By CHERIE DONNELLAN
THE repossession of one of central Geelong’s last live music venues could cost bands and other suppliers thousands of dollars each, according to a booking agent.
Spinng Half’s Steven Nicholls said his business was among several unpaid creditors of the Yarra Hotel.
The Scerri Hotel Group venue, formerly Bended Elbow, closed on Saturday. The hotel’s windows were boarded up and a sign said the venue was “closed until further notice”.
“We’re owed lots of money on behalf of a lot of local acts,” Mr Nicholls said.
“The scenario is that, as bookers for the venue, we were invoicing the venue as requested on behalf of [performing artists].
“We’ve had to pay these local artists or as many as we can out of our own pockets [while] waiting for that money.”
Mr Nicholls said Spinning Half had engaged legal representation to retrieve its debts after refusing in April to continue working with the hotel.
The “hard decision” followed five years of building a network of artists to play regularly in the venue, at 69 Yarra St.
“We built the place up from live music side of things when we first started in 2008, so it’s lots of years of hard work fizzled out to nothing.
“It was also a crippling thing for Geelong music scene.”
Mr Nicholls said other local suppliers faced the same battle retrieving funds.
Free entertainment magazine Forte regularly carried full-page advertisements for the hotel.
Forte owner Anton Ballard told the Independent he “didn’t wish to comment on the matter at this time”.
Scerri Hotel Group managing director Mario Scerri had not responded to the Independent’s request for comment when the paper went to press.
The reposession of the venue follows the closure last year of the nearby National Hotel, which had also hosted live music.
