A furious row has broken out after the plug was pulled on live music at the Brentwood Centre.
The Entertainers, a father and son team, who attracted top shows, bands and comedians under the Brentwood Live banner, blame the Council for forcing them to shut down.
Managing Director Mike Taylor, a former stand-up comedian who has been in showbiz for 50 years claimed: “Brentwood Borough have completely shafted us and all the people who come to see our shows.”
“ We’ve invested more than £300,000 in improving the venue over the last two years with a dramatic overhaul to make it feel like a theatre rather than a sports hall, including state of the art sound and lights equipment, video displays, brand new dressing rooms and it’s been all for nothing.
“Instead we’ve been offered a short-term contract, significantly increased charges and 362 less seats in the auditorium which only held 2,000 anyway.
“Sadly, it is just not financially viable to carry on, all we wanted was the original terms and conditions that we had agreed with the Brentwood Leisure Trust and signed up for to continue“
The dispute erupted when the Trust, a charity running the venue, went bust in October with huge debts.
The Council stepped into the breach but are not honoring the previous agreement held with Brentwood Live.
The Entertainers have been engaged in talks for the past month with Johnathon Stevenson, the Chief Executive of the Council but they broke down with no joint resolution in sight, despite the Council pledging they wanted to preserve live music at the Centre.
Taylor, 70, who has been booking artistes like the Four Tops and the Temptations and shows all around the world with his actor turned producer son James, for the past 25 years added: “The Council are telling us they want to make it work but, in my opinion this is a total kick in the teeth, considering what we have done and achieved in the last two years.”
“We brought the venue back to life, building a sensational programme including bringing the biggest shows and star names; including the likes of Rob Beckett, Floyd Mayweather, Jimmy Carr, UB40, John Bishop, The Drifters, Fastlove and many more.”
“We had a five-year deal with the Trust to secure the venue exclusively, but now all the Council are offering is a limited period either to fulfil existing bookings and not exclusive. To be honest we feel completely let down.”
The Entertainers, who were making Brentwood Live into the new music hub of Essex have promised everyone who has booked tickets to see shows in 2020/21 will get a full refund through nominated ticket agents; subject to their respective terms and conditions of sale.
The closure, which has already seen 10 full time staff lose their jobs in marketing and promotions at the company’s HQ in Canvey Island due to COVID-19, will also effect local temporary jobs as many were employed on an ad hoc basis on show days, like backstage and front of house staff, security, bar and marketing teams.
The Council have not been specific about what they plan to do with the Leisure Centre in the future – it could be knocked down and replaced with a hotel, conference and leisure centre or the Council could try booking their own acts.
Director James Taylor, 35, who has developed hit shows like “FastLove”, the biggest selling George Michael tribute show in the world and Lost in Music which has been seen by hundreds of thousands of fans all over the UK and abroad claimed: “I really want the fans and the people of Essex who have supported us to know that this is not our fault. I feel the Council have pushed us into a corner and they have a different agenda for the venue and it does not include our company or possible live entertainment.
“The seats (362) were decommissioned by the Trust at the end of 2019 , removed and new ones ordered and built, however the Council now say will not be replacing these seating banks as they want to review the decision of investing in new seating as they consider it a short term option. What does that say for the future?
“It’s ridiculous, we would have had to contact all the customers who had booked those seats to see Jimmy Carr, etc in the New Year and say sorry you can’t come after all because there’s nowhere to sit!” Our reputation, which we have built up for many years, would have been left in tatters.”
The Entertainers, who also create and promote more over 1000 shows a year to theatres all over the UK and specifically Queen’s Theatre in Hornchurch, and to Cliff’s Pavillion in Southend normally put on around 50 shows a year in Brentwood. They had paid advanced fees of £40,000 in February this year to the Leisure Trust and in addition will have losses of over £500,000 due to the Trust going into administration. But the Trust is now in the hand of receivers and there is little chance of recovering any monies.
The concert venue has been closed since the out breaks of the COVID -19 pandemic and artistes unable to perform.
Taylor, 35 who was a successful actor in Los Angeles before joining forces with his father at Entertainers alleged: “The Council are trying to squeeze us, they also planned to remove our percentage from the bar takings and charge us an extra £500 per hour for a late night licence which we had and need for some shows, plus now trying to charge us on top fees for the hire of security, bar staff and venues staff on the shows over 4 hours which was all previously included.”
“We countered by asking them to contribute to the marketing costs and reduce our hire fee down as on the previous arrangement, £1000 per show went to the Trust which no longer exists, but they were not interested. Negotiations have ended as far as we are concerned.”
Joe Norris, director of Off the Kerb productions, one of the oldest and largest comedy agencies in the UK said: “Brentwood Live has been a breath of fresh air, for the past two years, the team have worked incredibly hard to put the venue back on the map. Losing them is a very sad loss to the community and the venue won’t be the same.”
In an official statement James Taylor added: “It is with great regret and sadness to inform everyone that Brentwood Live is no more. For the past 2 years we have worked tirelessly to build something we have been very passionate about and something special for the local community, creating jobs and giving back to the people, a place they could go to be entertained by bringing the best shows and biggest names back to Brentwood.
As some of you may know, Brentwood Live is a local father and son team that have invested over £300,000 into getting this dream off the ground and establishing the great venue we had created.
As you can imagine with Covid it has been an awful time for everyone especially people in the entertainment industry. In October we were informed along with the general public that Brentwood Leisure Trust, who were responsible for the Brentwood Centre had gone into liquidation, this was a huge shock to us as we had a full schedule of events in place for 2021/22. Since this time, we have been in discussions with Brentwood Council to try to come to an agreement to allow us to continue to provide shows and entertainment at the Centre. Unfortunately, these talks have now ceased, and we have been left bewildered and sadden that we were not offered a viable option to continue.
Our hopes were that Brentwood Council would have kept us at the Bentwood Centre to continue to provide something special for the people of Brentwood and surrounding areas to enjoy and be proud of but unfortunately this was not the case. We would have thought that there would have been a greater importance for Brentwood Council to keep us there, providing something for the people of Brentwood and surrounding areas to enjoy and be proud of, but unfortunately this is not the case.
So today, sadly, the Brentwood Live dream has come an end. It has been a very hard decision for us but there is no other viable way for us to continue.
All shows will be cancelled and all customers will be refunded via nominated ticket agents; subject to their respective terms and conditions of sale.
Please contact your original point of purchase for this but please bear with them as they work through the vast amount of refunds. It will take each agent some time to process on our behalf.
We would like to thank everyone for their support and all the people who believed in us and gave us a chance to create something wonderful.
As to our own productions, including The Magic of Motown, Lost in Music, Fastlove, Big Girls Don’t Cry, 80s Live and Thank you for the Music and our programme of comedians and bands please look out for them in the surrounding theatres of Southend, Hornchurch, Basildon and Chelmsford.
We hope to see you at one of our shows in the future.”
