What happens upstairs at EDT these days?

[Katy Tonbridge]

Last time I went upstairs at the EDT (three years ago?) it was some sort of private club doubling as a restaurant. Now I see that there's a monthly film club. Has it returned to being a mixed use venue, or is it still a restaurant? A long time ago it was home to ED comedy.

p.s. when I did a search on the forum for EDT it found no mentions, did I do something wrong?

[StraferJack]

Katy

Searching for anything with 3 letters or less is a bit more troublesome - I think adding an asterisk to the letters helps

ie EDT* is Good

but EDT is Not So Good

As for the upstairs venue, it's been painful to behold over the last few years. A fantastic space and location, pretty musch wasted.

To be fair to management, the general public seem disinclined to walk up stairs to a "blind" venue where they don't know id they will be alone or not. But getting rid of the comedy was a poor call

If I was Antic pubs, I would give serious consideration to installing a staircase from main pub to the upstairs, so people can go between with ease. Obviously this curtails the potential for upstairs to be used for film nights etc... but no-one really considers the current use "a success" anyway so why not...

[Katy Tonbridge]

Thanks StraferJack. It is one of the best spaces in East Dulwich and I agree that it was ideal as a comedy/theatre venue, though a lovely place to have a meal too.

[Jeremy]

StraferJack Wrote:

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> If I was Antic pubs, I would give serious

> consideration to installing a staircase from main

> pub to the upstairs, so people can go between with

> ease. Obviously this curtails the potential for

> upstairs to be used for film nights etc... but

> no-one really considers the current use "a

> success" anyway so why not...

Good idea. But internal stairs wouldn't necessarily mean an end to private hire or ticketed events!

[edcam]

They hire it out for parties, wedding receptions etc. Not sure how much use it gets in the week.

[Sue]

We had monthly Goose nights there when we first started out four years ago.

http://www.thegooseisout.com/index.html

Then we had to leave, along with the comedy, (with a sold out gig coming up), when it was turned into the "private members club". There were some alterations made to the layout, and they told us that the space was no longer suitable for music gigs.

There are occasionally music gigs still held Upstairs At The EDT (eg there was something during the Dulwich Festival - not run by us) and it is still used in the week, eg the Dulwich Folk Choir meets there on a Tuesday night during school terms.

We did approach the EDT again when we lost the Ivy House as a venue last year and couldn't find anything else suitable locally of an equivalent capacity, but their requirements of us meant it was not feasible for us to put on events there. I don't know whether that is the same for others, but if so it may be why the space isn't more widely used.

[Chippy Minton]

Bring back the celebrity quiz.

Where's Noddy?

[DulwichFox]

Upstairs at the EDT...??

I have heard singing and banging noises coming from above the pub.

I thought there were Dozens of Little Elves making Wooden Toys for Christmas

for all the Little Children in East Dulwich.

Fox.

[IngridB]

This coming Thursday, 17 January THE BIGGER PICTURE FILM CLUB http://www.thebiggerpic.co.uk/ is showing AMERICAN BEAUTY upstairs at the EDT directed by Sam Mendes and starring Kevin Spacey.

A middle aged office drone finds himself besotted with his daughter?s teenage friend and sets about reinvigorating his life. An incisive, deliriously funny and profound vision of the American Dream hitting meltdown. ?Intelligent, exhilarating, effervescent film-making? Guardian

The Bigger Picture gives its profits to local charities. On Thursday EBONY HORSE CLUB in Brixton http://www.ebonyhorseclub.org.uk/ will receive ?200. A rep will be at the screening to say a few words about this extraordinary charity.

7pm bar/themed snacks

7.50 introduction

8pm film

Free raffle prizes courtesy of Rye Books and Push Studios

Tickets ?7

in person from Push Studios, Blackwater Street; Rye Books, Upland Rd; Locale Restaurant, East Dulwich Rd; EDT, Lordship Lane

or online from WeGotTickets http://www.wegottickets.com/event/197858

Upstairs at East Dulwich Tavern, 1 Lordship Lane, SE22

Future films, all screened at the EDT: http://www.thebiggerpic.co.uk/

Go along, they are great evenings!

[DagmarJ]

I hired the space last year and had an absolutely fantastic birthday party. I'd love to see a regular dancy night, have even thought of organising it myself as so difficult to find somewhere local for a good bop.

[Sue]

DagmarJ Wrote:

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> I hired the space last year and had an absolutely

> fantastic birthday party. I'd love to see a

> regular dancy night, have even thought of

> organising it myself as so difficult to find

> somewhere local for a good bop.

xxxxxxx

If you have it on a Friday or Saturday night, the EDT want a guaranteed vast expenditure at the bar.

If your punters don't drink/spend enough, you would have to stump up the difference.

[antantant]

Sue Wrote:

> If you have it on a Friday or Saturday night, the

> EDT want a guaranteed vast expenditure at the

> bar.

>

> If your punters don't drink/spend enough, you

> would have to stump up the difference.

How much is vast?

[Sue]

?1500.

Obviously it would depend how many people went along and what they drank, but very risky if you had even one evening which was poorly attended.

