Issue 46 / July 2014

Bido Lito! July 2014
9
is due to noise complaints, but Ambrose remains sceptical. “This
bloke from the council came in and he was quite adamant that
we weren’t allowed any more amplified music. But he was very
ambiguous about it – they didn’t give any details of who had made
the complaints, and what about.” A spokesperson for Liverpool City
Council clarified to us that they “have advised the licence holders
of the difficulties and potential consequences of staging live music
events at St Luke’s, given that it is open to the elements and has
the potential to cause noise nuisances,” but that “any decision not
to stage live music events at St Luke’s lies entirely with the licence
holder, who has to consider whether a statutory noise nuisance is
likely to be caused.” The council also clarified that “the main issue
relating to live music at the church is that when similar events
took place in 2013 we received a number of noise complaints from
residents living in the immediate locality that the music was too
loud and occurred at times when people wanted to sleep.”
For a venue where live music and performance forms a large
part of its programme, and especially with two large events,
Liverpool Calling and Freeze’s Summer Sessions, booked in for
July, this could present a pretty big stumbling block. “Usually,
people come to me first,” Ambrose explains. “One time, a woman
called me up because she couldn’t hear Coronation Street, so I
turned it down a bit and the problem was solved.”
Ashley True, who has hosted several events in the Church as part
of KYC Management, is even more insistent about its importance
as a live music venue. “I reckon about 60% of our crowds come
because it’s in the Bombed Out Church. The atmosphere is like
nothing else. We always flyer the neighbourhood before a show;
usually we have to contact the Environmental Health Agency… a
lot goes into it, and it’s not like it’s all the time.”
Being able to see and hear what is going on from outside
is key to the Church’s strategy in attracting punters, offering a
sample before you enter. What’s more, St. Luke’s lies at a busy
traffic junction in the heart of the city centre, where things are
supposed to be bustling, vibrant and noisy. With the licence
compromised – or at least under a lot of scrutiny – not only does
the city lose a unique gigging space, but other events, such as the
outdoor cinema, are potentially at risk. Ambrose heaves a sigh as
he ponders the situation, but it’s not the lament of one about to
bite the bullet, rather one who is doing his best to work within the
situation. “Freeze have sold hundreds of tickets and they’re close
to selling out, so the council haven’t done it by the book. It really is
a blow to us as the big live events bring us in so much revenue.”
It’s admirable that, instead of backing down, Ambrose is
working within the council’s parameters. The team plan to utilise
the courtyard’s acoustics to make it the city’s premier unplugged
music venue, which would bring the overall programme in line
with the quieter, more meditative sessions that the Bombed
Out Church also offers. They also plan to expand the number of
workshops the Church puts on as part of a new conservation trust
initiative in partnership with the council, dedicated to expanding
people’s skillsets and training-up apprentices. They have enough
ideas to fill the rafters, all in line with maintaining the building’s
original structure – though the roof certainly won’t be returning
under their plans.
To continue their work, a Crowdfunder campaign has been set
up with an £18,000 target. That isn’t much in the grand scheme
of things when you consider how this will be used to secure
St. Luke’s as it currently operates. Half the money will be put
towards repairs and maintenance, while the rest will be used to
continue and expand the current activities within the Church. “It
will work alongside the conservation trust we’re setting up with
the council,” Ambrose explains. “We’ll be able to train people to
use and maintain the space, so they can hand their skills on.”
Furthermore, their aim is to set themselves up as a community
interest company that gradually becomes self-sufficient and
no longer needs the support of the council for the upkeep and
maintenance of the building.
Though keeping hold of the Church is sure to be an uphill
struggle, Ambrose and his team have a strong base of public
support: so far over 27,000 people have signed a ‘Save The
Bombed Out Church’ e-petition, with Yoko One even taking to
Twitter to show her support. It is hard to emphasise just how much
St. Luke’s is imprinted on the city’s consciousness. Silent Sleep’s
Chris McIntosh, who wrote his track Meet Me On The Steps Of The
Bombed Out Church during a homesick episode in Berlin, was also
keen to do his bit when he heard that the venue was under threat.
In May he posted an idea online to film a video for his song in
St. Luke’s, with the aim of showing it off as a great community
space in the middle of a heaving city. The response he received
was overwhelming, with hundreds cramming in on the day of the
shoot, representing a cavalry of woodland creatures. “I’d been
thinking about doing it for ages, and I was in the studio when I
heard the news and it seemed the right time to do it,” McIntosh
recalls. “Ambrose has done so much for it. He’s turned it from a
shell of a building into a place where cool things happen.”
McIntosh also hopes the video can do its bit in raising
awareness about the cause. “It’s part of the city’s DNA,” he
reasons. “I think it only hits you when people from outside the
city ask you what it is. Initially you’re like ‘Oh, it’s the Bombed
Out Church’ and you shrug it off, but the more you say it the more
you realise it actually means something. We can combine the
music video with the Crowdfunder campaign to contextualise it,
so people understand the need to raise money so Ambrose can
keep hold of the Church.”
Ambrose remains remarkably positive about delivering the next
stage of developing St. Luke’s, as the team work on dovetailing
the Crowdfunder campaign with their new blueprint for running
the Church as a CIC and keeping it as an open space in the city
centre for people to drop in and create. “We’ve got some great
incentives lined up for the campaign,” enthuses Ambrose. “We’re
going to get our guy who does aerial photography to shoot each
of the gargoyle’s faces, and you can have a photo which you can
proudly show off as your own gargoyle.”
Despite the liquidation of Urban Strawberry Lunch, Ambrose
and his team maintain a strong sense of direction that underlines
their determination to preserve the Church. St. Luke’s remains
rooted in the city’s fabric – the stained glass hosts Liverpool’s
oldest Liver Bird – and it is hard to imagine walking up Bold Street
and not seeing it as it currently stands. “You can have a million
hotels in Liverpool,” Ambrose reflects, “but there’s only one
Bombed Out Church.”
The power now lies with us. If we want our city centre to be
a vibrant, creative, open and noisy hub, then we need to make
sure that St. Luke’s stays open and accessible to all. Against all
odds it has withstood a number of assaults: with our help it can
withstand this one too.
facebook.com/StLukesConservationTrust
If you want to back the St. Luke’s Conservation
Trust campaign you can pledge your support at
crowdfunder.co.uk/Bombed-Out-Church
Head to bidolito.co.uk to see an extended gallery of archive
photos of St. Luke’s by Keith Ainsworth
bidolito.co.uk