As predicted in last month’s Nightshift, the Point has closed as a live music venue. The owners of the venue (situated upstairs from the Pub Oxford, on the Plain) Bass / Six Continents, have decided to turn the venue into an extension of the ‘It’s a Scream’ theme bar downstairs, which currently runs a students-only door policy. Six Continents are currently denying that the Point will be converted into a big screen sports bar, although this contradicts earlier announcements from them.

Although the Point’s promoter, Mac, was not informed officially of the closure until the 13th of October, news of Six Continents’ decision was leaked a week earlier. Within two days Six Continents had received (in their words) “literally hundreds” of letters and emails protesting at the short-sighted move which will deprive Oxford music fans of its most important small venue, whilst adding to the already overcrowded theme bar market. The Oxford Mail was quick to put the story on its front page, quickly followed by the University’s main student paper, The Oxford Student. Radio 1’s Evening Session and NME editor Ben Knowles were also quick to condemn the move. Following on from Six Continents’ recent closure of The Fuggle and Firkin - one of the UK’s most respected blues venues - the retail chain are set to become the most unpopular company in Oxford with music fans planning to boycott all Six Continents outlets in town. Two years ago they were also responsible for stopping live music at the Jericho.

The Point has been running as a live music venue for nearly seven years. It opened in April 1995 above what was then a Hobgoblin pub and since then has helped launched the likes of Catatonia, Feeder, Super Furry Animals and Coldplay onto international success. This year alone both The Strokes and White Stripes played their debut UK gigs at the venue. Beyond this, most up and coming local bands have started out with gigs at the Point. With its closure the opportunities for aspiring Oxford musicians are severely limited.

In July this year 45,000 people watched Radiohead’s homecoming gig in South Park. But Radiohead started out playing in venues like the Jericho Tavern, where Mac originally promoted gigs, before that too was closed in a brewery rebranding. Without small venues there will be no more Radioheads or Supergrasses.

In purely business terms Six Continents’ move is a disaster waiting to happen. The Point was a unique venue with a large, regular crowd. Yet another student bar is hardly a novelty and, like the Firkin pub that replaced the old Jericho Tavern, is likely to flop commercially. The Oxford Student’s militant line on the closure proves that many students feel alienated from the bland rebranding and marketing schemes that are supposedly aimed at them.

Six Continents’ response to protests has been predictably lame and patronising. Rick Nichols, area manager for Six Continents has refused to respond at all, leaving it to Communications Manager Bob Cartwright to scurrilously suggest that the venue was losing money, that its bar takings were poor and that punters downstairs were being driven out of the pub by noise from the gigs upstairs. Over the summer the Point was busier than the downstairs bar every single night but consistent understaffing of the venue’s own bar meant many gig-goers were unable to buy drinks even if they wanted them! The refusal of Bass / Six Continents over the years........ continued -->>>