Geelong Venue Cans Live Music Over Structural Concerns

Geelong's The National Hotel, more commonly known as The Nash, will be ceasing live music as of Saturday 10 November after structural insufficiencies in the building prompted the council to order the landlord to see if anything can be done to say the venue.

Announcing the end of live music at the venue on Facebook today, event manager Al O'Neill said the decision was solely related to the structural issues and was not due to financial issues or lack of punter support.

“We had to bite the bullet and confirm a last date for shows as we didn't want to inconvenience bands more than we have to, pulling the pin on it now seems a better option rather than having 48 hours notice to close the building down and leaving a lot of touring bands with no options,” the announcement read.

“The reason the venue is closing is not financial, nor did we not have enough punters through the doors, the venue is closing as the structural integrity of the foundations supporting the building has been compromised and the council has issued an order to the landlords to commence major works to investigate whether these foundations can be repaired.

“If these works reveal the building can be repaired, hopefully, it will be repaired, at this stage this is out of our hands.”

He said it was unclear if the pub will have to close indefinitely.

O'Neill, who has worked at the venue for seven years and, by his estimation, 2,000 bands, said he “will miss the place terribly, I have seen some amazing bands over the years and the venue has opened up so many doors for me.”

In recent months the venue has hosted the likes of Northeast Party House, Resist The Thought, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, The Art Of Sleeping, The Beards and Rosetta.