The Talbot is dead. Again.
by Ben Davis on 2 March, 2009 | 16 comments
The Talbot
We all knew it wouldn’t last long, it was just a matter of time, although we didn’t think it would be gone so quickly this time – 6 months 10 months in all.
Last Friday the bailiff’s paid a quick visit to our favourite underground venue to settle the mounting unpaid bills. Then they boarded it up and planted a ‘notice’ on the door. It’s a bit deja vu – when The Talbot closed last time, 2 or 3 years ago, it was dealt with exactly the same death card.
I’ve no idea whether this is permanent or not, but going on past events I can give a confident guess that the Talbot as it was pre-Friday will no longer be with us.
What’s happening to the music nights?
Obviously all of the gigs have been postponed/cancelled.
The Socialist nights have vowed to keep on keeping on as they intend on using two different venues for gigs twice monthly.
The Kill Club have pledged to find another venue and carry on as they left off.
on 03/03/09 at 10:07 am
The Talbot was not closed due to mounting bills and it wasnt the ballif….. One more point I was at the Talbot 10 Months… As it was a free house leese with very liitle support (except from Sociailst and WTF-Cy Tukay); it was mutally agreed with the Estate Agent and Myself that the venue be closed. due to a ten year leese agreement being in force the only way for me to leave was to pay outright or sell it – neither was viable… Following advice from a neighbouring licensee of a similar (yet larger) venue we discussed options with the estate agent.. The Estate agent agreed to help as the only option was reclaiming the property. Hence the venue was (As Stated on the posted noitice on the Talbot last Friday) “Peacefully Reclaimed”.
I wish to take this opportunity to extend my personal thanks to Dave Morait (Moz) of Socialist for which the Music scene in Wrexham District would be devastated without his valued contributions. He has been a tremendous assest to The Talbot in its recent time and every effort recognised and grateful. A special thanks to Mr. Tony Pugh for his support and guidance and indeed to North Wales Police and Wrexham County Borough Licensing (Mr. Carl Owen) However, a special and very big thanks to Tony, Ben, my dearest Samantha and you the people of Wrexham.
on 03/03/09 at 5:40 pm
All very honourable mate but where’s the Seventy quid you owe me for materials for your last refurb which i covered for you in attempt to help you and the Wrexham music scene that you hold so dear to your heart?
your lack of ethics in this matter have been duly noted. Let’s hope you have a change of heart and i can “peacefully reclaim” the monies owed to me. You appeared to have forgotten me in your little teary eyed speech.
on 04/03/09 at 8:02 am
What happened to Salads comments?
on 04/03/09 at 9:42 am
As mentioned in the forum I deleted my comment as I thought there was no point making what could appear to be a dig (as the venue is closed and that won’t change). However if anyone else has been ripped like our MO6 friend they shall return.
on 06/03/09 at 1:42 pm
I’m still owed 25 quid for services rendered.
on 08/03/09 at 12:31 am
Bla Bla Bla,the Talbot is dead again.
Its no big change for smaller live music venues in wrexham to be closed,we should be used to it by now.
O well never mind,at least we tried.
Thanks to Adam for the kind words but i come on,the live music nights were the only reason people were going to the Talbot,the place was a bit of a mess to be fair.
And yes,were are your messages salad?
And to Carrot,i hope you do get your money of the ex boss for your stage materials mate.
Socialist nights will be starting up soon,so keep checking the myspace or we will be getting in contact with wrexham music to let you all know the start date.
See you soon.
on 08/03/09 at 11:33 am
Storm in a tea-cup or what!
Here is my original comment Moz -I think you’ll find it is pretty fair and accurate. I didn’t particularly want to post it again as it wasn’t my place to say anything in the first place (which I acknowledge -couldn’t help sticking my nose in!. I was annoyed (to say the least) at the tone of the Talbots reply as their appeared to be no accountability being taken (i.e. blaming everyone else) so I said the following:
“Firstly, I’d like to say that no one would wish a venue to close in the town – it is ultimately bad for the bands who need a place to play and for the town as a whole.
