O dear! Hasn’t it been shut for ages because of some issue and they’ve been stuck renovating it for ages? Could be finished now : (
Yeah, it was closed for a couple months for a refurb according to their site. Seems to have happened to a few bars recently (though I guess a fire is more likely to break out when something is being refurbed due to things being moved around/reinstalled etc)
Egh
Glad I’m not the only one as cynical regarding this
Koko’s back! In venue form…
I had no idea any of this had happened, well well
I wasn’t aware of this aspect of it:
To facilitate this expansion, Bengough bought two buildings at the back of the venue: A piano factory dating to 1800, and The Hope & Anchor pub, a regular drinking hole for Charles Dickens.
The latter was necessary to save Koko’s future: A previous developer planned to turn the pub into residential flats, which would have impinged on the venue’s ability to host live music. Bengough had to challenge those plans in the High Court, which ruled Camden Council had been “significantly misled” by planning officers.
London council in not prioritising ‘luxury’ apartments shocker 
Having walked past it a couple of months ago, the development site looked MASSIVE. Be interesting to see how much the footprint has changed…
Sounds great
YOUR DEFENCE IS TERRIFIED
Imagine if they’d booked Kasabian instead of AF for the grand reopening and immediately had to close for another couple of years 
Was always a beautiful venue in a convenient location, but suffered a bit in terms of busy, expensive bars with shite beer, deadspots in the sound, and the risk of getting stuck in weird places with restricted views. If they’ve sorted those issues out it could be brilliant.
Came bursting in here all smug to post this and I see that. as usual, you’ve beaten me to it. Congratulations.
God bless x
Stay lucky.
This was always the deal breaker for me - unless you were there super early, the likelihood of getting a decent view was seriously limited (and I say that as a 186cm tall man). Be interesting to see what they’ve done internally…
From the article:
Architecturally, there are some stunning touches. The roof terrace actually “floats” above the original venue, which the owners were prohibited from modifying.
“It’s literally on stilts sitting through the building and then hovering on top,” says Julie Humphreys, the project’s co-lead architect. “So that’s a first, in the sense of being able to build on top of a Victorian theatre.”