Breaking news: The Blockley to close its doors at the end of the month

Shuggie Otis in concert at The Blockley 8/9/13 – Photo by Chris Sikich | countfeed.tumblr.com Sad and disappointing news about the loss of a great live music venue in Philadelphia: The Blockley, the live music venue, bar and restaurant at 38th and Chestnut Streets in West Philadelphia is closing its doors at the end of December. That’s the word from The Blockley’s Chris Perella, who in an e-mail and on The Blockley Facebook page wrote: “It is with tremendous sadness that I tell you The Blockley will be closing its doors after 2013.” The club has lost its liquor license under a move in which the owners were working on a sale of the business.

Perella explains:

The Blockley’s ownership group was working toward completing a sale of the business. That, for me and our humble staff that make the venue go, represented an amazing opportunity to move forward with more resources, staff, and momentum than ever, and take things to a new level. The rug got pulled out on Wednesday. In the process of negotiating a sale agreement, the necessary transfer of our liquor license to a new owner was blocked, irreversibly. We have been negotiating it, but we’re forced to move the license out of the building. We have explored absolutely every option available to try and salvage the situation, and can safely say it’s out of our hands. Without a liquor license, we can’t sell the business- so suddenly, the future fell apart. I can’t begin to express the disappointment on my end.

Perella says he’s working to fulfill the booking commitments they’ve made and is looking for other venues to hold the shows that have been booked at The Blockley. Several shows remain through December including Bilal on December 13th, Junior Marvin (of Bob Marley & the Wailers) on December 21st and a planned big event for the closing. Read the entire message on The Blockley’s Facebook page here. More info as the story unfolds.