Nottinghams Rock City issue statement after fire breaks out at iconic venue

Nottingham’s Rock City venue has issued an update after a fire broke out on the premises earlier today.

The iconic 2000-capacity venue in Nottingham city centre was the site of a blaze this morning (May 28), with police cordoning off the area of Clarendon Street and Talbot Street and fire engines attending the incident at around 9:30am.

Rock City’s owner George Akins later toldtheNottingham Postthat everybody inside the building had been evacuated and the fire had been successfully extinguished.

This evening, the venue issued an update to say that they were “delighted to say Rock City has been cleared as safe to open”.They said that tonight’s club night will goaheadbut the scheduled gig from Bristol folk group The Longest Johns will not.

“Unfortunately, due to the disruption earlier today, there has not been enough time for tonight’s gig to load in and soundcheck properly,” they said. “We never want to compromise the quality of a show, so tonight’s gig will not be going ahead as planned.”

“We’reworking with theartist’steam to reschedule the show and will update ticket holders as soon as possible with further details,” they added.

Explaining how the fire came about, they added: “During planned maintenance works at Rock City this morning, as part of a major upgrade to our air handling system, a small fire occurred within part of a ventilation unit, causing smoke in the ceiling space.”

“Everyone onsite was safelyevacuated,the situation was quickly brought under control, and checks have now been completed.We’repleased to say the impact waslimitedand the venue is safe to reopen.”

“A huge thank you to our onsite teams and Nottinghamshire Fire & Rescue for their swift response and support. Thanks for bearing with us,” they concluded.

Rock City is owned by the promoters DHP Family, as are fellow Nottingham venues Rescue Rooms and Bodega,and it opened in December 1980, withThe Undertonesthe first band ever to play there. It has since played host to the likes ofDavid Bowie,NirvanaandOasis.