THEY had planned to make the final six months of trading as "memorable and celebratory as possible" but tonight there was only sadness as the curtain came down half way through.
Mello Mello has closed for good.
It follows an up-and-down couple of years which saw it restructure the business after the then deputy mayor Paul Brant intervened to keep it open. And it is a move that has taken regulars and even its own staff by surprise.
In a statement, Mello Mello Community Interest Company Ltd blamed sky-high city centre business rates continuing to take their toll, as well as several burglaries, on the comapny's stretched finances.
Mello Mello's Slater Street premises were bought last year by a London pub company and the operation was set to move out in January 2015. It opened in 2007 in a dilapidated four storey building, previously the admin HQ of superclub Cream. But it quickly found favour among both the young grassroots creative community and an older audience drawn by its ambience and refreshing lack of pretension. A rare place where even most of the bar staff were artists, actors and musicians.
Bar staff included performers in their own right such as Howard Be Thy Name
Mello positioned itself as the city centre music venue of choice (for bands and acts who could actually fit on its tiny, rickety stage) and much bigger names. It received an early endorsement from the late, great theatre maverick Ken Campbell, whose final Liverpool performance took place there in 2007, and the KLF's Bill Drummond who launched his book 100 there in 2012.
Rob Longson and Laura Powers, directors of the venture that operated Mello Mello, along with chef Jo Shelbourne, were last night not ready to make any further comment on the day's developments - or what the future might hold - after what they described as "an intensely long day".
The bustling Ropewalks venue, which had a full calendar of events booked, including a six-week soap opera from Impropriety in October, was silent last night with this notice pinned to the firmly locked door.
It thanked the people of Liverpool for their support and "every single creative individual who had walked through the door".
It finished by declaring: "You have all helped create something truly unique".
More later.
A full list of articles on Mello Mello's victories and struggles to stay open here