Unless you can afford to lose that kind of money of course. We can't :)

[Cedges]

The WI meets up there on the first Wednesday of each month.

Its officially called 'The Lodge' so that may bring up more results on a search.

They put 2 casino tables up there on NYE just gone but the lighting is so p*** poor that it was a shambles and they only place you could stand and watch meant blocking the light from the one lamp the 2 croupiers were sharing so you were moved on. Pants.

The poor lighting would put me off hiring it for anything. The WI has had to buy a load of wind up lamps to use becuase there are no extra lights, candles are a bit dangerous when crafting/drinking and they won't let you plug any extra lamps in.

[Help-Ma-Boab]

Blimey, the WI get through ?1500 worth of bevy on a Wednesday night...where do I sign up.

Cedges Wrote:

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> The WI meets up there on the first Wednesday of

> each month.

>

> Its officially called 'The Lodge' so that may

> bring up more results on a search.

>

> They put 2 casino tables up there on NYE just gone

> but the lighting is so p*** poor that it was a

> shambles and they only place you could stand and

> watch meant blocking the light from the one lamp

> the 2 croupiers were sharing so you were moved on.

> Pants.

>

> The poor lighting would put me off hiring it for

> anything. The WI has had to buy a load of wind up

> lamps to use becuase there are no extra lights,

> candles are a bit dangerous when crafting/drinking

> and they won't let you plug any extra lamps in.

[Sue]

It's only Friday and Saturday nights they make this condition :))

So the W.I. will lose out on the pleasure of your company I guess then :))

[Help-Ma-Boab]

I kind of thought that, but had a picture more of Gin & Tonic than Jam & Jerusalem in my head.

Sue Wrote:

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> It's only Friday and Saturday nights they make

> this condition :))

>

> So the W.I. will lose out on the pleasure of your

> company I guess then :))

[Sue]

Help-Ma-Boab Wrote:

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> I kind of thought that, but had a picture more of

> Gin & Tonic than Jam & Jerusalem in my head.

>

xxxxxxx

These days it's probably both :)

[antantant]

Wow! That is more than I expected.

Sue Wrote:

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> ?1500.

>

> Obviously it would depend how many people went

> along and what they drank, but very risky if you

> had even one evening which was poorly attended.

>

> Unless you can afford to lose that kind of money

> of course. We can't :)

[Sue]

antantant Wrote:

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> Wow! That is more than I expected.

>

>

>

> Sue Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > ?1500.

> >

> > Obviously it would depend how many people went

> > along and what they drank, but very risky if

> you

> > had even one evening which was poorly attended.

> >

> > Unless you can afford to lose that kind of

> money

> > of course. We can't :)

xxxxxx

It was a lot more than we expected as well, which we said - after reeling back with shock.

The manager just said "I've got a business to run."

Weird. So have all the other pubs which don't enforce that kind of condition.... we went to talk to loads of places during the Autumn, and not one of them wanted a guaranteed bar spend, let alone such a high one.

The managers of the two we chose are both really happy to be putting on live music there http://www.thegooseisout.com

[KidKruger]

A couple of posters on another related thread recently seemed to believe that asking ?1500 in front was reasonable for this ED room-above-a-bar. Maybe, but if you're really trying to run a business you cut deals don't you ?

The 100 Club is less than that to hire for a Saturday (though you have to evidence ticket sales/potential attendance based on previous events you've run) !!

[Sue]

We could have evidenced frequent selling out at a venue twice the size of the EDT's room - plus in the dim and distant past, before they turned it into the "Private Members' Club", we'd sold out several gigs at the EDT!

Maybe they think all our punters are teetotal (:)) )

But the thing is, if you're running regular events as we are, there's some artists you know you will always sell out for, and others - particularly if you haven't booked them before - you just don't know.

As I guess every promoter will tell you, sometimes there's apparently no rhyme nor reason why one night you have a rammed room and another night you don't.

And if you're having to guarantee a ?1500 bar take on the nights you don't, you'd very soon go bankrupt. Well, we would, since we run things on a shoestring :))

[james_ja]

i'm under the impression that the reason bars charge a minimum is due to 'lost' sales from regular punters if you were to hire it out and this is to protect them, which is fair game.

But if the upstairs isn't used for regular trade and is purely for renting then this price is just driving away business.

Sue, they sometimes have small bands on downstairs on the small stage, would that suffice for your event?

[Sue]

james_ja Wrote:

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>

> Sue, they sometimes have small bands on downstairs

> on the small stage, would that suffice for your

> event?

xxxxxx

Hi, thanks for the suggestion but it's not really suitable as a regular venue, and in any case we are not particularly inclined to use the EDT!!!

We have in the past put on artists in an actual bar, eg Wizz Jones at Hoopers a few years back, but for most of what we do we need a self-contained reasonably quiet venue.

We now thankfully have two new venues, The Old Nun's Head on Nunhead Green and The Crown and Greyhound in Dulwich Village, but crikey it took a lot of time and effort to find suitable places :))

ETA: In both cases we are using a room upstairs which is separate from the main bar areas.