In
Short
Hi guys, and thanks
for taking the time to read this, we hope you can help.
My name is Jimmy, and
along with my wife, Martyna, we’ve been running our super friendly little
cocktail bar, Graffiti, in Earlsfield, for a little under seven years. Unfortunately,
around Christmas of 2015, a serious water leak from the property above us
caused extensive damage to our ceiling and badly compromised our soundproofing.
We need your help to rebuild the ceiling and save the future of Graffiti and
its entire staff!
Words can’t express the importance of this campaign to the whole Graffiti
family. Simply put, it will enable us to; protect the bar from future
complaints, continue supplying you with the super friendly atmosphere we’re
famous for and keep making those incredible memories of the greatest of good
times at Graffiti
What
We Need & What You Get
In short, we need a
new ceiling. Not just any normal ceiling, a soundproof ceiling.
Since
opening, in November of 2009, we’ve worked really hard to keep our impact on
the lovely area of Earlsfield positive. The seriousness with which we take our
responsibilities to the local community, and the respect with which we treat
our guests and the local residents, by enforcing rules and regulations that are
at many times stifling to our business, makes us one of, if not the friendliest,
most welcoming and most importantly, safest, local bars around.
After inheriting a noise
nuisance issue from the previous business owners, we worked closely with Wandsworth
council's Health, Safety and Licensing Department, to identify and deal with
any noise issues affecting our neighbours. This included the re-installation
and maintenance of a sound limiter, repairs to the existing soundproofing and
the re-siting of an external extractor fan.
Since the resolution of these issues in the summer of 2010,
the business has continued to grow, which has lead to an inevitable rise in
noise created at the premises. Subsequently, we continue to rigorously enforce
a number of controls at the venue, some imposed upon us and several that are
self imposed.
Unfortunately, after a
completely clean history since 2010, we’ve recently been receiving noise
complaints from a new resident above the bar, which has put our business in
jeopardy.
This is due to extensive damage done to the rear of the building from a water
leak upstairs just after Christmas of 2015. Despite our best efforts to get
things repaired before anyone moved back in the property upstairs, difficulties
with the landlords mean that we’re having trouble securing compensation for the
damages, and noise complaints move faster than, well, sound. We’ve done all we
can to restrict the negative impact of the music from the bar, by lowering the
bass output, and overall decibel level of the whole building, to being almost
inaudible over the crowd at peak times. However, some complaints received have
been about the noise we make by simply cleaning the bar at the end of the night.
Again, we’ve had over six years with no issues, but the severity of the damage
really has made it almost impossible to maintain the atmosphere we’re so famous
for.
To replace the ceiling we’ll
need £10,000. This will cover the cost of all the works and materials, plus
operating costs as we’ll have to be closed for at least five days.
Owing to how small the business
is, and how tightly we run it, this is a sum we simply don’t have access to.
It’s even more difficult given the extremely urgent nature of the repairs, now
that the impact of the damage is being felt. We’ve explored many other avenues,
our insurance company won’t help us due to a previous minor water leak being
deemed an open dispute, the landlords won’t communicate with us on the matter
and we don’t have the finances to pursue anything from a legal standpoint so
this really is our best and only option at the moment.
If we fail to reach our goal,
we’ll use the funds to make whatever repairs we can afford to and try to
shoulder the cost of closure ourselves. Whatever happens, we need to do
something.
We’ve
got some great perks for you to claim as thanks for your help, from pain tins to
money off and invites to special parties. Just check them out on the right.
The
Impact
Words
can’t describe the importance of these repairs. They’ll protect the future of
the bar, the livelihoods of all of our amazing staff and ensure the survival of
the business my wife and I have worked so hard to build over the last almost
seven years to provide for ourselves and our daughter.
This means that Graffiti will be able to stay open for years to come, so you
can keep on enjoying our amazing drinks, friendly atmosphere and all those
incredible party tunes! We’ve helped start relationships and businesses over
the years by bringing people together. There have been countless birthday
parties, wedding receptions and even marriage proposals. We don’t want to stop
making those memories with you, so can you help us?
Other
Ways You Can Help
We understand that
not everyone can help directly, but anything you can do will be helpful. Please
spread the word and help get the campaign noticed by as many people as
possible, make sure to use the Indiegogo share tools and get the word out
through as many channels as you can.
In the mean time, keep on coming to the
bar and be patient with us while we overcome these obstacles.