However…. The Talbot did NOT reopen as a music venue. As far as I remember it was when attendances dropped that the “I know lets put some bands on” get out clause was employed (correct me if I’m wrong).
This indicates to me (again correct me if I’m wrong) a ‘try anything to survive’ attitude (which is totally understandable if you are trying to run a business) rather than a love of music. Perhaps people could see that.
You (The Talbot) have never requested help from us here to promote the Talbot (yet Ben has still regularly included Talbot gigs and nights in the gig guide and on the homepage of wrexhammusic).
To claim you have had: “very liitle support (except from Sociailst and WTF-Cy Tukay)” is like saying we had no support apart from an established band promoter and an establishd dance promoter -it doesn’t make sense!
You have also had the kill club nights at the Talbot which I know Matt and Ross from DDJY have been involved in helping to promote (you’ve also had plenty of coverage in the Leader). To say that you have had very little help sounds a bit like sour grapes to be honest!
Ultimately it is a shame that the Talbot has closed but if it had worked initially when it reopened (without any music) then bands would never have got to play there anyway. It is only down to the lack of success that meant bands were brought back in.
Good luck for the future – sorry if the above sounds a tad harsh but to say you have had hardly any support does not sound realistic.”
Anyway… tomorrows chip paper and all that.
on 08/03/09 at 2:35 pm
To Salad,when was it mentioned that i never had any help or support.
Like you said,Ben always put the gigs in the news paper and on the wrexham music website.
And yes i agree that there should have been a mention for The kill club,Hatepsectrum promotions,Luv jam and any other nights that were put on in the Talbot.
But at the end of the day,its time to move on,not sitting around talking about how the Talbot failed because i dont recall you ever coming to any of the shows at the Talbot in the 7 months of gigs to be able to comment on the subject.
No point in making up pointless comments about me saying i never had any help or support with my nights.
I have always had support from Ben Wrexham music,The Foundry Wrexham and bands from all over.
It was the owners/Boss that did not help enough in maintaining the venue.
I think you have got the wrong end of the stick mate and that your comment was pretty pointless.
All the best.
All the best.
on 08/03/09 at 3:04 pm
Hold on there….I think you’ve the wrong end of the stick there Moz – it was the venue owner that said he didn’t have any help and support. I wasn’t having a go at you at all – my reply was originally to the Talbot (you asked where my comment had gone so I re-posted it). If you read my comment more carefully you’d see I wasn’t having a dig at you in any way.
The owner used this website to complain about a lack of support. I simply meant to point out that a lot of people had given him support (whether going to the venue or not) and that his comments were unwarranted.
You are correct in saying that I didn’t go to the Talbot after it reopened, then again I’m not the ‘target audience’ for any of the nights that were on there so thats not a problem. If you read my previous posts you’d see I removed my comments and only reposted them after YOU asked where they had gone -(make your mind up! haha).
Anyway… hope that clears things up a bit I WASN’T HAVING A DIG!!!! My response was to the OWNER.
Good luck with the nights.
on 08/03/09 at 3:28 pm
I think i will keep out of these comment boards in future as people do get the wrong end of the stick and it can end up giving us promoters a bad name.
Glad its all been cleared up though.
All the best.
Dave Morait.
on 08/03/09 at 10:29 pm
Please note, my comment was a dig at the Talbot not at Moz or Socialist.
I think under those conditions, Moz did an ace job promoting a succesful night like Socialist within that environment.
on 11/03/09 at 9:39 am
The Talbot is dead, let’s move on. The Wrexham music scene needs a variety of gigs and venues, especially for me to photograph. Any promoter needing coverage need just contact me on myspace and facebook and I will be happy to see what I can do.
on 17/03/09 at 1:56 pm
The Tivoli in Buckley is happy to have Wrexham bands play, Revurb played here last week and went down a storm. Sinner Men won the battle of the band and are welcome to play again
on 17/03/09 at 3:41 pm
…waits for the next round of conflict.
on 17/03/09 at 11:58 pm
i could but im not gonna do this…lol thanks ever so much for the Rebellion news piece Ben/Salad….its all good!!
on 18/03/09 at 12:02 am
No worries Ian, well deserved!