Grappa’s Cellar closure: petition to save Hong Kong live music venue records thousands of signatures
- Landlord has not renewed the celebrated Italian restaurant’s lease, amid plans for the Central venue to be turned into a food court
- Petition has been set up online to save the venue that would be celebrating its 20th anniversary this year
A campaign to save famed Hong Kong live music venue Grappa’s Cellar is gaining momentum with thousands of people signing a petition launched after the landlord decided to not renew the popular Italian restaurant’s lease.
“We launched the Change.org campaign on Tuesday and hope that everyone who cares about live music, comedy, theatre and all kinds of music – rock, indie, jazz – will sign. We hope to reach 10,000 signatures,” says Karen Tong, who has led weekly swing dance events at the venue since 2006.
John Robertson, marketing director at Grappa’s parent company the El Grande Restaurant Group, says he was “gutted” to learn that the lease would not be renewed beyond the end of July.
“It’s our 20th year and we should be celebrating our 20th anniversary in June instead of focusing on this,” says Robertson, who is responsible for managing live entertainment at the venue.
He says the decision follows a survey by landlord Hongkong Land asking the 40,000 tenants in the building what they thought was lacking in the area. The response was a request for Southeast Asian food at a low price point.