The Tin Angel closes for good after water bill dispute

[dutchman]

A popular music venue which spawned a thriving music scene in Coventry has closed for good.



The Tin Angel in Spon Street will not reopen after a dispute between those running the bar and the owner of the building.

It’s understood the new owner of the building changed the locks in a row over an unpaid water bill.

Almost ten years after it first launched, staff have decided to end their fight to reopen and have moved all its events to sister venue Taylor John’s House, in the Canal Basin.

The trendy bar used to host an eclectic mix of live music, art and poetry. Dozens of handwritten messages of support were pinned to the windows after its shock closure in February.

Manager Sarah Morgan said: “The new landlord didn’t care about us or what we are about.”

She claimed he sent them a £600 water bill, which they were in the process of querying, but then changed the locks to the venue, locking them out.

She added: “We had a lawyer and were going to fight it but we decided it wasn’t worth fighting to be in a place we weren’t wanted.”

The Tin Angel was a meeting place for local musicians and rented out rehearsal rooms above the bar. It won the Best Bar category at the 2009 Godiva Awards and even spawned its own record label, Tin Angel Records, with artists including Devon Sproule who appeared on the Jools Holland Show.

Now its popular Sunday open mic night and monthly poetry night have been moved to Taylor John’s House.

Sarah added: “The Tin Angel was never really about one building, it was about the people and the shows – and we’ve moved all of that to Taylor John’s.”