The Blind Tiger Club, Brighton


The Blind Tiger Club was a mixed music, arts and community venue in Brighton, England, which opened in 2010. The venue closed in 2014, and Time Out described the venue as "semi-legendary", in its round-up of Brighton's live music scene that year. In 2015, Gigwise included the club in their list of the UK's Greatest Lost Venues.

History

The Blind Tiger Club was located at 52-54 Grand Parade, opposite the University of Brighton Faculty of Arts and close to the Royal Pavilion. The premises had been licensed for drinking and entertainment since they were originally built in the mid-1800s.
From its creation and for most of the 20th Century the premises traded as 'The Norfolk Arms'. In the 1990s, the venue was renamed 'Hector's House' after the children's television show Hector's House which screened on the BBC from 1965 to 1970.
As 'Hector's House', the performance of live music and DJs became more important to the licensed premises, with the space gaining a reputation as "a showcase for up and coming bands" and one of Brighton's key small live music venues, regularly taking part in The Great Escape Festival and other annual arts events.

Closure

The Blind Tiger Club closed in May 2014, following the March issuing of a Noise Abatement Notice issued under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Its popularity as a community venue led to national news coverage and a public petition, signed by over 15,000 people.

Legacy

Outcry over the closure of the venue fed into national concerns which were building up by 2014, contributing to the creation that year of the Music Venue Trust in the UK. The Trust's aims are to reverse the closure of live music venues in the UK and support the industries around them.