Some lucky Finsbury youths could soon be playing music on Pete Docherty’s guitar.
The Council took the unusual step of closing down a Babyshambles gig and confiscating their kit after a series of noise complaints at the venue. Now they’ve passed on the kit to a local youth music project EC1 Music based near Old Street.
The kit was seized back in 2005, at the then Duke of Clarence pub in Rotherfield Street, just off Essex Road.
The pub was already in decline and closed later the same year, after the landlord was evicted for non-payment of rent. It was then squatted for a while. Finally, like so many old pubs, the brewery then converted it into flats, now known simply as 140-142 Rotherfield Street.
The Duke of Clarence is not the luckiest name for a pub. The first Duke of Clarence famously drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine. And the last Duke of Clarence (for whom Victorian pubs were named) was the eldest son of Edward VII, who died before he could inherit.
Hopefully the ECI Music Project has a brighter future in store.
Bridget's Blog 
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