The nation Göteborgs wants to take over Basilika

Since Basilika closed in January the popular nationclub Kålles has no premises.

The scandal has caused substantial financial loses to Göteborgs.

Now they are hoping to take over the business at Stora Södergatan under their own management.

At the end of January the property owner changed locks at Basilika in Lund since the rent had not been paid for six months. At the same time it came to light that the clubs’ last owner already in August, in secret, had sold the club to a felon convicted for economic crimes. This came as a total chock to Göteborgs that since the turn of the millennium, ever other Thursday, has rented the nightclubs’ premises for their popular club Kålleseum. As recently as in December the nation signed a contract with Basilika that they could continue to run their club in 2007.

But only a week before the first Kålles of the spring semester the former owners called to tell them that the nightclub hade been sold and that it had closed.

– It almost feels unreal that we have been fooled and grounded for so long, says Cecilia Berggren, qurator at Göteborgs.

Since the nation had heard rumors during the autumn about the sale, they contacted the former owners several times, but despite that they were never told the truth.

– They flatly denied everything and said “of course we would tell you if we were to sell”. And at that time they had already sold it. When we asked them why a new person and not one of the former owners signed the contract, they said that he was stuck in a tailback, says Cecilia Berggren.

Has been cancelled one time

What has happened causes a substantial financial set-back for the nation. Kålles is the largest nightclub in Lund and has been able to admit 550 people, in contrast to the party premises at the nation house on Östra Vallgatan which only holds 150 people. It has also been hard to find replacement premises since a specific alcohol permit is necessary.

– Sure, there are a lot of premises in Lund, but we want a nation permit in excess of the normal permit. And it means a lot of bureaucracy for a nation to get access to premises, says Cecilia Berggren.

Up to now Kålles has been held on time at AF-borgen, but that is not a desirable solution, she says. At least one time the club was cancelled all together.

– We will have to wait and see if we get access to Basilika if the club gets a new first hand tenant. Now we are investigating our prospects both there and at other places.

One of the possibilities is that Göteborgs themselves entirely take over the contract for Basilika. Therefore the nation has contacted the property owners, whom have advertised the premises in hopes of finding a new tenant.

– Of course we are thinking along those lines. We like the premises and would like to come back. And then we would be able to change some of our activity, says Cecilia Berggren.

Are planning to report to the police

But since the nightclub has received a lot of complaints from the neighbours, the property owner August Lundbergs Bygg prefers some sort of shop activity in the premises.

– A lot of people have called and are interested to take over the type of activity that has been there before, but we would rather not see that happen. Though, today we have no idea how it is going to end, so we have run an ad and we will have to see what it gets us, says Ola Lundberg, property manager at August Lundbergs Bygg.

Through their solicitor, Thomas Axel-Nilsson, Göteborgs are also planning to report the former owners of Basilika to the police since they have violated their contract with the nation and thereby caused a substantial financial loss.

– Except for the fraudulent contract, which was signed in December, there is the contract of 2006 where they committed to inform the nation in case of a sale. To act against company associates will be more effective if we get a prosecutor on our side, says Thomas Axel-Nilsson.

“Manipulated us”

But according to Martin Szepczynski, one of the former owners of Basilika, it was the new owner that manipulated them into not telling Göteborgs about the change of owners.

– He told us that he would get in contact with Göteborgs and tell them that he had taken over, and said that “you could wait a while until you tell them, I just want to get some papers in order first”. But we told the nation that we had a new investor, says Martin Szepczynski.

According to him the contract, which was established in December, was signed by a man that worked for the new owner. After the change of owners, Martin and the other three former owners only stayed for a short period of time to help out with, among other things, marketing.

– We had no idea that the new owner had these intentions. As soon as we understood what was happening we talked to Göteborgs, says Martin Szepczynski.