The 100 Club needs is a buyer or major sponsor to step forward

The 100 Club

100 Club threatened with closure. The legendry venue has witnessed the West End debuts of Oasis, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Buzzcocks, while Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Mick Jagger and Paul Weller still tread the sacred boards. Aerosmith’s Joe Perry described the Oxford Street downstairs night spot as “the finest rock’n'roll club in the world” but in these testing times it seems that it could close within a few months because of soaring overheads unless a buyer can be found. Its rates bill has hit £4,000 per month and landlord Lazari Investments now demands a rent of £166,000 a year reports the London Evening Standard. The cellar club’s owner, Jeff Horton, said: “It makes me so angry. The Government, Westminster council and even some of the commercial landlords say they want to help small businesses, they say they want to preserve London’s uniqueness, they want to help multi-cultural venues. “Yet we’re all that and all these organisations have all  Jeff Horton,umped on us from a great height.” His father started running the venue in 1964, but it opened in 1942 as a jazz club. Mr Horton sees few alternatives to closure after Lazari raised the rent by 45 per cent. “In 1985, when I took over, the rent was barely £11,000 In the US the rents are frozen at certain venues that have a bit of heritage. Here it’s a total free-for-all.” He added: “What the 100 Club needs is a buyer or major sponsor to step forward. Barring that, we’re closing at Christmas despite being as popular as ever. It really is insane.”