Street party set to give club ‘send-off’

FANS of Cardiff venue The Full Moon are organising an unofficial street party to give the club “the send-off it deserves”.

The party is planned to take place outside the Womanby Street club, which was repossessed by the building’s owners earlier this week.

However, the manager of The Full Moon has said that a street party is not in the best interests of the street’s remaining venues.

The Facebook event titled ‘Farewell Full Moon – See You By The Bins!’ was set up, urging gig-goers to gather outside the club for a party in its honour tomorrow.

Thom Bentley, manager of the Full Moon and prominent activist in the Save Womanby Street Campaign, commented on the page – as Finn Mertons – saying the event was misguided.

“This is a lovely idea and you’re all great people,” Thom said. “I do not feel that this is the way to help the situation though. The street is under threat because of nuisance complaints. Drinking in the street and making a lot of noise will only make that worse and possibly bring down further restrictions on the remaining bars.”

The Full Moon was shut down earlier this week, with management citing “difficult trading and the current air of uncertainty” as the reason for the closure.

Supporters of the live music scene were horrified by the news, with one gig-goer describing it as “heartbreaking”.

Nick Cotton, who DJs under the name F-Block at the bar, said: “I’m really going to miss the Moon. I don’t expect to ever find another venue quite like it.

“Running an independent music venue is a thankless, stressful, monetarily bleak business to be in.

“The council should be supporting the brilliant folks who put themselves in this inevitable position else they’ll all give up and we’ll be left with nothing to look forward to.”

The Full Moon is the third Womanby Street venue to shut this year after the iconic Dempsey’s closed its doors in January, followed by The Moon Club in February.

Mr Bentley encouraged people to follow the Save Womanby Street campaign, a group of live music fans and community activists who are fighting to protect remaining venues from noise complaints.

“A good way to support the street would be to go to the remaining bars and support them financially. They need your help more than ever right now,” Thom said.

“Another way would be to follow the #savewomanbystreet campaign and act on anything requested.”