Alternative music night Delight in Portsmouth saved by more than £2,000 of donations

A POPULAR Portsmouth club night that has been running for 21 years has been 'saved' from closure and will come back 'bigger and better', after crowdfunding raised more than £2,000.
Will Chump and Alex Dutton who run Delight club night in Portsmouth. Picture: Habibur RahmanWill Chump and Alex Dutton who run Delight club night in Portsmouth. Picture: Habibur Rahman
Will Chump and Alex Dutton who run Delight club night in Portsmouth. Picture: Habibur Rahman

Delight club night, which runs every Monday at The Astoria club, can now continue after the pandemic thanks to donations from the community.

DJs and organisers of Delight that was founded in 1999 - William Chambers and Alex Dutton - signed up to Portsmouth City Council's crowdfunding scheme in a bid to stay afloat during lockdown.

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William, who is better known as DJ Chump, said: 'We have got so much equipment that we set up every Monday night.

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Portsmouth party company saved from closure by crowdfunding

'The storage costs alone would have put us out of business, we would have had to sell up. It was looking quite bleak at the start of lockdown.'

Under the scheme the city council match what is raised and quickly Delight's original target of £2,000 was hit - including £1,000 from the council.

Rather than asking supporters for cash the donors receive a ticket to the re-opening of Delight as well as a choice of merchandise, from mugs - to T-shirts to commemorative plates.

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'We were so overwhelmed by the amount of money we raised in that short space of time,' William, 38, said.

'With Delight it's always been a bit of a community. If anything that community is stronger because of this.

'Everyone has been getting together virtually on a Monday night via zoom to listen to our sets on livestream and they're all chatting together.'

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Delight is known as an 'alternative' club night and plays hits from bands such as The Killers, Metallica and The Prodigy.

But after the success of the initial fundraiser William and Alex set their target to £3,500 with the intention of using the cash to include a second room during Delight nights playing more 'sing-along' music such as Abba.

William added: 'If we raise enough money we want to have a second room filled with neon decorations and retro gaming arcades and play the kind of music you hear at wedding receptions.'

Culture boss at the city council, Councillor Steve Pitt, was 'proud' of the success of the scheme.

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He said: 'I know another business who was successful using the crowdfunding site who said they would have had to fold if it wasn't for that.

' Every single business we save is vitally important to the speed at which Portsmouth will come out the other side and recover.'

The crowdfunder for Delight will end on June 1. To donate visit crowdfunder.co.uk/support-monday-night-delight.

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