoy new customers right on their doorstep. You can write covenants into the use of the new residences that protect music venues from complaints. You can build spaces which are appropriate to city centre spaces and attract exactly the type of people who would want to live right in the heart of a vibrant city centre to live in them. You can float residential spaces to avoid vibrations, create access away from entrances, triple insulate windows, mitigate noise transference, insulate the nearby venue, support the venue with a bespoke designed sound system which reduces noise leakage, and about a dozen other incredibly easy to do things which would make development possible.

What you can't do with any chance of it ending well is drop a poorly conceived and inadequately designed set of luxury flats right in the middle of one of the most important live music streets in the country and hope for the best. 

Just... no."

The full statement of the Music Venue Trust in response to the proposals to construct a seven-storey apartment block right next to Clwb Ifor Bach on Cardiff's Womanby Street.

Coming hard on the heels of the closure of Dempseys, the rates increases, Wetherspoons' proposed hotel above their Gatekeeper pub and (most recently) the noise abatement order served against Fuel, it really does seem as though Womanby Street is under attack. The Save Womanby Street campaign appears to be fighting a battle that gets harder but consequently more vital by the day. At least it's receiving a lot of backing, including from those with (hopefully) some clout.