Glasgow DIY venue EXIT at risk of closure due to redevelopment

The building that houses Glasgow DIY venue EXIT could be demolished to make way for a chain hotel and flats.

The community-run nightclub, which opened in 2023 in the basement of B-listed building 96 Maxwell Street, is at risk of closing as developers are preparing a planning application to turn the properties of 90 and 96 Maxwell Street and 40 Fox Street into a Radisson-run hotel, flats, restaurant and bar, Insider reports. A community of artist studios are also located on site.

Regent Property is currently in the consultation stage of its ongoing development plans for the location, with the planning application expected to be submitted next month. Despite early intentions to retain the historic Maxwell Street facade, the developers claim the condition “does not present the opportunity to be meaningfully repaired and integrated into a proposed development”. According to a stonemason’s assessment, “a treatment applied to the building in the ’80s has corroded the stone, making it unsalvageable”, so the structure would not be retained and would likely be completely demolished. 

Regent Property has a public feedback form available here during the current round of consultations ending 13th March. Initial rounds of consultations were held in February and March 2024, after which the developers said there was “strong support for redevelopment… and the proposed use of hotel and serviced apartments”.

EXIT opened in 2023 as a “100-percent artist-run project” in the 400-capacity space. “We aim to bring the local scene together and create a platform for exchange between artists, musicians and DJs”, the team said in an interview with Resident Advisor at the time. Among the artists set to play the venue in the coming weeks are Nkisi, LCY, Flora Yin Wong and Optimo’s JD Twitch.

The Maxwell Street location is also the former home of nightclub Fury Murrys, which closed in 2008. Glasgow venue The Shed shuttered in September 2024 after a 26-year run.

DJ Mag has reached out to the EXIT team for further comment.