FRIDGE BACK IN OLD HANDS

Our lovely friend over at Homovision.tv has broken a big story today claiming that the owners of Fire have been evicted from the Fridge nightclub and that the Love Muscle creators "Andrew Czezowski and Susan Carrington have resumed control. 

As you'll recall the Fire crew took over the Fridge some time ago but only ever hosted a few events there despite making huge efforts in doing the place up when the took it over. Perhaps distracted by the changing clubbing landscape and Vauxhall's rise it seems they decided to focus on Area and other stuff - shame as we had high hopes. 

Homovision report that "...they were evicted from the venue three weeks ago after the company failed to honour the terms of the lease. "The venue was falling into poor condition," says Czezowski. "The front was a mess, the electrics needed re-doing and there was a number of minor problems that were damaging the venue's reputation not only with clubbers but with the relevant authorities," adds Czezowski. "Finally the failure to pay the last month's rent meant we had to move fast and take over the running of the venue again." Sounds a shame that it didn't work out as we hoped but at least the venue might be saved. We've no word on whether the old gang want to resurrect Yyvette... again... but here's to the next Last Ever Love Muscle!

Pic: police visiting after somebody died from a a bad E in 2006. You'll recall it caused a massive scare across the scene. It was a terrible challenge for the venue but by most reports they handled it very well.

Comments

[steved]

RD - ok so do you REALLY believe that Orange's statement is true and the Fridge owners are not telling the truth?
If you are really interested please email me and I will tell you some things privately.
stevedarragh@hotmail.com

As for my events Friday Fitladz seem to keep quite a few ladz very happy indeed and why not try popping along to the sell out Twist 6th birthday on 29th Nov, the Xmas party we are doing at the End on Dec 14th or the NYE party at Union. These parties are loved by people and you will probably be very suprised. If you want to come to any I'd gladly put you on my guestlist.

[Pandolf]

What is this about Fire changing hands? Details please and thanks. We all need something "juicy" to gossip about.

[Pistolpete]

I think it is fair for me to describe aggressive, ignorant and blatantly homophobic young people as thugs and dollies.

What are you saying?
That I refer to them with some respect?
What planet are you on????

[DIAS]

nothing said about the rent not being payed for last month though !

[DIAS]

Nothing said about the rent not being payed last month though !

[rd]

oh, and by the way, by 'undesirables' I meant G heads before I get accused of being judgemental!

[rd]

Why is it that Steve D STILL holds such bitterness for Orange group? It clearly looks as if they've no need for anyone to put any nails in their coffins, a job being done quite well by themselves!

On thread, it would seem fairly obvious that they are leaving the Fridge as none of the nights they put on were attended very well. They have no regard for their punters, a long established fact, Fire is all but dead, but what is so great about anything Steve D puts on, and how come everything has gone a bit 'evolved' around here?!

It seems to me these things go in cycles, 3 years down the line we'll all be dissing Matinee's domination of the London scene, and championing some new kid on the block.

I know Orange etc have been accused of some awful things, and no doubt a fair proportion of them are true, but I have to say, I only stopped liking them when their events were either empty or full of undesirables.

Perhaps I may have missed the point about this, but a lot of people moan about the Gay Vauxall village thing, yet when some diversity is there (ie a straight night) we get very uppity and fussy about who is in attendance, face it either live in a ghetto or deal with reality: NOT EVERYONE LIKES POOFS! I wonder how much Pistolpetes gesture of grabbing a (presumed) stranger and kissing him did to change their perceptions... I get what you guys are saying about the kind of crowd as oppose to the sexuality being the problem but if you will go clubbing in that area then you can't be that surprised: 'THUGS' and 'DOLLIES' I ask you, if we were described in that way there would be uproar, how judgemental can you get!

Still, if the Fire club does change hands as is rumoured then there will be even more straights around.

[Gavster]

Hey folks. We missed the release from Orange today but here it is in full:

PRESS RELEASE
THE FRIDGE CLUB

BRIXTON
19TH NOVEMBER 2008

After a working relationship of several years and many months of consideration The Orange Group has now ended its involvement with the Fridge Night Club in Brixton. Over the past few years The Orange Group has invested considerable amounts of both time and money into this venue which resulted in some truly spectacular parties at the club, most famously the Orange Bank holiday parties, renowned for their state of the art light shows and pyrotechnics.
However, the successful Salvation and Matinee parties held at the end of last year were marred by a number of violent homophobic attacks on customers arriving at and leaving the club and The Orange Group now feels that the location of the Fridge is not safe for its mainly gay clientele.
During 2008 there have been a number of violent incidents at the next door `Fridge Bar’ which the Orange group has no connection with, and these have been widely and incorrectly reported in the media, TV, radio and press as `trouble at The Fridge’ which has further harmed the reputation of the club.
The Orange group can no longer be involved with a venue that carries a risk of physical danger to our customers.

[Pistolpete]

I just want to add my tuppence to this thread. It relates to a couple of weeks ago while in the queue for Beyond, you can make your own decisions about what happened.

We were in the queue for Beyond and the previous party at Area was kicking out.
Then a group of people from that party pushed right in front of us in the queue. When we calmly protested we got a load of bullshit from these people who consisted of mainly thugs and their dollies, all about 18 to 22 yrs old.
Then they started asking if it was a gay club they were queuing for. We told them it was. Then they started loudly protesting "oh no not a fucking club full of queers, can't stand queers" and " 'ere, Wayne.. it's fucking queers" etc etc.

