over 25 years I have been attending the Roadmander. My Daughters now attend Fri-Up etc held in a safe environment. we can leave them in safe care having a great time, listening to contemporary music... it has to stay.
Northampton needs more, good live music venues, not less. The Roadmender offers a santuary to kids interested in the real music scene, and enables those who are not teenagers anymore to join in!!
As much as it is a piss soaked **** hole, it is also well loved it seems.Keep it for the new generation of kids, its a basic part of growing up in the northampton alternative scene.
I am just at an age were I would like to start going to Roadmender. I love rock and jazz music. I love the fact that at 13 there is a place I can go to listen to music. Please keep Roadmender going.
The Roadmender centre has provided thousands of evenings of entertainment to young (and not so young) people in the county, and on a recent visit I was really pleased to see so many people mixing, socialising and enjoying the venue, many of them 14-18 years, instead of becoming 'disaffected youth' somewhere else in the town. It is better value for money than many other social initiatives in the town. Keep The Raodmender!
The roadmender not only introduces the young and old to a huge number of high quality bands but also encourages home grown tallent and provides a valuable place for the people of northampton to go and stay off the streets
Have young people, in northants (the key stakeholders), being properly consulted about this? Where can we see feedback from consultation with young people and see how thier comments and feelings have been incorporated into the decision making process?
It would be a complete tragedy, were The Roadmender to close. These small venues are loved by the public and artists alike and should be embraced by the authorities who appear to ignore their importance and worth. With a little extra nuturing The Roadmender can help keep this sinking town alive! The venue has played host to so much up and coming talent over the years and just recently so top mainstream acts that other venues could not attract! Do your homework fat cats! don't cut off another limb!
Many people from MK visit northampton and in particular the Roadmender, coz theres nothing quite like it in MK. I'v been supporting Roadmender for the last 20 odd years, seen some great bands and done some great stuff, dont let places like this get sucked in to a funding war with the local authority they're all suits that think they know best but they dont its the users that know best.
How is it that the Council can consider funding a project like "The Beach" at a cost of £Millions and yet can't find funding to support The Roadmender. Remember Council members, the kids who miss out on everything the Roadmender offers are potential future voters, I hope they vote YOU all out of office, Shame on you.
The County Council's action here does nothing other than demonstrate how uncommitted they are to providing their community with arts and culture. It also indicates how incompetent they are when it comes to managing and distributing budgets. They really need to sort themselves out or Northampton will be subjected to yet another sad, and embarassing, step backwards.
The Roadmender is an important part of the cultural aspect of Northamptonshire, and goodness knows, we are lacking in culture, so please think what you're doing and don't make more bad decisions like the "Emporium Archade" and "Delapre"
This is the best venue for miles around. If it closes it would be a tremendous loss to Northamptonshire. Please do what you can to ensure The Roadmender continues to receive funding. It really is THAT vital
The roadmender is a vital link in providing young people with inspiration, interest and ambition to be something other than what is in front of them, please don't close it
o for F*CK sake you people are so stupid keep roadmender open other wise what else has northampton got thats half decent...?? NOTHING WHAT SO FU*CKING EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
hahahahahaha suck on that bit*h
We all know that the Northampton town centre is in a state of termainal decline. What sense can there be in removing the one unique venue that is about CULTURE, not merely about servicing the binge drinkers that are turning this place into a hole full of drunken louts? Roadmender gives Northampton - in fact Northamptonshire - something to be proud of. Do the right thing!
With just Roadmender and Soundhaus offering gigs in Northampton, withdrawing funding to Roadmender will eventually reduce student figures in Northampton as students will study somewhere that still supports live music and evening entertainment that doesn't have to revolve around alcohol such as Leicester, Birmingham, Nottingham and Cambridge. Unless that's the County Coucil's secret plan? Degenerate Northampton into a deprived slum with evening entertainment being to watch telly, vandalise or get pissed in town. Suddenly Brum sounds attractive...
Visited the Roadmender for the first time last month to watch the Fall. Was really impressed with the venue - the diversity of everything on offer, the club nights. You don't find venues as good as this in towns of equivalent size. I come from Southam and still regard this place as local. Don't withdraw funding from a venue that so obviously serves so many people.
As the premier music venue in Northamptonshire the Roadmender importance cant not be understated.What are the fans and the bands both local and from further affield supposed to do???
Surely there are some private sponsors i.e. booze companies,record companies etc. that can sponsor the institution that the Roadmender has become over the years! FFS!!
Why do you think this is a good idea? I would be most interested to see what you are thinking of spending that money on. I seriously believe that as a cultural focal point in the area, let alone the national/international interest that it provides, the Roadmender is an institution that is a foundation of local music and artistic creativity. Please consider your choice carefully, and know that there is only one Roadmenders, with a hell of a lot more support than just the names on this petition.
Choices for alternative music fans in this region are slim enough already. Keeping the Roadmender open is essential for ensuring Northampton's cultural diversity.
Both the times iv'e played here have been the most memorble and enjoyable, not just because of the place but the people who live around it and go to the venue, this place is just way to important to loose.
The adverse knock on effects of the loss of this local business and entertainment venue would ultimately hit the very people who supposedly want to see Northamptonshire grow & develop, i.e. government.
Every effort must be made to ensure this important and value venue stays open. IT is a real asset to Northampton and cutting funding is both short-sighted and foolhardy.
The roadmender is an important part of Northampton's music culture, and has been the backbone of live music in this town, if the Roadmender closes it leaves the town's music lovers no choice, but to travel further to watch live bands, surely this would be a step backwards in a town that's supposed to be moving forwards, no where else locally will host such a diverse array of music talent for all ages.
It will be a sad day for gigger's if the Roadmender dies!!!
I agree that the venue has not always been run in the most effective way, but that is a management issue, not an issue of need or cultural significance. At its best the venue has provided a platform for great entertainment (particularly live music) which otherwise would not be available to Northampton's population without them having to travel to Birmingham, Cambridge, Oxford or London. As Northampton town (and university) continue to expand it needs a venue which can provide entertainment for people of all ages and particularly young people who are not properly catered for elsewhere. Without this venue the town will be much the poorer. The County Council should ask itself whether the savings involved are significant enough to justify the loss to the community as a whole. Properly managed the Roadmender is something that the people of Northampton and the surrounding area can be proud of. Closure is the easy way out. The harder task is to ensure good venue management, effective local marketing and financial viability. The people of Northampton deserve the extra effort to be made.
This was one of our favourite 'home' venues and my band uk decay played there several times in the early eighties. Even today when I think of Northampton I think of the Roadmenders..it would be so so sad to see it go the same way as Dunstables California Ballroom and Queensway Hall Closing the Roadmenders would be a great cultural loss to the town and area. The money to keep it going, is little compared to council spending as a whole.
Keep the venue open for god sake. I cant believe how badly managed this great venue has been. Get some more decent named bands in regularly and for god-sake give a better platform for local music. The friday fri-up is all well and good for the younger kids but what about the rest of the local music community?
The support the council provides is more than repaid in the value Roadmender gives the community, local and wider. Don't let short term savings destroy a wonderful asset!
it would be extremely sad if the roadmender lost its funding. it is probably the most interesting thing about northampton, and a real important venue for northampton musicians and music lovers.
