An iconic
West End club where everyone from the The Rolling Stones to The Deep Six and Sleaford Mods
has played will trial technology designed to keep people Covid-secure when it
is able to reopen, writes Julia Gregory.
Jeff Horton
runs the 100 Club which was founded by his father Roger in 1964.
It was a key
feature of the so-called Swinging Sixties. In March 2020, the Sleaford Mods
played a successful gig there.
And when
Government rules mean the club in Oxford Street can reopen it will use a
trailblazing Pathogen Reduction System it tested earlier this winter to keep
music lovers safe from Covid.
The
ventilation system is designed to wipe out 99.9 per cent of pathogens.
It uses high
intensity ultraviolet light to kill pathogens and is similar to systems used to
disinfect operating theatres.
Mr Horton
said the trial came about through the Music Venue Trust.
The system
could potentially revolutionise the Covid fightback for entertainment venues.
“They have
convinced me that it will work,” said Mr Horton. “It could be a game changer so
the hospitality sector can get people out of this drudgery just for a bit.”
He added:
“The days of people going to shop until you drop is a thing of the past I
think. Younger people are not buying objects, they are spending their money on
experiences.”
He stressed
other safety measures will also be used and it could be some time before the
venue is back to its 350 capacity.
Customers who
buy a ticket will get sent to a Covid test centre and get a rapid result via
the YouCheck app and will only be allowed in if it’s negative.
He added he
thought eventually people will react to the pandemic in the same way our predecessors
let their hair down after the Great War and the ‘Spanish Flu’ pandemic a
century ago.
“When this is
over it will be like the Roaring Twenties without any question,” he said.
Like other
venues, it opened with groups of six or fewer after lockdown ended in the
summer.
Then it had a
reduced capacity of 60 initially, before London moved into a higher tier and
the numbers were cut to 30.
But the doors
have been shut for two months after London’s coronavirus rates went up and then
the whole country went into lockdown again.
Mr Horton
said: “I’ve made a point of keeping the outside light on at the 100 Club. I
read that theatres keep a light on at the theatre to remind people that they
will be open again. I think that’s a nice idea. It’s dark in Oxford Street and
I keep the light on. People have said ‘that’s the spirit, Jeff.’”
During the
first lockdown the club lost about £8,000 as it had to throw away draft beer
which does not keep for more than a few months.
“Once bitten,
twice shy, we were not going to buy thousands of beers, so we probably lost
about £500 to £600 with the lockdown in December,” he said.
When the club
was able to open last year they tried something new – a cocktail menu.
But he said
business is really suffering in the centre of town. “There’s nobody in the West
End. When you walk down Oxford Street there’s hardly anyone there.”
“My biggest
concern really is that we do not know what sort of future we face when we open
again.”
But he hopes the vaccine roll-out will help defeat the virus. The club – and its predecessor the Feldman Swing Club – has survived 80 years and he says it won’t be defeated by Covid.
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