Reports have surfaced that Melbourne live music venue and bar Shebeen will be closing down permanently by the end of the month.
It comes after acclaimed rapper Juñor was forced to reschedule the Melbourne leg of his Free. Mined tour, which was set to take place at Shebeen on Thursday June 30. Juñor stated that the venue would instead be closing as of Saturday June 25.
“We received an email from venue collective at 5:50pm last night advising us that Shebeen would be permanently closing its doors,” said Juñor. “So we stayed up until 3am and are working super hard to reschedule the show at a similar sized and respected venue for a similar ticket price.”
Juñor said he has been assured ticket holders to the cancelled show will be entitled to a full refund.
The short-lived bandroom and bar is part of The Venue Collective, which is currently winding down its operations after a decision from the business owners to dissolve the company.
UPDATE: In a statement provided to Beat Magazine, Shebeen co-founder Simon Griffiths said the closure was due to unavoidable problems arising from noise.
“Over the last twelve months it has become apparent that the wall of our band room is shared with the Melbourne East Police Station’s sleeping quarters,” said Griffiths. “As a result we have received significant pressure from the police and the VCGLR, and we received an infringement notice from the VCGLR which we have unsuccessfully appealed. After working with our landlord to look at all available options we are incredibly sad to announce that we will be closing Shebeen for business on June 25. We’re deeply sorry for all of the shows that were booked after this date and are working flat out with The Venue Collective to find new homes for all of these shows. We owe a huge thank you to everyone that has been a part of Shebeen to date, and would love to see you for one last non-profit song, banh mi or drink before we close our doors.”
