London’s Koko Music Venue “Still Standing” After Devastating Fire
A fire destroyed the famed dome on the top of the Koko venue in London’s Camden Town on Monday night (1/6), with a quick response by fire brigades is being credited with saving the building from utter destruction.
“The whole team at KOKO are incredibly grateful for the swift action of the London Fire Brigade #LFB helping to contain the fire,” the independently- owned venue tweeted on Tuesday morning. “Our beloved KOKO is still standing [heart emoji]. We will be back with an official statement once we have had time to properly assess the consequences of the fire.”
The legendary venue — which has hosted everyone from Prince and Madonna to the Clash, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Calvin Harris, My Chemical Romance, and Coldplay — was saved thanks to the work of 60 firefighters who helped extinguish the blaze that began just before 9:00 PM GMT, according to BBC News; no injuries were reported at press time.
First opened as the Camden Theatre in 1900, the building has operated under a variety of names (Camden Palace, Music Machine) for more than a century before being rebranded as Koko in 2005.
Koko has been closed since March 2019 in the midst of a $52 million renovation. Venue owner Olly Bengough said in a statement, “We are deeply saddened by the fire that took place at Koko last night and pleased to announce there have been no casualties,” according to NME. “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.”
The whole team at KOKO are incredibly grateful for the swift action of the London Fire Brigade #LFB helping to contain the fire;our beloved KOKO is still standing ❤️.We will be back with an official statement once we have had time to properly assess the consequences of the fire pic.twitter.com/fC8hrUsH9B
— KOKO (@KOKOLondon) January 7, 2020
The iconic KOKO club in London currently on fire #koko #camden #fire pic.twitter.com/lUT77cDFLI
— Jiannis Georgiadis (@jgeorgiad) January 6, 2020
The morning after night before #kokocamden 😞
Terrible devastation due to last night fires to one of the historical concert venues in north London #KOKO #KokoClub pic.twitter.com/G51aIpm7cG— Angel Hotfox (@szymonswiatekk) January 7, 2020
This article originally appeared on Billboard.