Image may contain: Urban, Town, Street, Road, City, Building, Alleyway, Alley

The Cellar nightclub is once again in danger of closing down

Due to safety regulations The Cellar may soon be gone for good


The Cellar nightclub off Cornmarket Street could close down after recently undergoing an inspection by Oxfordshire City Council.

The council have stated the venue's 70cm fire escape is too narrow by 30cm.

This has been enough for the council to deem one of Europe's oldest live music venues as inadequate for holding 150 people. This has resulted in a restriction of The Cellar's capacity from 150 tickets to 50 for each event.

Expanding the fire escape of the venue which has previously hosted bands such as Foals and Mumford and Sons would not come cheap as the walls are load-bearing, meaning expansion would cost tens of thousands of pounds.

Tim Hopkins, the owner of The Cellar has put forward one possible solution: expanding into the empty shop above which has two fire escapes, compensating for the current insufficient fire escape below.

This is not the first time the venue has been in danger of closing. Last year, over 13,000 people signed a petition in order to keep the venue open after Lush cosmetics (the previous occupants above The Cellar), wanted to shut down the basement club and use it as a storage space instead.

Last year's petition saved The Cellar from shutting down and hopefully it can be saved once again.