Exeter Unit 1 is closing down with ‘immediate effect’ due to company going bust

Today marks a huge end of an era for Exeter University students as Exeter’s famous Unit 1 has closed with “immediate effect” after the company which owns it, Rekom Group, went bust.

Unit 1 is one of 17 other sites owned by Rekom across the country to have shut down and made the announcement of its closer on its Instagram yesterday.

The decision to close the sites came after joint administrators to seven companies within the The decision to close the sites came after joint administrators to seven companies within Rekom Group were appointed yesterday.

Rekom Group operate bars, pubs and nightclubs across Europe, including Exeter’s Unit 1 and have struggled financially in recent years due to the cost of living crisis. Following a review of the businesses under this new administration, it has announced the closure of 17 of its sites with immediate effect.

In a press statement this morning, Rekom Group explained their “regret” of the closure of 17 sites. The statement added that “staff affected” by the announcements have been briefed and that they would be working closely with the Redundancy Payments office to “provide support” to those affected.

Peter Marks, Chairman of Rekom UK commented: “We have made every effort to redeploy staff across the business where possible and we’re pleased to have saved around 1000 jobs. Regrettably, however, the reduced estate meant it was inevitable that we would have to make some redundancies.

“We have informed all colleagues within the organisation of the unfortunate developments that have taken place over the last 18 days.

We spoke to Exeter students about the closure of one of Exeter’s few clubs and a much loved fresher favourite. Anna, a third year student at the University of Exeter explained she will “seriously miss” the club in Exeter’s nightclub scene. She said: “Unit 1 was integral to my freshers experience and it is one of the few clubs that was close to my first year accommodation. I think Exeter will seriously miss its presence.”

Another third year student, Ben was saddened by the news of Unit 1’s closure: “I’ll be sad to see it go, I guess grief is the price we pay for love. I can only hope the land will be put to good use for the students going forward”.

Unit 1 will be missed for its Cheesy Tuesday event, a staple in most fresher’s experiences. What more could a group of 18 year olds fresh out of school want but to scream High School Musical with a VK in hand. Many a photo booth moment was had upstairs at Unit 1 and many a girl has fallen down the middle staircase.

Many students believe, however, that unfortunately this has been a long time coming for Unit 1. A student who wishes to remain anonymous said: “I loved my time in Unit 1 during first year but their lack of events and varied music made it very hard to return week in week out. I think they sadly quickly lost an appeal to the mass student population in Exeter.”

Unit 1 has currently not yet been secured in a new sale so shall remain empty until further notice. Other sites that were forced to close include Windsor Atik, Nottingham Pryzm, Birmingham Pryzm and Leeds Pryzm.

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Featured image via Google Maps