I'd would like to welcome you all to the LAST Crisis...
... in the Metropolis venue.
For some years now we have seen the numbers of punters go up steadily (which of course is a good thing!) but also had to decline more and more traders and clubs ( which we really loath to do!)
So, it became painfully obvious we had to relocate to a bigger venue. Not an easy task, especially not when we needed a venue with at least the same accessibility, lots of parking space and expansion possibilities.
Visitors at Crisis might remember years when the lighting was barely adequate. We solved this by installing an additional 80 light boxes, but then another problem cropped up. Heat! All those extra light bulbs and neon lights generated quite a bit of heat and temperatures at Crisis often rose to 'Mediterranean quality'. Even with the new airco system installed I'm sure that no visitor of Crisis ever caught a cold.
We often heard remarks about the abysmal catering services and can only agree. Unfortunately, the catering company comes with the venue, and though we tried to a get them to improve their services, nothing much, if anything, changed for the better.
We even offered them a substantial amount of money NOT to come so we could at least offer a decent catering ourselves.
Whereas we have had a exemplary good relationship with the venue owners for 10 years, the same cannot be said for the catering managers. Thoroughly unprofessional and worse. I'll spare you the details but it is bad.
Anyway, on to the GOOD news. It took us some time but we finally found a new venue! Even better news, it is a lot bigger than the current one, with still lots of expansion possible. At least as accessible as Metropolis, easily reached by public transport, huge parking space, no more heat problems and our own catering.
Traders and clubs will be happy to hear the new venue has 4 huge drive in loading bays ( yes, it will look a bit like a mini- Salute. We only steal from the best
)
Beautiful view on the River Scheldt.
The traditional after -Crisis buffet can be held right there.
And the best news of all, it's less that 1K from the current venue, so previous sleeping arrangements in the various nearby hotels are still
feasible . On this matter, keep in mind that the Docks hotel has been bought by the Antwerp City Council and will - one of these years - be converted into a Seaman's Mission.
Why then didn't we move to this venue earlier? Well, first of all the existing contract with the current venue. Moreover, the new venue was still being refurbished when we visited it a few years ago, and seemed unsuitable for an event like Crisis.
Now however, it looks almost perfect. There might still be a few 'rough spots' like for example the parking area, but hey! you haven't visited Antwerp if you haven't driven over historic 17th C cobblestones
Of course we'll keep everyone of you posted on the progress and by this years' Crisis we will probably already be able to give you the full details. We might even take some of you to the new venue which , as I said, is less than 5 minutes drive from the current one.
looking forward to seeing you all at Crisis 2011 and starting from 2012 in our new, bigger and better venue!
09 October 2011, 07:59:36 PM
