Depending on your social orientation, the fact that arty East London dive-bar The Foundry is to be knocked down and replaced with a hotel will either be like losing a member of your extended family – albeit one that doesn’t wash and smells a bit – or it’ll be something you couldn’t give a damn about.
Personally, when I think about The Foundry closing, while I’m all for creative spaces giving new artists the chance to shine and I realise the venue has played a big player in the music, art and, er, getting wasted scenes, I actually prefer not to have to take a shower after visiting a bar. I can do grimey with the best of them - I’ve spent enough time in scuzzy underground clubs and raves to know the drill - but a bar that looks like a squat and is full of Shoreditch stereotypes is not one I will shed a tear for.
It’s not that I’m completely ignorant to the ramifications of The Foundry closing, it’s just there are some causes worth fighting for and some that aren’t. I can even forgive The Foundry for being the place that Hot Chip reportedly formed before unleashing a world of electronic wet-flatulence on an unsuspecting public. Even though I'm not that arsed about The Foundry closing, there is one thing that earns my respect: it was founded by the legendary Bill Drummond from anti-pop heroes KLF.
The thing is I’m a realist, and it’s a sign of the times that urban redevelopment squeezes much-loved venues into extinction - just look at The Hacienda in Manchester being turned into flats! The area around Old Street isn’t very pleasing to the eye and, whilst a big rotund alien-looking hotel might not be the best possible addition to the area, it will at least be easier on the eye than the current ramshackle concrete monstrosity. Since news of The Foundry closing broke, there’s been talk of it being relocated somewhere else, and seeing as the space is known for its anarchic spirit and can-do attitude, that’s exactly what they should do – up sticks, relocate somewhere new, and start again.
Either that or they can move it brick by brick and it’ll become a museum. Here’s the thing - isn’t underground art about ripping up what went before and starting again? What the owners’ should do is auction off The Foundry’s Banksy mural, let the bulldozers bash the venue’s walls to smithereens, and use the proceeds to move to a suitably undesirable neighbourhood and help it become the next area in London to prosper through its associations with alternative art and underground music.
April 2010 is the prospective date for The Foundry closing. If you’re a fan, make sure you get down and pay your last respects.