Hi all, this is Paul Dale as mentioned in Vinny's earlier post and as I've been mentioned and due to the fact that I have also been involved with DJ'ing at the Box over the past few months I felt obliged to make comment, so here goes:-
Firstly, I can confirm that it was Vinny's own decision to leave the Box, I was there and doing a DJ spot at the the time of his departure, Vinny came on stage to collect his records we had brief chat and he explained his personal reasons for leaving the event, he was definitely not kicked out of the venue in anyway, shape or form, it was purely his decision to leave on the day and that was Vinny's choice!
Secondly, I was also there on the Sunday afternoon that Chris B visited the venue and from what I saw he certainly seemed receive a warm welcome and due respect from everyone that was in the event on that afternoon. However, as I have not been involved with any of the direct discussions that have taken place with Chris, Jez or the venue owner then I'm not really in a position to comment on any of those conversations or issues.
Thirdly, I would like to say that in my opinion the Box is a really good venue and one that is really well suited to host Northern Soul sessions, it has the look and feel of true music venue with a superb sound system and a decent dance floor as well. There are now two rooms in operation and also let's not forget that there are also a lot of loyal supporters who turn up to the event every month so it must be doing something right!. There are a lots of positive points about this venue and i feel that these need to be mentioned as most of the other comments on here seem to be on the negative side which i just cannot understand why this should be.
Finally, can i just say that this is still a great scene to be part of and one that has truly stood the test of time, let's try and get back to the positive side of things and forget all of the negatives!