It only opened its doors this month but Melbourne live music venue The Hummingbird has already been forced to change its name after being served a cease and desist notice.
Following its VIP launch night on 2 May, which saw performances from the likes of Alma Zygier and DJ and PBS radio presenter MzRizk, the St Kilda establishment was closed due to small fire just two days later. No staff or patrons were injured.
On 8 May, The Hummingbird was issued with the cease and desist notice by lawyers for Bird's Basement Pty Ltd, owned by property developer Albert Dadon, who also acquired the name and assets of Sydney's iconic The Basement last month.
The letter states that Bird's Basement, located in Melbourne's Singers Lane, is the only jazz venue that can claim rights to use the word "bird" in relation to the operation of a venue for the performance of jazz music and related entertainment services.
"We are not in fact a jazz venue, but rather an entertainment venue of varied genres," venue co-founder Heather Para said.
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"However having booked the artists alongside Mr Dadon at Bird's Basement for two years, I can now understand how this may have been misconstrued.
"We are agreeable to changing the name on this basis to alleviate the concerns and assure that we have no wish for our venue to be confused with Bird's Basement."
Para continued, "Creating this venue is a labour of love and we consider this new challenge another milestone and won't be thrown off course.
"Whilst to an extent we are flattered by the attention, we don't wish to be distracted when we are on a clear path to success, so we are making the changes immediately and humbly apologise to anyone who may have been confused by our name."
The space, located downstairs at Newmarket Hotel, will move forward as The Fyrefly; for more details, click here.
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