Iconic Melbourne venue The Tote, arguably the last remnant of a once vibrant Melbourne musical precinct, is shutting its doors this weekend.

Hotel nominee Bruce Milne released a statement today announcing the sudden closure. Here it is (via Mess+Noise):

It’s last drinks at the Tote. This weekend.

I know it’s sudden. I didn’t plan it to be like that.

I can’t afford to keep fighting Liquor Licensing. The “high risk” conditions they have placed on the Tote’s license make it impossible to trade profitably. I can’t afford the new “high risk” fees they have imposed. I can’t afford to keep fighting them at VCAT. I can’t renegotiate a lease in this environment.

So, come into the Tote this weekend to say farewell to the sad staff and to feel the sticky carpet for the last time.

I don’t believe the Tote is a “high risk” venue, in the same category as the nightclubs that make the news for all the wrong reasons. Despite being on a rough little corner of Collingwood, the Tote has had very, very few incidents. As a local police officer once said, “The Tote’s the quietest pub in the area.”

It’s not dumb luck that the Tote has escaped serious violence. I believe the business has been run responsibly. People don’t come to the Tote to fight. They come because they have a passion for music and love to be in an historic venue that reeks of that same passion.

The Tote is (sorry, was) an important cornerstone of Melbourne’s rich and diverse music community. It’s too late to save the Tote but not too late to try and save other inner city venues that are feeling the same pressures.

I know the sudden closure affects a lot of people. Most importantly, the hard-working staff that are being forced onto the dole queue. And the bands and artists that have had their gigs pulled from under them.

Anyway, I don’t want to get maudlin (or viciously angry). The era of the Tote is over. If you love the place, come and have a beer with us this weekend.

Terrible, terrible news. First the Hopetoun, now this. So angry. Feel like I need a drink, maybe a punch-on somewhere. Like the VCAT approved 1500 capacity South Melbourne club Neverland, maybe. No, definitely. 

A quote lifted from the Tote's website, from one of the more venerated acts to have played at the venue in its 20 lifespan, seems apt right now.

"Over the 15 or so years that Fugazi circled the world playing concerts, a few patterns began to emerge. One of these was the personalities of the rooms that we were playing. As we began to draw larger crowds we ended up playing venues that only seemed to live when a show was on, as the size of the venues ruled them out as community spots. Even within the smaller rooms, the clubs and so forth, one could imagine that the life goes out of some of those buildings when the music stops.

But there are a few places that we had the pleasure of visiting that seemed to almost hum with personality. It was as if the spots were willing to take a break from their daily activity to let the band come on it and play some songs. I reckoned the Tote to be one of those joints. I don't know what happened there before we arrived, and i don't know what happened after we left, but i do know that in the short time that we were there, we were regulars, woven forever into the story. Carry on, Tote!" - Ian Mackaye, Fugazi