Live music venue, real ale bar, canal side drinking spot, home of the Pax Cat and unique Sheffield institution are all things the Dorothy Pax was, however it has closed down. The following shock announcement at the beginning of March had been preceded by a number of gigs being cancelled due to poor ticket sales.
“We are heartbroken to announce that The Dorothy Pax is now closed with immediate effect.
It’s not been an easy decision to make as this affects not only ourselves but the bar staff, the engineers, the artists, our local boating community, our wider Sheffield community and our suppliers.
We’ve had some amazing parties, produced several festivals, hosted countless world-class talent on our stage, laughed, cried, shared incredible evenings, made lifelong friends and boogied the night away.
However, we cannot continue to do so. I don’t want to point fingers, but we’ve had our fair share of battles, and we’ve always come out the other side, but we’ve got too many wounds to lick now to continue.
It’s not very pleasant to be a statistic at any time, and we’re certainly upset about being added to the number of grassroots music venues that have closed down over the last few years through difficulties thrown at the industry including Covid-19, rising bills and our customers facing a cost-of-living crisis.
The grassroots music industry is facing an uphill battle, as a whole we’re all trying to make this work on a profit margin of 0.48%, whilst those at the top are reporting billions in profits. If £1 per ticket at stadium shows, arena gigs and large festivals went back to us collectively, we wouldn’t have to subsidise ourselves hugely to carry on doing the work we do.
But we have. We’ve footed that bill internally, mainly because we love it, understand its importance to our wellbeing, community and cultural output. We know we do good work. Nothing is quite like the high you get when you see a full room of people dancing, enjoying each others company, whilst the musicians on stage are performing their hearts out with smiles across their faces. Nothing will ever come close to that feeling.
If it wasn’t for the support of the Music Venue Trust, this announcement would have come 5 years ago. They’ve not only had our side but they’ve tirelessly worked so hard in supporting 900+ of our colleagues within the grassroots music industry.
Please believe us that we have exhausted every possible avenue over the last year or so to keep on going but the time has come.
Continue to support your grassroots music venues, your local pub and independent businesses because now is the time that they need you the most. Use them, or lose them.
So, thank you all for the best 8 years”.
