13th Note appoint liquidators as owner accuses hospitality union of sabotage

The 13th Note pub and venue, a part of the local music landscape for the last 21 years is to close. Owner Jacquelien Fenessy has appointed liquidators, blaming the protracted dispute with members of the Unite Hospitality union over pay and conditions.

Staff at a Glasgow music venue were on strike at the weekend - the first bar workers’ strike in Scotland in more than 20 years. The staff walked out at noon on Friday 14th July with the strike ending Sunday 16th July, coinciding with the Glasgow Fair weekend. Staff had signalled their intention to strike every weekend until 6 August. The workers were calling for better wages, improvements to health and safety, and trade union recognition.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Unite’s members at the 13^th Note bar in Glasgow are striking following the failure of the owners to make improvements on pay and on health and safety concerns. In what has become one of the first bar workers’ strikes in over 20 years, we support them and hope the owners now recognise the strength of the collective. These workers deserve credit for standing up for their rights in an industry that is riding roughshod over staff. Unite will back them 100 per cent in their demands for better pay and safer working conditions.”

A meeting with ACAS had been set up for today when both Unite and the owner of 13^th Note would try to seek a path through the dispute, which began in March this year. Instead Jacqueline Fennessy has closed the business citing an “onslaught on social media and the wider press with false and misleading stories.”

Musicians including Paolo Nutini and Stuart Braithwaite had signed an open letter supporting the workers that stated: ““As Glasgow-based artists, we know how important the 13th Note is as a cultural institution, essential to our city’s music scene. Since the late ‘90s it has offered a platform for unsigned artists to be seen by their first audiences, from Idlewild to Franz Ferdinand to Belle & Sebastian and so many more.

“Over the past four months, we have been very concerned to read in the press, and hear from the workers themselves, that despite repeated collective calls, the owner of the 13th Note has not made the necessary investment and changes required to make the kitchen, bar & live-event venue the best that it can be.

“Unfortunately, the unionised workers of the 13th Note have been left with no other option but to take industrial action to improve conditions. This will be the first time that bar workers will take part in official strike action in over 20 years.

“On four consecutive weekends, from 12 noon on 14 July till 12 noon on 6 August, workers will be taking historic collective action to demand better. A better space for them to work in, with dignity and in safety. A better venue that honours its cultural legacy.”

Bryan Simpson, Lead Organiser of Unite Hospitality told GlasgowWorld this morning: “To close a workplace and sack more than 20 workers days after they take historic strike action is trade union intimidation pure and simple. To sack them with only a weeks wages and less than 30 days notice is also unlawful.

“Jacqueline Fennessy made a firm commitment to Unite and her workforce that she would postpone any redundancies until we’d at least had a chance to meet via ACAS to resolve the issue, a meeting that she called for. This employer didn’t even have the decency to tell some of her workers that they were being made redundant before she briefed the press with a smear campaign aimed at discrediting the workers who have made her profits over the years. The workers of 13th Note made this venue and we will do everything we can to ensure that this continues.”

Statement from Jacqueline Fennessy, owner of the 13^th Note.

It is with deep sadness that today we have been forced to close the doors of the 13^th Note and appoint liquidators following operating the venue successfully for 21 years.

Over more than two decades, we’ve played host to thousands of bands, performers, promoters and artists, while playing a significant role in the vibrant cultural scene of Glasgow.

I’m devastated with the closure of a business I’ve cherished and loved along with the hundreds of loyal customers who frequented the Note, and I would like to thank everyone who has played a role in creating what was a vibrant Glasgow institution. It has been an honour to have been a part of your lives.

The challenges of running an independent hospitality venue in today’s climate of inflationary pressures and post-lockdown challenges have been well documented. However, it has been the involvement of Unite Hospitality that has caused a drastic reduction in revenue that has forced our closure and the loss of all jobs at the 13^th Note.

To my team, I tried my very best to resolve all the issues we (and other hospitality businesses) face. Thank you all sincerely for all your work and efforts over the years.

Since March of this year, Unite Hospitality has sabotaged our business with a repeated onslaught on social media and the wider press with false and misleading stories that have been published unchecked. This has led to weekly revenue declining steadily over this period.

Despite direct talks with Unite Hospitality about the 13^th Note being in crisis and all jobs being at risk as recently as 5^th of July, they continued publishing untruths and went ahead with strike action which has fully depleted all available funds in the business. Sadly all 18 team members will be losing their jobs today.

I have faced direct threats and verbal assaults from the Unite Hospitality leader and dealt with a level of dishonesty and bullying I’ve never encountered in my 21 years as an independent female business owner.

Why an organisation designed to protect the welfare of hospitality employees would choose to sabotage its own members’ jobs with full knowledge of the impact their action would have, I will never know.

Every business encounters challenges, but any issues raised were rectified quickly and the team treated with integrity, respect and an honest desire to make their working lives better. The statements of serious health and safety issues were simply not true.

With the business driven to insolvency by Unite Hospitality, it is time for the 13^th Note to sadly close its doors for the last time.