City Winery, one of Boston’s newer spaces for live music, announced today it was “hitting the pause button” on its Bulfinch Triangle location. The news comes with similar announcements from the national chain in cities like Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C.
Offering a mix of food, wine, and music, City Winery opened its Boston location, at 80 Beverly St. just outside North Station, in November 2017. Its outdoor location on the Greenway, at Atlantic Avenue and Summer Street, will remain open.
“The length of the temporary closure for our Beverly Street location is unclear at this time, but we are optimistic that it will only last a short while,” the venue posted earlier today (July 21). “Ultimately, that timing will be dictated by uncontrollable factors that we are hopeful will work in our favor sooner than later.”
That includes, obviously, the ability to host live music, which appears unlikely for the remainder of the year as the city battles through the COVID-19 pandemic. City Winery offers two performance spaces: One larger traditional venue area, with a capacity of around 300, and a smaller stage and alcove more reminiscent of a cozy jazz club.
On its website, the next “upcoming events” on its calendar are an O-Town show in February 2021 and a Lisa Loeb appearance in March 2021. Both shows were rescheduled from this year.
“This decision is not one that we took lightly, and one that has been made in order to preserve the continued existence of City Winery,” the venue adds. “I believe we will return stronger than ever to serving you, our incredible guests, putting on concerts, hosting private parties, and supporting our amazing team members, but for now, we are truly in survival mode. Although this process has been more painful to endure than we initially thought, we will get through this.”
City Winery has established a relief fund for its employees, and directs other inquiries, including information on its livestream series, to citywinery.com/boston.
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