Today’s confirmation that JD Wetherspoon will complete the purchase of Carbon in August has been met with opposition.
People Before Profit representative Joe Loughnane voiced his opposition to the ‘soulless chain pub’, saying that ‘replacing a nightclub with a franchise pub is an incredibly regressive planning decision for Galway City’.
Cllr Owen Hanley also voiced his opposition to the news, saying the city centre needs decent mixed-use buildings for housing and recreation and a diverse, exciting nightlife, not ‘another pub’ or ‘Brexiters’.
Weatherspoons’ owner Tim Martin is a staunch supporter of a no-deal Brexit.
People Before profit say this latest blow to Galway’s cultural spaces is particularly stark given its arrival during the Arts Festival and with Galway 2020 on the horizon.
Planning decisions such as allowing a chain pub to replace one of the city’s few nightclubs are made by people with no direct experience of Galway’s nighttime economy, the party said.
Commenting on the news that the English pub company has bought Carbon, PBP’s Galway representative Joe Loughnane said: “This is the opposite of what should be happening in a European Capital of Culture.
“Kettama is just one example of a Galway DJ who got his start in Carbon and is now an international act who played at Glastonbury festival this summer.
“That is never going to happen with a Wetherspoons.”
The popular nightclub announced yesterday it will close its doors in August after nine years.
“We have thoroughly enjoyed nine prosperous years operating as one of Galway’s best-loved student nightclubs,” Carbon said in a statement.
