Rock venue JB’s in peril of shutting up shop
Wednesday 29th September 2010, 11:30AM BST.
Owners of troubled Black Country rock venue JB’s today revealed it will be forced to close after the annual New Year’s party if visitor numbers do not improve.
The rock club, in Castle Hill, Dudley, went into administration at the start of this month with debts of £450,000. Administrators John D Travers & Co, of Stourbridge, have been marketing the business but said interest has been slow.
The venue suffered a blow this week when American band WASP pulled out of a gig on November 26 to play Wolverhampton’s Wulfrun Hall instead.
“Support has been disappointing to be honest,” said Mr Travers.
“The week before last was not very good at all. We are still getting clientele who think we have closed altogether which is not true, which may be why we’re not getting as many people as we would like.”
He said there were no definite plans in place for closure, and said there had been interest from various people and parties but no contracts signed so far.
The club has not been close to reaching its 950 capacity since he came on board, he added, with some gigs and club nights struggling to reach 200 through the door.
“We need more people through the door to ensure trading can continue,” he said.
“We could do with at least 400 to 500 people regularly but they just aren’t getting there.”
Owner Sam Jukes, who has run the club since it was founded in 1969, planned to run the club until Christmas before retiring due to ill health.
It was hoped a buyer could be found before then to ensure the venue’s future.
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If they started having proper real bands on, who play there own songs, instead of tribute acts and started serving some good beer instead of the awful stuff they call beer, then we would again venture into the place, and so would a lot of our friends.
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Well said Val Smith! Too many of our so-called ‘local music venues’ are concentrating on tribute acts because they are cheap at £5 to £8, but this is a false economy because they will only get say 200 people at most. JB’s has fallen into the same trap as the River Rooms and the Robin 2!
Two years ago, I paid out £20 to see Bob Plant & Jeff Beck and also the Good, the Bad & the Queen (Damon Albarn). Both sold out way before the night. This year, I’ve seen John Waite and Terrorvision at the Robin, with Focus coming up next week.
Let the tribute bands do the pubs and working mens clubs so JB’s can concentrate on getting a better calibre of band. In the past 3-4 years, there has been a big increase in the number of stadium/arena bands playing warm-up gigs prior to the tour. I say go for it! They are out there if this guy was prepared to look!
By the way, I drink out of bottles at JB’s, it’s safer!
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As well as the beer and the music, have you seen some of the idiots they let in these days?
There was a time when they cared who visited, now if you have the cash you can go in, no matter how much trouble you cause. Unfortunatly bad management has got JB’s into this trouble. I agree with The Bilston Villain, a change in approach is quickly needed but it may be too late. Shame
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It is a shame that this club now faces closure cos let’s face it the days when you had to queue to get in JB’s is long gone, and theres no sign of em coming back. I agree with stif they let too many idiots in and the doorman is a joke he gets paid to sit on his backside and let people in free if they buy him a beer! The management have turned a blind eye to too much for too long in that place and that has been their downfall. Bilstonvillain I don’t think they’d be able to afford to get the big names in now if they are in that much debt.
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It’ll be a sad day for Dudley when it is gone, but I have to agree with the comments made, tribute bands aren’t a money maker anymore not for a venue of that size. I’ve seen some top bands at JB’s Happy Mondays, The Twang, Good the Bad the Queen, even went to see Seasick Steve! It has gone downhill fast over the last 5 years, and in my opinion that is down to having the same bands on every 3 months, the dj’s playing the same music week in week out, the poor doorstaff, the inability to try new things, the lack of big names and the price of a can beer!
I hope you can turn it around and make it profitable again but sadly I don’t think that will happen between now and New Yrs Eve unless you can pull something spectacular out of the hat.
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