Firstly Paul I'm fat and old but I don't wear baggies they just look silly on me and they don't fit anymore anyway....lol on a serious note Rod is a very good friend of mine and although I'm not going to defend him here as he's very capable of doing that himself, however Rod does not have a bad bone in his body he simply has a deep rooted passion for the music and as with many of us he defends that, you talk of new blood on the scene but you seem to want to do your own thing in terms of the City Centre venue comment full of young people, is this not as bad as all old school in one venue and perhaps simply creating a sub scene? should it not be as one young and old together? or do you like the idea of being a moover and shaker on this sub scene? not having a go at you just curious to know why we can't all work together on this, are you going to restrict your audience to being entertained by shall we say some of the more mature DJ's? if this is the case then musically you are going to be restricted in time if you don't embrace the contribution of some of the older set, it's fantastic that you are trying to introduce Rare Soul music to a new younger audience but you have to consider the roots of the scene, it's ethics and ideals otherwise you are just going to create your own retro version of it.
If your audience love the music then does it matter how old the DJ's are playing it to them? young or old we all have the common connection here of loving the music, age, size lol etc. should not come into it, personally I would rather we kept all our eggs in one basket, perhaps the older members of the scene need to embrace and welcome the younger crowd with open arms otherwise if we shut the door on this then it's only a matter of time when the 50 and 60 year old's will no longer have the passion or desire to attend venues and then it will simply end.
Good luck with everything you do, keep it real and go for it, we need your commitment and contribution.
Regards - Mark Bicknell.