Much like record stores, print publishing and trust in Nigerian businessmen, live venues are but another casualty of the internet + GFC one-two punch. A fortnight ago the Hopetoun Hotel closed its doors and now, according to the SMH Online, the Inner-West’s Annandale Hotel may suffer the same fate.
Speaking with owners Matthew and Daniel Rule the SMH revealed the following:
The brothers say they have been fighting Leichhardt Municipal Council for eight years over noise compliance, late trading and development applications to upgrade parts of the hotel. An ongoing battle in the Land and Environment Court has cost them close to $200,000 and, according to a freedom of information search conducted by the Rules, it has cost the council more than $100,000.
“If we keep getting hit and continue to not get support from the council then this hotel in its form will be no longer,” Matthew said. ”For years we’ve been fighting and continually loaning money to defend ourselves. We just can’t do it any more.”
Noise complaints and licensing grievances aside, the local councils of Sydney are seriously underestimating the importance of live venues in this city. Perhaps we can convince them otherwise here?
