Collingwood’s premier live music venue, The Tote, has sadly announced that this weekend will be its last. Proprietor Bruce Milne made the shock announcement on the hotel’s website that come Sunday, January 16, The Tote will reopen its doors no more.
It seems as though a cruel combination of financial troubles, kill-joy bureaucrats and city nuff nuffs has ended the tenure of this iconic establishment. After putting in place stricter liquor licensing rules, following the determination of drunken halfwits to beat themselves senseless outside city nightclubs each weekend, the state’s licensing authority has stubbornly insisted that The Tote should fall within a ‘high risk’ category. Faced with a 500 per cent jump in fees, the hotel’s management dedicided it couldn’t afford to fight on.
Despite its location on the corner of Johnston and Wellington Streets, The Tote has never had a reputation for violence, attracting modest crowds of live music lovers rather than mobs of brawlers. But, to the astonishment even of local police, The Tote ended up in the same risk category as the mega clubs that do draw those hoardes, incurring the high costs which have driven it out of business as a result.
The closure may not come as such a surprise for those who’ve followed the hotel’s story over the past year, with hints that things weren’t going so well. Most notably, the venue failed to sell at auction in March and then appeared likely to go under in May following a paperwork technicality which forced its doors closed for a few days. Nevertheless, there seemed little fear that the hotel would fizzle under financial pressures. Tragically though, it seems that this is the case.
Laneway dips its hats to the noble institution that was The Tote, and our team will be heading there this weekend to have one last drink and reminisce about good times past.
If you want to protest the closure of The Tote, a group will be demonstrating on Sunday, January 17, at 6pm outside the hotel. Get down there and stand up for the proper licensing of Melbourne’s live music venues.
