The London cultural institution under threat of closure

Estab­lished in 2018, Match­stick Piehouse is a com­mu­ni­ty-ori­ent­ed venue and arts space locat­ed in south­east Lon­don. It has quick­ly become a home away from home for many, play­ing an impor­tant role as a hub for gen­uine under­ground cul­ture. It is one of the rare places in the cap­i­tal which is not prof­it-dri­ven, accom­mo­dates its staff with respect, and the feel­ing of com­mu­ni­ty infil­trates every aspect of its running. 

Host­ing a range of events from estab­lished ones like Folk Night and Steam Down to queer cabarets, var­i­ous arts events and exhi­bi­tions, refugee mics, film screen­ings, and live music, the venue pri­ori­tis­es book­ings that pro­mote rep­re­sen­ta­tion for his­tor­i­cal­ly under­rep­re­sent­ed groups and fos­ter exper­i­men­tal and grass­roots plat­forms. The likes of Goat Girl, Ezra Col­lec­tive, Olivia Dean and Pri­ma Queen have all been wel­comed to per­form at Piehouse since the start of their careers. It does not mat­ter what night you are going to come in, it is most like­ly going to be great! Prob­a­bly a bit uncon­ven­tion­al, but great.

I’m Mia, a curat­ing grad­u­ate from Gold­smiths Uni­ver­si­ty, and my con­nec­tion with Match­stick Piehouse began through Steam Down, an icon­ic jazz jam host­ed there since 2019. Dur­ing my last year of uni­ver­si­ty, while research­ing the rela­tion­ship between cul­tur­al insti­tu­tions and their neigh­bour­hoods, I inter­viewed Dom, one of the venue’s founders. A year lat­er, I joined their team.

I start­ed to work there after the lock­down. These days were full of joy and it was tru­ly amaz­ing to see com­mu­ni­ties being able to come togeth­er again. Work­ing there, I have encoun­tered many incred­i­ble artists and wit­nessed out­stand­ing per­for­mances. As some­one who moved to the UK from abroad, Match­stick quick­ly became one of my many homes — a space per­me­at­ed with rad­i­cal love, where every­one is wel­comed and sup­port­ed, and where new ideas and art forms can be tested.

Besides estab­lished events, the venue holds par­tic­u­lar sig­nif­i­cance for young peo­ple, pro­vid­ing a nur­tur­ing envi­ron­ment where exper­i­men­ta­tion is encour­aged and indi­vid­u­als can embark on their cre­ative jour­neys. I’ve seen peo­ple host their first events, organ­ise film screen­ings, and take the stage for the first time. Peo­ple come and try — they learn and then go and do amaz­ing things.

I was real­ly sad to hear about the finan­cial strug­gles, main­ly because the root of the prob­lem is unpaid rent from the time of the pan­dem­ic when the space was closed. We have already seen the great impact the lock­down had on cul­tur­al spaces and art pro­duc­tion, and we can­not afford to lose any more com­mu­ni­ty ori­ent­ed venues in London.

How­ev­er, the over­whelm­ing sup­port the venue has received in recent days is heart­en­ing and under­scores its impor­tance to the com­mu­ni­ty. If you’ve been to Match­stick, you under­stand its unique­ness. If you haven’t, please sup­port us, ensur­ing you have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to expe­ri­ence its spe­cial atmos­phere in the future!

You can donate to the Match­stick Piehouse fundrais­er here.

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