KOKO‘s new Head of Music has announced via LinkedIn that the venue will be reopening next spring.
The venue, based on Camden High Street, has hosted the likes of Madonna, The Cure, Prince and The Sex Pistols throughout its years. It was opened in 1900 as The Camden Theatre, where Charlie Chaplin regularly performed. In 2004, the venue closed for some time, as it underwent a multi-million pound refurbishment, with the venue name officially changing to ‘KOKO’ in 2005.
In 2019, the legendary venue announced that it would be closing its doors for at least a year, to undergo another round of refurbishments. NME suggested that £40 million would be invested into the venue works, to create six new performance areas, with a radio station and broadcasting station. Although the 1,500 capacity would not change, the David Archer-led rebuild was set to expand their rooftop and take over some of the nearby buildings on the road. The works were planned to be completed in spring 2020, however, this did not go to plan.
On the evening of January 6th 2020, a large fire broke out in the building. The BBC reported that 60 firefighters helped to fight the flames, which broke out at around 9 pm. Although the fire in the building’s roof was brought under control early the next morning, the damage was already done.
Fortunately, things appear to be looking more optimistic for the future of the venue. Via LinkedIn, Nick Lewis announced that he would be taking over as KOKO’s new Head of Music, and that the venue would be planning to reopen in the spring of 2022.
He shared that the venue would be reopening early next year, as a state of the art venue and broadcast studio, suggesting that the original plans for the space would still be implemented. Furthermore, he also explained that the venue would have a new acoustic venue, penthouse, roof terrace, radio station, Dome cocktail bar and a members area. Their mission is to support the future of music, and most importantly, support the future and careers of independent artists.
“It’s a hugely exciting challenge, and [I] am massively grateful for everyone’s support. I look forward to welcoming musicians, industry colleagues and friends to the venue. Now the hard work begins.”
Nick Lewis is also a co-host on Soho Radio, and previously was Head of Music and Production at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, based in Soho.
