PLEASE HELP SAVE YOUR CLUB!

FUEL’S FUTURE IS UNDER THREAT FROM OUT-OF-TOWN DEVELOPERS!

Hull City Council has received a planning application to build 13 apartments next door to Fuel in the former Rhythm Room nightclub on Baker Street.

Having invested, operated and developed Fuel for the past 20 years, we have worked tirelessly to serve not only Hull's LGBTQ+ community but a wide variety of cultures and audiences with ground-breaking events and safe spaces for all.

Should this development be successful in obtaining planning permission, it could affect the livelihoods of so many, beyond simply our staff count.

Hull has lost so much nightlife over the last few years, especially with Covid, where there are only two major nightclubs in Hull city centre right now - Fuel and ATIK. The city’s nightlife scene is becoming a ghost town, and it can surely not afford to lose a venue as diverse and long-standing as Fuel.

We have weathered many storms: the decrease of footfall into the city, the loss of so many other venues that made Hull a destination, the global credit crisis, and the massive collateral damage caused by Covid on our sector. But none of those poses as existential a threat as this development of HOMES & BEDROOMS just the other side of our back bar wall in our main club room! 

Many people know that Fuel is the most culturally diverse venue in Hull; a venue that has become a deeply rooted part of the cultural scene here. We regularly host world-renowned RuPaul drag artists, chart-topping DJs and producers, celebrity PAs, and some of the longest-running, multicultural club nights in Hull's nightlife history such as the dancehall & afrobeats event Jamrock.

We helped to bring back Hull's Pride event from the brink of collapse in the early 2010s (a time when Pride was being run by mismanaging private hands) by funding a street party that springboarded it back into a functioning community event once more. And we of course know that Pride will celebrate its 21st birthday this summer.

In 2021, we were awarded a substantial grant from the Arts Council of England through their Culture Recovery Fund – a grant which recognised Fuel’s cultural importance and helped to protect the business from its likely demise due to Covid closure. The fund allowed us to continue investing heavily into the community to bring back major events and performances when our doors safely re-opened following the lift of lockdown restrictions.

Our company employs, both directly and indirectly, 40-50 staff, including bar staff, door staff, managers, DJs, promoters, marketers, finance staff, cleaners, upholsterers, photographers and many more – not to mention the many more employed similarly at Fuel’s sister venue and feeder bar, Propaganda, that will also take an existential blow if Fuel can no longer operate as a nightclub.

We also use the services of many local businesses, including printers, drinks suppliers, technical and sound engineers, and more.

Surely Hull cannot afford to force another events space of cultural and community significance out of business, simply for a quick buck to be turned by out-of-town developers to add yet more flats in the distinctly commercial area of the city centre?

We sincerely believe that Fuel has brought a lot to the city over the nearly 20 years it has been here. It originally paved the way for a localised opening up of sexuality expression; being loud, proud and at the forefront of what it was to be anywhere on the gender or sexuality spectrums, at a time when that wasn’t cool, and in a world of intense homophobia, when other venues kept their gay nights more of a dirty secret. To this day, we aim to conscientiously bring all aspects of the community together to enjoy a party in a liberated and safe space, NO MATTER what your sexuality, gender, skin colour, age, religion or any other marginalising factor.

We have always stood front and centre for fairness and equality, and aimed to provide the most exciting, relaxed and welcoming events we possibly could, out of passion, not just for profit.

We haven’t always perfected everything, and nobody can please all people all of the time. But our hearts have absolutely been in the right place and we have worked relentlessly to keep learning, growing and improving what we do, for you, for the whole (nearly) 20 years Fuel has been here.

And now is the time when we need your help so that we're able to keep doing all of that, and more. We desperately need YOU to act to stop this planning application before it is too late for Fuel and the other few remaining late-night entertainment venues in Hull. We cannot afford to fall victim to developers and the mixing of residential space with commercial premises (and especially music-based leisure venues, such as ours).

If you have a spare moment to support us all with this fight for our existence, then please sign this petition.

Please also help us to spread the word about this awful and unjust proposal by sharing our post on Facebook so we can reach as many people as possible.

Thank you so much for your time, consideration and support should you be able to share any.

We will overcome this together and we will continue to invest in your venue for many more years, ever-improving things at Fuel - for you!