Red tape holds up blue plaque Group wants to mark music past
RED tape is holding up plans to let everyone know where some of music’s biggest stars performed in Cheltenham.
The Blue Moon nightclub in High Street hosted Rod Stewart, Elton John, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix and The Who between 1965 and 1967.
And a group off enthusiasts want to put up a blue plaque above the entrance to the club, which is to the side of the Monsoon clothes shop and was also known as the Night Owl.
But Dave Jackson, Rich Goddard, Chris Stanbury, and Mike Williams have come up against frustrating problems over the last two years that have stopped their idea becoming reality.
Mr Jackson said things had progressed a great deal, with Cheltenham MP Alex Chalk’s office doing its bit to overcome the initial resistance of insurance company AXA.
It owns the building and has gone from refusing to discuss the matter to saying it will allow the plaque providing a licence agreement is drawn up and signed.
And while Mr Jackson said AXA’S demand meant he and his colleagues in the Blue Moon Reunion Group had to raise £1,000, he said it was not the only drawn-out and frustrating aspect of the negotiations.
Monsoon, he said, was worried about the blue plaque falling from the building on to someone’s head and injuring them.
With the plaque due to be placed just above head height, over the door, Mr Jackson said he could not see why this was an issue.
In an email to Mr Chalk’s office, a Monsoon official said: “My concern is that we will require the public liability insurance to cover a significant level to cover all eventualities (if the sign was to fall on someone’s head and leave them permanently disabled or worse, the claim could run into millions of pounds).
“I’m not an insurance expert, however my fear is that the costs of this could be very expensive for Blue Moon Society to bear.”
Mr Jackson said: “As we pointed out at the time, I wonder if AXA, Monsoon’s landlord, have ever had to pay out on a claim for a plaque falling on somebody? Somehow I doubt it very much.”
A spokesman for Monsoon said: “There’s an issue that’s been taken care of if a legal agreement is signed.”
He said the agreement would be between Monsoon, its landlord and the Blue Moon Reunion Group.
He added: “There are risks that you have to take care of. Yes, it’s unlikely to happen but we have to cover all our bases to cover ourselves from a legal position.”
The group, whose plaque bid has the backing of Cheltenham Civic Society and the Heritage Foundation, is writing a book on the history of the Blue Moon and hopes to publish it this year. robin.jenkins@reachplc.com