Fire Breaks Out at London Music Venue KOKO
Earlier tonight (January 6), a fire broke out at the London nightclub KOKO, as reported by BBC News. No injuries have been reported.
The venue is located on Camden High Street, in the heart of the busy North London neighborhood. According to BBC News, 30% of KOKO’s roof was ablaze. Roughly 60 firefighters were sent to the location in an attempt to extinguish the flames. KOKO was closed for repairs at the time of the fire, with the hopes of reopening in spring. It is not yet known how the damage from the blaze will affect plans to reopen.
Oliver Cooper, a Conservative councillor who witnessed the fire, told the BBC that the fire was “under control and now being pushed back.” Cooper later tweeted, “Things very much under control now. Looks like KOKO is saved. Thank you so much to the firefighters for responding so quickly.” Find Cooper’s tweets below.
Olly Bengough, the owner of KOKO, released the following statement to Pitchfork about the fire:
We are deeply saddened by the fire that took place at KOKO last night and pleased to announce there have been no casualties.
We want to thank the London Fire Brigade for its quick response and how well it handled the situation.
The amount of support we have received from the public has been amazing and we’ll be doing our best to get the redevelopment of this iconic building back on-track.
We will provide further comments as circumstances become clearer.
KOKO (previously known as the Camden Palace), opened in 2004 and has hosted performances by a slew of iconic artists, including Prince, Amy Winehouse, Kanye West, and others.
Pitchfork has reached out to KOKO representatives for further comment.
Originally Appeared on Pitchfork
