Gatecrasher
[1] Bond subsequently agreed to become the new resident DJ at Bakers, while Raine focused on the promotion of a new club night called Absolutely Ridiculous.
In 1993, Bond started his own night at Bakers called Republica and later that year, the pair decided to collaborate on a new one-off event named Gatecrasher.
The club later moved to Bakers nightclub on Broad Street, Birmingham but became so popular that larger events were organised in other locations in and around the West Midlands.
Due to a large number of similar nights in the Birmingham area, the event was relocated to the northern city of Sheffield.
Instead of discouraging people to attend, this policy only made the event more popular as gaining admittance to the club only added to the sense of excitement.
The door policy, and fashion at the end of the 1990s, encouraged people to dress in a flamboyant style to ensure entry to the night.
[3] In 1998, Gatecrasher joined forces with the London nightclub Ministry of Sound and held its first outdoor festival at Lotherton Hall in Leeds, which was also broadcast on BBC Radio 1.
During the same year, Gatecrasher began a nine-year relationship with Sheffield's Designers Republic studio for the production of the nightclub brand's artwork.
[6] During a visit to South Africa, Gatecrasher performed to sold-out venues at Wembley Stadium in Johannesburg and The Dockside in Cape Town.
Gatecrasher has toured around the world to: Europe, Australia, Taiwan, China, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan.
Administrators Duff and Phelps published a report in which they explained that under the names "Tiptoptap Ltd" and "Late Night Watford Ltd", the Gatecrasher owners incurred operating losses of £1.1 million from June 2012, to 31 March 2013.
Furthermore, the report stated that in excess of £500,000 was owed to HM Revenue and Customs, while the Birmingham Mail news publication also published another debt of £3 million that was owed to the Barclays banking and financial services company (an August 2014 company statement denied the Barclays debt).
[23][24] Raine explained to the media that over 300 jobs would be retained during the transition to a newly formed limited company called "Gatecrasher (Birmingham) Ltd", stating:
[28] At the beginning of August 2014, the Beatsmedia music company published an article on its website titled "GATECRASHER: THE GATE THAT FINALLY CRASHED!!!"
Complaints against Gatecrasher were also made on social media platforms including comments made by artists; for example, the Super8 & Tab group claimed on Facebook, in response to the cancellation of their Ibiza performance that "they [Gatecrasher] have simply failed to stick to contractual agreements and book travel for the artists".
[29][30][31] Gatecrasher responded with an official statement on its own website, stating that "sensationalist online portals and blogs" had been furthering "their own selfish pursuits".
The company responded to the key allegations in the Beatsmedia article and invited anyone who was still owed money from the 2013 administration process to contact Duff and Phelps directly or email Gatecrasher's Accounts Department.
In terms of Ibiza, the statement explains that the company was forced to make programmatic changes in accordance with what "the market dictates" and claims that all consumers who were entitled to a refund have been paid.
Gatecrasher in turn needs to listen to the public dissatisfaction, take on board the constructive criticism, learn from its own past mistakes and work with (and not against) the music community.
The public claims and counterclaims and general 'chucking of toys from the pram' is great entertainment for social media, but a company at war with its customers does not remain a company in business for very long...[29]Gatecrasher's Broad Street Club was shut down on 31 October 2015 the result of a stabbing and alleged brawl involving security staff.
This however is only a temporary lease until the site is fully demolished to make way for redevelopment in line with the council plans for the town centre.
