This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Business News Live Business Top Stories
Speculation grows about the future of Fabric amid Matter losses
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 27 May 2010
There was heightened speculation yesterday that problems at Dome-based nightclub Matter might bring its sister club Fabric down, too. As previously reported, bosses at Matter announced last week that the club would close for the summer months, pretty much with immediate effect, despite some nights already being booked in for June. And while the statement said details of an autumn relaunch would follow, there has been wide speculation that this was the club under the Dome shutting for good.
It was initially thought that Matter’s sister venue, the much longer established Fabric, would not be affected by problems over at the Dome, but speculation has risen in the last 24 hours that this might not be the case. The rumours seem to be based on a number of redundancies that took place at the Fabric company earlier this week, all immediate, and many reportedly, according to a number of sources speaking to CMU, affecting people who worked on the main Fabric venue and the spin-off record label, as well as those directly concerned with Matter.
It is thought that Fabric’s owners pumped millions into Matter, creating an incredibly impressive clubbing space and booking some major league DJ talent. But, despite a generally positive reaction by DJs and clubbers alike to the new venue, it has struggled to pull in sufficiently large crowds, mainly because of location issues.
While the main O2 Arena continues to do well, thanks mainly to the kinds of bands it books, other Dome-based ventures still suffer from a widely held – though actually incorrect – perception that the O2 complex is a long way out of central London. The location issue was an even bigger problem for Matter because, while the Dome is a lot easier to get to than many people think, that doesn’t apply so much once the Jubilee Line shuts down at midnight, making things even more challenging for a late night venue.
Whether the large losses at Matter will actually result in Fabric going down too remains to be seen, though it has certainly had a negative impact on the Fabric company in the short term. All of which is very sad, both for the people who worked for the Fabric enterprise, and for fans of quality dance music and club nights, Fabric being one of London’s very best quality clubbing venues.
