STEAMDOWN PERFORMANCE AT MATCHSTICK PIEHOUSE:

MATCHSTICK PIE HOUSE WAS AN ANTI-CAPITALIST, NON-PROFIT VENUE AND BAR LOCATED IN THE DEPTFORD RAILWAY ARCHES THAT HOSTED A VARIETY OF COMMUNITY-LED EVENTS AND CLOSED SUDDENLY AFTER FACING RENT-RELATED CHALLENGES.

I SPOKE WITH SONYA WOODRUFF, WHO SHARED HER EXPERIENCES WORKING AT MATCHSTICK AS THE VENUE IS AT RISK OF CLOSURE, AND HER THOUGHTS ON THE CURRENT CHALLENGES FACING GRASSROOTS VENUES IN LONDON:

“it was run by volunteers for the first few years and people would just come up for bar shifts or door shifts, like the whole sound system was built by a friend, the electrics were done by a friend. I mean it's a DIY space, everything's basically just done with the resources you can scrap together, and a huge amount of love went into the building of matchstick.” 

“A range of stuff like poetry, cabaret, a folk night started which was then running for like four years, Steam down; this like jazz improvisation group which was like a Jam session that then became an established group and then they played at matchstick for four years as well. Just slowly over the years accumulated a bunch of regulars who would come back like every week or every month to put events on.”

“It was sometimes used as an exhibition space. I put exhibitions on there but I think it wasn't the most exhibition-friendly but we did have some. The space is very like unconventional for showing art but I think I always really enjoyed that about it, like that it wasn't neutral, which is why I really like putting shows on there. But yeah it was basically a lot of different things to different people. “

“You could come in on like any given night of the week and find a totally different community there and that was part of the point. I think it was just like catering to the needs of London which is a super diverse city and there's a lot of different cultural needs.”

 “I think it's going to be missed in a lot of different ways but I think the biggest loss that I'm feeling is this there is not enough club spaces and art spaces that are committed to accessibility, be that for people with like physical accessibility needs, like wheelchair accessible spaces or neurodivergent accessibility needs or you know, queer inclusive or minority inclusive needs.”

“That's the biggest loss I think that I'm feeling very much. There is not enough clubs for young trans people to go into London and dress how they want and be referred to with respect. So I think this space was really important for those communities.”

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO SONYA FOR PROVIDING THESE WONDERFUL PHOTOS AND VIDEOS OF MATCHSTICK PIEHOUSE  AND SHARING HER THOUGHTS WITH ME. 

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