St George’s Bristol Closed Due to Coronavirus

St George’s Bristol left vulnerable by coronavirus closure

St George’s concert hall on Brandon Hill, has closed to the public until at least Monday 20 April. The closure affects the Concert Hall, Box Office and Café-Bar. All events held at the venue up until 20 April are either cancelled or postponed.

In a statement, CEO of St George’s Suzanne Rolt said: ‘Given the speed at which this situation is evolving, we will be reviewing the status of events beyond this time on a regular basis and communicating this to audiences. We are currently working with artists to reschedule, wherever possible, performances to a later date and we will share details of these shortly.

‘We will contact all ticket bookers separately. Clearly the challenges we all now face are quite unprecedented. It will take us several days to contact everyone and we are grateful for your patience and understanding through these difficult times.’

The future of the venue, like others across the country, has been left in a ‘vulnerable position’. Holt says this this is because it was not possible to take out insurance to cover losses of these kind and any government support is not currently known.

The venue is asking people to consider donating the proceeds of cancelled bookings towards the venue’s ‘continued survival’.

Suzanne continues: ‘Even under normal circumstances, St George’s Bristol must raise at least £400,000 each year in donations, plus some £600,000 in ticket sales just to cover our annual operating costs. We operate on very slim margins, with a talented but small team who are committed to creating life enhancing and affirming experiences, working in partnership with some of the most passionate and talented musicians of our time.

We need your support more than ever at this time. A donation, if you are able to make one, will enable us to plan ahead, give a great boost to future activities, and will help us to support some of the artists whose events have been cancelled.’

Donations can also be made on the venue’s website: https://www.stgeorgesbristol.co.uk/support-us/donate/

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