Hi all and hope you are well in the run up to the festive period.
Unfortunately we stand at the crossroads yet again.
A near impossible position to deal with or work out as our core activities both involve a fair amount of social interaction that in the last week health officials and now Scot Gov have been asking you to avoid.
We have since and throughout re-opening in July tried our very best to offer a safe, well ventilated space to enjoy live events and rock along upstairs. Nothing has changed on that.
Building confidence has been our main mission along with bringing back some well-deserved live music and nights out at Scotland’s longest running rock club after a lengthy lay off. The necessary checks at the door, track and trace, asking and insisting on masks to come in or get served have all been small parts of our overall risk protocols along with a mile long list of other things we had to do in order to get rocking again.
Despite the hammer blow of covid passports in October we just got on with it even though it caused more mayhem than it should have that ultimately just caused a downturn in footfall as folk were just confused or upset by it all defaulting to not bothering going out in some occasions. The last thing we needed though.
We’ve always known it wasn’t going to be easy but with massive efforts from the rock crew, some superb well attended shows and decent turnout to the nightclub it has been good enough in business terms recently and have to say was going in the right direction with confidence returning too. However over the last few weeks we have seen events with large sales in advance see an increase in drop off to attendance mirrored up and down the country.
After the info from the Heath officials dropped on Thursday and announcement from FM on Friday set most of the hospitality and events sector into freefall.
We saw that first hand ourselves with a large no-show on Saturday which was a hard one to take after all the effort from the band, preparation and staffing arrangements to make for an epic night.
We have always and will continue to do our best for you our customers and hard working rock crew while balancing the business needs in order to still be rocking in the weeks and months ahead especially as 50 years approaches.
We appreciate the impossible balance many households are facing now too both financially and health wise in the run up to Christmas. Although some Government support has been mentioned which we welcome, unfortunately we are back to a great guessing game of who will be coming, what is round the corner for business like ourselves and what’s next is our main concern now.
So for the weeks ahead we will have to see what is coming when it comes then deal with it accordingly. Some things may well be out with our control but for now we do what we do best and hope you will still do it with - rock (obviously in a safe and controlled manner)
So all we can say for now is that we are still very much open for business - as close to normal as we can with all the CURRENT risk mitigations until actual updates or what new legal obligations that have been mentioned come in print to assess.
We will be contacting the bands to suss out their side of things and thoughts. As each event is different from the next on many levels also in financial expectations we will have to assess each one as we go, so bear with us on that please.
As much as we can things will go as planned that hopefully will give you the confidence to plan ahead as we try to.
Some may need to be tweaked, adjusted or postponed due to the structure of arrangements – equally some can go ahead as planned.
Full updates as ever will be provided and hopefully given the circumstances you will understand, much of which will be out of our hands due what many are saying is a stealth lockdown.
We hope to see you in THIS weekend, the festive week and thro the new year also hope you look through the ever growing list of live events that extend to Dec 2022.
If you can and want to attend it would be VERY handy to know by buying an advance ticket or even a simple comment that we are coming along if you can’t commit financially just now.
It helps in yet another uncertain period ahead.
From this weekend we would like everyone attending to do a lateral flow test beforehand regardless of vaccine status and log results on gov site as proof of negative test.
Please also remember to have and wear a facemask as many seem to have forgotten over the weeks. We won’t be supplying anyone who has forgotten theirs any longer which ended up getting silly. We are sorry but that’s on you now to ensure you have one and wear it unless genuinely exempt. No mask will mean you will not be able to come in or get served and given the current circumstances think that is fair to say.
17th December – Following the advice issued by the Scottish government yesterday, the ANCHOR LANE show due to take place on 17th December 2021 is postponed until Saturday 23rd April 2022 and more information will be available for all ticket holders for the rescheduled date via our ticket partner Skiddle shortly. The band want everyone who attends the show to feel confident and safe whilst in a live gigging environment, we respect their decision and agree it is for the best given the current structure of arrangements. As ever, tickets previously purchased will be valid for the new date.
Unfortunately we will have to juggle what to do and under the circumstances feel simply opening 7pm – 1am on downstairs level is best default option for us anyone who wants to rock with us.
As we have been monitoring things closely later on in the evening for some time and given the circumstances this week feel there is not enough desire to open the nightclub on Friday 17th Dec I’m afraid.
It will now be FREE ENTRY as there won’t be any live entertainment in place at this short notice. Please remember that all the mitigations will still be required such as masks, track and trace along with good hand hygiene also please give a wee bit more space to those around you for time being.
18th December - The Sensational Alex Harvey Experience event goes ahead as planned on the live level also we will be opening upstairs after the band to 3am for some rock jockery.
Please remember that all the mitigations will still be required such as masks, track and trace along with good hand hygiene also please give a wee bit more space to those around you for time being.
ALL CURRENT mitigations will be applied to this event and to nightclub entry all of which can be found as they always have been on the home page of our website.
So please grab a ticket and show you are coming.
Capacity has been cut back for this event to allow for wee bit extra distancing around the live area to those who wish it but as yet not seen any details relating to that OR any hospitality updates that we will legally be obliged to deal with. Certainly if that changes we will update things accordingly.
Once we get past this weekend we will assess all the events that lie ahead and nightclub entry but as mentioned want everything to go as planned where possible including Hogmanay.
However If you don’t fancy it – please say that.
If you are up for it – say you are too.
It helps more than you think, especially now …..also saves me looking for my mind reading machine.
MERCH ORDERS can be picked up this Friday and Saturday if you haven’t already done so for xmas !!
In any event all of the Rock Crew would like to wish you all a great Christmas if you aren’t planning on being in before Santa comes to empty his sack and hope to see you for Hogmanay 2021.
