Melbourne’s Empress Hotel Closes Suddenly, Gigs Cancelled

Melbourne music venue the Empress Of India Hotel has closed its doors this afternoon, with all upcoming gigs cancelled if new venues cannot be found.

The Fitzroy North pub, widely known as the Empress, failed to open its doors this afternoon, with a theMusic.com.au staffer reporting that the venue's doors were locked and the site appeared that it has been closed with some haste.

With shows from The Ears, The Dark Ales and Claire Birchall slated for this week alone, venue booker Zen Mejglo confirmed to theMusic this afternoon that the doors would be closed for the indefinite future due to personal reasons of the owner.

UPDATE: The venue has confirmed to theMusic that "family reasons" are behind the sudden closure.

Gig guide on the venue's window

The venue has long been under the stewardship of Melbourne identity Sandra Eunson, who guided the venue through issues of noise complaints over half a decade ago. The venue, which has long been tied to live music, was one of the first to encounter issues with new residents moving into the inner-city before the widely-publicised troubles of recent years, but enjoyed a healthy 100 dB limit in the band room of late.

Mejglo told theMusic that noise complaints were not behind the venue's closure today, which only became apparent at as late as 5pm.

Beyond this week bands like The Hondas had shows booked, all of which will need to find new rooms at this cluttered time of year, or be cancelled. Shows happening this week, including The Ears, will almost certainly be cancelled.

The Empress has played host to many artists over the years, including The White Stripes in 2000 and Crow when they were at their peak in the '90s. Silverchair's first Melbourne show also took place at the venue.

The doors did not open this afternoon and are locked this evening