After 13 years, arguably one of the best—if not thee best—small venues in St. Petersburg is closing.
Hideaway Cafe owner John Kelly took to Facebook Monday evening, saying the venue’s lease was not renewed by the landlord, and its “days are numbered,” with just a few months remaining.
“If you’re a fan and have supported original music and all of the truly incredible artists in this room and on this stage, if you’ve enjoyed coming in to say hey to our awesome servers, sound techs, door and kitchen crew or have some special memory that ties you to the Hideaway Cafe, now would be the time to come and take it all in while you still can,” wrote Kelly.
The popular living-room style listening room, located at 1756 Central Ave., doubled as a recording studio and as well as a small 80-person venue, serving beer and food.
Like many Tampa Bay venues, during the past year Hideaway struggled with COVID-19 slowdowns, though Kelly kept the doors open through most of it. As of now, he says there’s no exact closing date, though he does have some ideas for what’s next.
“I’ll continue to update you as things unfold so there’s only one narrative out there. I have no idea what the landlord’s intentions are, but I certainly want to exit on good terms so we can keep our entity in tact and figure out what our next move will be.”
This is a developing post.
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This article appears in Sep 23-29, 2021.