Talks continue in bid to find new home for threatened music venue in Inverness
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A THIRD round of behind-the-scenes talks has taken place in a bid to find a new home for a popular live music venue in Inverness.
The Ironworks will have to move out of the rented 1000-capacity premises on Academy Street if plans for a 162-bed hotel on the site win approval.
Speaking after this week's talks, which were chaired by Highlands and Islands Labour MSP David Stewart, Ironwork’s director Caroline Campbell said Highland Council, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Creative Scotland and High Life Highland, had reaffirmed commitments to help her find a new home for the venue.
She said talks were ongoing and no formal planning application has yet been submitted to the council so there was little more she could report.
She said it was “business as usual” for the Ironworks which is continuing to host acts from across the UK and further afield, and the diary was open as normal for bookings.
“I am really encouraged by the words of support I am getting from a range of organisations including Highland Council who say they want to do what they can to ensure we can continue to do what we do in another building," she said.
“All the equipment in the Academy Street building is our own and it’s moveable so we can shift to new premises quite easily.”
The Ironworks opened as a live music venue in 2006 but plans to build a Courtyard by Marriott Hotel on the site have sparked a search for new premises.
Mr Stewart has been campaigning on the issue since the summer and his online petition at Change.org entitled “Find a New Home for The Ironworks” is gathering thousands of signatures in support.
“I have gone to see the minister Fiona Hyslop who’s in charge of Creative Scotland," he said.
"She has been extremely supportive. This campaign is very much the language that she is talking in other parts of Scotland when she stresses the importance of live music.”
