Oslo’s legendary Club 7, an entertainment spot that thrived for years in the cellar of the city’s Concert House in Vika, looks set to get a new lease on life. Local music and concert organizers including Jørgen Roll have been working to convert the venue into a cultural club once again.
It won’t be called Club 7, “because we have respect for what the original meant to Oslo and all of Norway during the years it was open,” Roll told newspaper Aftenposten. But he and others are hoping to rekindle the spirit and talent that was showcased at Club 7 from 1971 until it went bankrupt in 1985.
Roll and his colleagues have been working to fill the locale that most recently housed the Stenersen Museum, until it vacated the premises pending a merger and move to the new Munch Museum at Bjørvika in 2019.
The Vika site hasn’t been used as a nightclub since Sardines closed in 1990. Roll claimed he’s had good response to the idea of reopening a Club 7 type of spot, which was known for jazz and folk song concerts, theater, poetry reading and debates. It was known for attracting “bohemians, freaks and kultural radicals,” wrote Aftenposten. Roll wants the location to retain the same interior and design of Club 7, so no remodeling work in the cellar will be required.
newsinenglish.no staff
