Hard times for Chicago Rock
THE future of a Maidstone town centre night club hangs in the balance, after administrators were called in to rescue its par- ent company. Atmosphere Bars and Clubs, which owns Chicago Rock in Maidstone High Street, along with 23 other licensed bars and clubs across England and Wales, went into administration earlier in May, with Deloitte being appointed to handle its affairs.
Although a spokesman for De-
loitte said it was hoped to keep the venues operational and sold as a going concern, the future of the club remained uncertain. There was no reply from Chicago’s “party hotline” or from the club itself as the Downs Mail went to press. Atmosphere Bars and Clubs,
based in Milton Keynes, fo- cused on providing food, drink, music, parties and entertain- ment via its 19 Chicago bars and
a handful of others. More than 500 jobs could be at risk if a buyer cannot be found. Daniel Butters, joint adminis-
trator and partner at Deloitte, said: “As a consequence of cash flow problems, the decision was taken by the directors of At- mosphere Bars and Clubs to place the company into admin- istration. We are continuing to trade the business and all ven- ues remain open whilst seeking a sale as a going concern.” Atmosphere had struggled in
the economic downturn, re- porting losses as late-night ven- ues went in for heavy discounting to retain their pop- ularity and share of the market. The group posted an annual pre-tax loss of £4.1m for the year to February 2012, with management blaming “unsus- tainable” discounting by rivals for the loss. This came after a pre-tax loss of £5.2m the year before.
Pair remember murder victim
AMOTHERand daughter fromMaidstone attended thememorial service to mark the 20th anniversary of the death of Stephen Lawrence. A service was held at St
Martin-in-the-Field, Trafalgar Square, attended by a host of civic dignitaries including the leaders of all three main po- litical parties and the Mayor of London Boris Johnson, as well as celebrities and sports personalities. TheStone Shop in East Far-
leigh has been caring for the memorial to Stephen, in the pavement in Well Hall Road, Eltham, where he was mur- dered, for the past 17 years. Elaine, daughter of Stone Shop proprietorGordonNewton and hiswife
Carol,was appalled by the murder but also by the damage caused to the memorial plaque in a racially-motivated attack three years later. Elaine contacted Stephen’s motherDoreen and offered to replace the memorial and The Stone Shop has been caring for it, cleaning and peri- odically re-gilding it, ever since. The original plaque is nowin The Stone Shop, in Farleigh Hill. The Stephen Lawrence Trust invited Elaine to the memorial service.
She said: “I felt very privileged to be included in the invitation. The serv- icewas verymoving, especially the speech by Stephen’s brother Stuart, which reduced us to both laughter and tears.” Stephen was buried in Jamaica, so the memorial plaque has become
a point of focus for the family living in England. StephenLawrencewas18whenhewas stabbed atabus stopinanun-
provoked, racist attack. Two men were jailed for life last year for the at- tack, but four more people are believed to have been involved.
Squatters hit by second eviction A YOUNG man and woman were arrested when bailiffs evicted a group of squatters from a disused NatWest bank in Maidstone. The squatters, who moved into the Bank Street building after
being evicted from the old Maidstone library in St Faith’s Street, were evicted by bailiffs acting for the Royal Bank of Scotland, which owns the property, with support from police. A 17-year-old youth was arrested for a public order offence and possession of a controlled substance and a 19-year-old womanwas arrested for a public order offence. The womanwas cautioned and the youth bailed untilWednesday
June 12 - but the same pair were then rearrested for criminal dam- age and stealing electricity. A group of up to 20 young people got into the library in April after it had lain empty for almost a year.
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