Night Owl opens new venue in London
The team behind The Night Owl Birmingham - the popular favourite soul and retro club in Digbeth - have opened up a second home in London 's Finsbury Park.
Having come up with the idea a few weeks before the pandemic took hold, the team say they have been working tirelessly over the past 18 months to get the new venue up and running.
The second venue opened up its doors, opposite Finsbury Park station, at the start of July and has been warmly welcomed by the community and musicians.
The new venue has taken up residence in the old site of the Silver Bullet, an iconic live music venue which closed down in 2016 after much protest from the local music scene. be open and ready to host full capacity events!
The Night Owl in Digbeth was forced to shut its doors for a large part of the past year.
However, the venue 's bosses teamed up with the Music Venue Trust in a bid to revive live music in the area.
Clara Cullen, venue support manager at the Music Venue Trust, said: “ 'Music Venue Trust was founded to help protect, secure and improve grassroots music venues in the UK.
“During the Covid-19 Pandemic, as venue support manager, I have spent much of my time managing the MVT's Crisis Service helping venues that are at acute risk of closure.
“It brings me much joy then that in amongst this work, and in a year that has threatened so many grassroots music venues, we have venue operators like Arith who are working against all odds to open new grassroots music venues and helping to Revive Live music.
“The Night Owl, which stands on the former site of the famous 'Silver Bullet', is a hopeful testament to the resilience and maverick nature of our sector. ”
Night Owl owner Arith Liyanage, who is originally from the Finsbury Park area, said: “It's been a tough 12 months but we never lost sight of our dream of bringing the Night Owl and live music back to this iconic venue.
“The support we have received from the local community has been wonderful. I look forward to bringing something truly special to Finsbury Park. ”
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