22/04/2025
Very sad to learn about this today. I have enjoyed every show I have performed here and it's where Lillian began her journey having her first performance at the start of April last year in Phoebe LaReine's Chanter.
Dear friends,
This is an announcement from the very heaviest of hearts to inform you that as of July 31st 2025 Prohibition Cabaret Bar will close to the public and cease trading.
We've filled this last decade with so many amazing memories and fun times and we will cherish those dearly.
Lately though, we have been up against it financially, we have been for some time, but thanks to the tremendous support and generosity we’ve always treasured from our wonderful customers, as well as, of course, the talent and dedication of all the acts that have brought so much to the bar, we’ve been able to defy the odds and keep going. Until now. From the very beginning we insisted that we’ve never been about profit or 'in it for the money' and we have proudly and rigidly stuck to our mission of being the home of free live performance here in Newcastle, believing that the culture and joy that live entertainment brings to us all should be for everyone, regardless of their circumstance.
This approach has meant that we’ve only ever just about broken even (at times by the very skin of our teeth and often with sacrifices along the way) but with the many recent and upcoming rises to our running costs we would never have been able to continue and keep our heads above water. We are no longer sustainable in this format and would not work or would have had to compromise our core principals in any other, therefore, we accept that it is time to wrap this show up and lower the final curtain knowing we did our absolute best and have had an incredible ten years doing so! 🙏🏼
From a personal perspective, as the proprietor and creator of Prohibition Cabaret Bar, I write as "we" because over the last ten years this business has become a family and a community. In that time I've been lucky enough to have worked with the most wonderful, truly special team of staff around me. Unique, talented, creative, beautiful people who all 'got' my vision and fully gave their all to help me realise it. My deepest love and thanks to them, always, but especially to my incredible right hand man, Danny, without whom the business would simply not have gotten through these last few especially difficult years. He truly is a marvel, a king of general managers, a quiz-master extraordinaire, a spreadsheet wizard, a bookings legend and a true friend. I wish him and all the gang the very, very best in the future. I also wish to thank my wonderful family and friends who have supported and championed this dream of mine from the very start, we've seen and done it all, thank you for being there for me all along my journey. And to my amazing, patient, loving and understanding wife who has been there for me through some very sleepless nights of late and been the arms of comfort I've very much needed when I get home... I love you to bits. Thank you ❤️
The focus now is to keep the good times rolling until the very end on July 31st. All bookings, shows and events in the calendar up to that date will go ahead as planned, in fact, we will put everything we can into making this a celebratory final countdown rather than a melancholic one!
Thank you, ALL of you, for all the love and support you’ve shown for Prohibition over the last ten years - this place would have been nothing without the live music and performances and of course, your much treasured and always appreciated custom.
We hope to raise vital funds before we go to help us settle up and leave with as little financial baggage as possible, so will set up a fundraiser and in the closing weeks we will be holding an auction to sell off all our fixtures and fittings. Everything will be up for sale: furniture, pictures, rugs, mirrors, lamps, glassware, fridges, ornaments, plants, books, CDs, sound equipment and tech and of course the beautiful, bespoke bar counter and backbar itself will be up for grabs! We also hope the house piano, (made famous by Sam Fender's exclusive performance that went viral) might find a new home too, it has been a central piece to the bar aesthetic throughout and we've had some fantastic knees ups gathered around it with our house pianist Merlin and the amazing Jenni Winter over the years! But rest assured, every single pound raised will go towards paying off as much as we can before we go and you get the chance to take a piece of Prohibition home with you to remember us, and all the good times by.
All I ever wanted was to make great memories and create something unique that will be remembered with love and fondness for years to come. I think I managed that. I don't think I could have given much more, that's for sure, I'm mentally and physically exhausted and definitely look and feel ten years older! But for all the stress and worry it's been, I honestly wouldn't change it for the world. I've learned so much and can look back on this chapter of my life and career with a great sense of achievement and a heart full of pride. For that, I am truly thankful.
For now, though, the stage is still lit and the bar is still serving, so let’s do this the Prohibition way and go out with a bang!
With much love,
Mitch, Danny and the Prohibition Mob 🥃