Not very nice and ruined my high. So I grabbed a sexy Brazilian guy stood near to me in the queue and started to snog him in front of them and then they started to call us disgusting queers and left the queue.

There was also a lot of abuse from the other punters kicking out of Area who were walking past.

However in Beyond there were loads of straights and they were not a any problem at all. In fact they seemed to be the most normal people in there and like I was questioning myself, I was wondering what they where doing in here too.

I was a bit upset that the queue suffered torrents of homophobic abuse.
If Orange were seriously concerned about homophobic abuse they would surely do something about this promotion at Area?

[Beartracker]

Simon says (heh); there are "anti-gay" events on at the Arches? Such as?
I'm sure there are homophobic people attending straight events there but you make it sound like they're organising rallies for the BNP in there...
And what is this event at Area that's so Chavvy? Instead of boycottign it perhaps we should all go down there on mass and show them some Stonewall attitude :-)

[anhonestview]

actually, this thread is about Andrew and Susan taking back the Fridge. It was always their baby and I am sure they will stage not only gay but straight nights as they did for 20 years. This thread is an obvious attack on one group and is a sad reflection of the way clubbing and promoting has gone. What is relevent is what you decide to do and thats use your feet and go somewhere else. All this trite just gives the wrong impression of what you do and where you go. Clubbing is diverse, accept it or destroy it, its your choice....

[mcdermos]

The whole issue is the fact that they've released a press-release saying that they're leaving Brixton because of homophobia.

That's a pretty strong statement. It would be interesting to see how much of the gaypers pick up on that...

[diskoboi]

If...

the the straight party was of the ilk of DC10 or Fabric I would be applauding Orange group. It is not.

It looks like a party you would get in local town city centre. You can tell from the clientele and the comments that come from the clientele.

SteveD and a few others are just telling it how it is. To accuse us of being anti- straight is daft. SteveD throws one the most mixed fun parties going. I quite like going to Redlight and love the crowd there.

There is a difference between clued up polysexual clubbers and the crowd that go to that thing at Area?

[steved]

Simon, you miss the point completely. If XXL was on and right next door there was a straight night being held at the same time this could possibly cause problems I'm sure you'd agree.
There is nothing wrong with straight events. It's just certain types of events attract a certain audience and it's this in the puruit of ££££ that certain club owners value over the safety of their gay customers.
If anyone seriously believes the press release on the Fridge they need to think again!!

[Simon]

What a laughable bunch of pathetic posts. Including 'steved' usual snipe at Orange whenever the brand name pops up. - Steve - you really need to move on and learn to become a mature adult promotor and leave your lawyers to do the sniping. Business is business and bills have to be paid. As Pandolph mentions - DTPM survived very well with extremely naff events being held right next door to Fabric. How many times did you arrive at turnmills, only to be hearded into the lightlounge while waiting till the 'Straights' had finished their partying in the main club and while we are at it - does anyone realise what goes on at the Arches during the week. There have been some extremely anti gay nights there on a friday. XXl afterall is only once a week. So you lot - get a grip on reality- the constant bitching at Orange for whatever reason is so so very tedious. If it was reported that business was down and that staff had to be laid off then I am sure that would yet again give the bashers yet another excuse to damn the group. they simply cannot win with a small minority on this site that use it for their own personal gain. Shame on you all.

[Pandolf]

How ridiculous.. boycott Orange because they are throwing straight nights at Area? I can think of a lot of other reasons but this is one of the poorest.

I had no idea straights were so vicious these days that we can't even go clubbing with them or in venues next to them. I'll have to rethink my entire social circle.

If straight people and promoters had the same kind of narrow thinking many moons ago then there never would have been trade at turnmills, dtpm at fabric and the like.

[jack]

Yes Orange did well at the beginning with The Fridge and there were some great parties, but the owners of Orange got embroiled in the pursuit of being King Pin in Vauxhall and persued Crash and Area to make them part of the clubbing hypermarket which is Fire. This led to the demise of the Fridge. Now we have naff trashy chav nights put on at Area and homophobic attacks in Vauxhall due to their policy of anyone, who can pay gets into Orange events. It's time the community stood up and boycotted the orange events once and for all and supported the true gay venues with the pink pound...

[spik]

So what will TWIST be when it's at Union? A straight / gay friendly night? That's a pretty segregated comment Steve, I thought we all strived for unity????

[diskoboi]

Well said SteveD

I think it's very off key to have such a naf straight party next to Barcode and Union.

The teenage oiks from the suburbs drinking alcopops are very off putting.

Hopefully we don't have to put up with it for too long if rumours are anything to go by.

[steved]

Almost laughable. Orange has no regard whatsoever for it's customers.
Putting straight nights ( and far from nice straight nights) on at Area right in the middle of Bar Code and Union putting our gay customers at risk with the homophobic abuse they receive is not a laughing matter.
If anyone is reading this I urge you to think where you spend your £ and to whom you are giving it.

[mcdermos]

Here's an update on The Fridge news. Orange now saying they're leaving the venue because of homophobia in Brixton:

http://www.homovision.tv/orange-leaving-brixton-because-of-homophobia/