You lot have been fantastic.  Since getting our license removed last summer (about a year now!), we've received £6710 in donations.  This money has let us keep going, by paying the rent, utilities & rates.


We're just about to apply for our new license, which is going to cost us somewhere in the region of £800.  In addition, we must cover running costs for the 6-8 weeks it'll take for the application to be processed. Altogether, we estimate we'll need an extra £2500 to keep us ticking over.


We're asking if you could help with a final bit more to get us licensed-up and self-sufficient again.  Any donations over £5 or £3 respectively, still receive a free CD or cookbook!  Keep reading!


How can you help?

Either in the form of donations or loans.

• Send this link on to your friends and group lists, post it on forums and messageboards, make some posters and stick them up everywhere, tell everyone you meet!
• Come down to the café and have some brunch
• Hold a fund-raiser
• Transfer money into our account (details at the bottom)
• Set up a standing order (forms can be downloaded from our website)
• Come to one of our general meetings (1st Thursday of the month from 8pm) if you want to share more ideas for raising money

Donations above £5 will receive a free CD; in person, or in the post.  Please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you’d like a CD, together with details of any transfer or standing order, and we’ll forward your request on to the Common Place Music Appeal group.

Loans – we are happy to accept loans of any amount. Please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with your offers. Pay back periods are negotiable, but should range from 3 months – 1 year.
A copy of our accounts are available on request from the email address above.

L'Espace Noir social centre is having problems; we're linking to their appeal because one of our mutual friends has translated and linked to ours

Sign the online petition to tell the council how rubbish it'll be if they don't give us our license back!

Do it here!

Do it now!

The Common Place has had its club premises license withdrawn by the Council.

We are in the process of appealing against their decision, but in the meantime, the club is unable to hold licensed events (gigs, club-nights, films, plays) & we can't sell alcohol. As a result we have lost a significant proportion of our normal income and we may face closure in the next few months. Whether we're successful with our appeal or not, we simply won't be able to afford to keep the centre open unless we can raise enough money through other means.

In recent weeks, a few sub-groups have formed to come up with innovative ways to support the centre:

• a benefit CD, as a celebration of all the great music events we've had at the Common Place over the years, with the generous support of artists who believe as we do that the Common Place is a valuable and unique community resource.

• various special events & fundraisers (through the use of Temporary Event Notices), with music, films, food, and sale of alcohol – keep an eye on the website for upcoming fun.

However, this is unlikely to be enough in our current financial situation.

If you want to see The Common Place stay open then we really need your help.

How can you help?

On 30th July we had our license withdrawn. This means that The Common Place will continue to function, but some things are not allowed. These are:

• Performance of dance
• Exhibition of a film
• Indoor sporting event
• Performace of music (live or recorded)
• Performance of a play
• Provision of facilities for dancing
• Sale by retail of alcohol

We had a meeting on 31st July to decide how to respond to this - minutes will be circulated - but for the time being, please consider all licensed events to be cancelled.

If you have any change of venue information, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and we'll put it up on this website.

As you can see, we've got a new website. Some of the information here has been written afresh, some has been cobbled together from the old website. What we need now is for all of the user groups, working groups, collectives, etc. to check that there's an accurate item about them. If there isn't, please write one and email it to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it